Friday night cocktails...

Friday night cocktails at A's.

Tonight it was my personal favorite, champagne cocktails, and also Bellinis; pretzels with dipping sauces; crackers, brie, and chutney; strawberries dipped in chocolate (which I think are an overrated thing, but then a sweet tooth is not my weakness...bright narcissists are my weakness). A started this family cocktail thing 3 weeks ago, and it seems to be taking off. The formula (open to change, depending on plans, always) is that every 2 weeks or so we (the family, and whomever else anyone wants to invite) meets at one of our houses for Friday night cocktails (2 different types) and accompanying munchies and hors d'œuvre. 3 weeks ago it was Martinis and Manhattans at A's; this Friday, the aforementioned champagne cocktails and Bellinis; in 2 weeks, Chris and Stephanie are hosting; the time after that it's my turn, and so on. Everyone has a couple of drinks, a little food, and a lot of conversation.

Friday night it was A, Francine (a family friend), Chris and Stephanie, Katharina and the X-man, and moi. The X-man, who's 6 going on 36, is tall for his age and gaining rapidly on my own towering 5'3". When he stood next to me I told him I'm pretty sure, judging by his height, that he must be at least 12 instead of 6. That produced a gap-toothed grin. He's lost his two front bottom teeth, and he proudly announced the two front top teeth are loose, too. The X-man had asked ahead of time if Uncle Chris and Uncle Mike would both be there, and what about Aunt Alex, Uncle Chris Too!, and baby Silas? We all wish! But Uncle Mike is in Tucson, busy studying for finals, so he couldn't make it. Uncle Chris Too!, Aunt Alex, and baby Silas live in Chicago, which is a little too far for us to have the pleasure of their company on a regular basis, but later this month, the X-man was assured, Aunt Alex and baby Silas are coming to Dallas for a visit.

As we downed our champagne cocktails and bellinis, the X-man had a chocolate shake, and then proved that the family tradition of being board game geeks continues, as he talked Uncle Chris into playing a rousing game of Trivia Adventure. If you're not a board game geek, this is a 1983 kids' version of Trivial Pursuit. There are 2 levels of questions but they are, of course, now almost 30 years old, which was a hoot in itself. The X-man is bright and reads very well, and the level 1 questions are geared towards kids, so he held his own, but all of us got into it. In response to the X-man asking Chris a level 2 question, "Who was the 6-million dollar man?" (Chris didn't have a clue), Francine and I shouted "Lee Majors!" "No!", the X-man said emphatically, "Steve Austin!" Uh-huh. Lee Majors, the actor, played Steve Austin, the character. That in itself struck me as funny, but I thought I was going to spray Bellini when the X-man read the next card, frowned, muttered, "Uh, this is sort of a weird one..." then asked Chris, "Where does the poop live?"

The answer? No, not the alimentary canal...the Vatican.

Nuff said.