Yes, Bruce's annual Christmas Eve party really was the best do ever! The gatherings around the piano were so fabulous that Barry Pearl and others commented that Bruce should have the party in that room every year, so I'm glad Bruce mentioned that plan in his notes already. Not only was the music and singing great, but the stories were so great too. Not only did Richard Sherman sing "Feed the Birds", but he told this great story about how he sang that song at Walt Disney's 100th celebration because that was Walt's favorite song, and he sat at the piano outdoors and sang that song in front of a large crowd and just as he finished, a bird swooped down and almost collided into the piano. Everyone gasped. Richard was unaware of what happened, but was later told that Walt said, "thank you" for the song.
I've been walking around the house singing Bruce's Jewish Christmas song, "This Christmas" all week, so I was very delighted that he played and sang it for us live in his living room.
The food was all really great and I ate waaaay too much. After last year's fiasco of driving all the way to the House of Pies and being told there was none, we did the smart thing and ordered it ahead of time. It was a big hit and a couple people came up to me and asked if I had any because I really should try it. They didn't know I was the one who brought it, which was commical. What's more commical is that our GPS tries to prononce "pies" phonetically and the computer voice always says, "arriving at House of Peas on your left". Mark and I laugh out loud every time she says "House of Peas". Anyway, we almost didn't have any peanut butter pie and Bruce almost ended up with no house at all when Mark spotted Bruce dashing out the back door with a burned up box. Apparently, someone took the pie out of the box and placed it next to the lit candles on the serving table and the box caught on fire. I was horrified that we could have been responsible for Bruce's house burning down. Surely, he would never invite us again, if that happened. Mark says he thinks something caught on fire last year, and he suggests Bruce not put lit candles on the table anymore.
