Notes from Maine - 2025/11/16
Chip’s party was yesterday. Every year, a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, Chip has a dinner party. The term “Friendsgiving” was coined in 2007, but Chip’s party started at least a decade before that. Since 2002, he has mostly held his event at my house. Some years, more than fifty people came for a sit-down dinner. Lately, around twenty to thirty people show up. Some people I hadn’t seen since last week, and others I hadn’t laid eyes on since last year. It’s a great time to catch up.
The horses get locked in the barn, I open up the pasture gates, and cars start arriving in the morning. Serious prep begins the night before, but there are always tons of things to cook on the day. Standard items are turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, squash, peas, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, steamed carrots, rolls, cornbread, and cranberry jelly. It’s impossible to taste everything and still be able to feel comfortable in your skin afterward. By the time you’re able to stand up, the desserts are being sliced and distributed.
The dishwasher ran at full clip for four hours, gasping for air between cycles as it was unloaded and then hunkering down for the next load. Albert (dog) played nonstop the whole day. When he would tire one person out, he would find another to play hide-and-seek with. He brings you the toy and then he sits while you hide it. Give him the word and he’ll go track it down. Yesterday he remained undefeated.
The horses learned early in the day not to bother greeting people until they saw a carrot. Plenty of visitors went to the barn empty-handed to gawk without offering a treat. Lilly (8-month-old filly) loves to socialize and be scratched, but Maybelle and Earl are more transactional in their attention. If you have a carrot, they will come say hi. Otherwise, there was plenty of hay to keep them busy.
My friends are conscientious about removing most of the leftovers on their way out. Once I’ve cleaned and folded the tablecloths, the house will be close to normal again.
And then?
Most years, Chip’s party doesn’t take all that much preparation. There have been years when some activity required months of planning (like building four go-karts from junkyard parts, or setting up a “ninja” obstacle course in the back yard), but some years it’s just a dinner party. We didn’t stage a zombie apocalypse or have a slack line competition this year. It was food and friends—nothing more fancy than that.
But still, the party is like my milestone in any given year. There’s before and after. Instead of waiting for January first, I usually take a breather and reassess my priorities in the middle of November. I expect that’s what I’ll be doing this week. I’ll set an agenda for the next twelve months, or at least the next twelve weeks. For today, I haven’t decided what to tackle. I suppose I can start with tablecloths.
