Our Martinmas Party

Yesterday, after the kids took several carloads of clothing and food to the local shelter, we began to get ready for our Martinmas party. We made new lanterns because I wanted some safer, jar lanterns in the house. They glowed quite beautifully in the dark.

Helen put lanterns on our stone walls and up our driveway.

She made a path of luminaries down to the bonfire.

Our guests arrived bearing wild mushroom risotto, roasted root vegetables, soup, breads, and salad. What a feast. We visited by the fire for a long time, watching it carefully with hoses and buckets as it got a bit bigger than we had wanted. note: we won't be having a bonfire without snow again.

The kids played a wild game in the dark that featured split second timing with stop watches, bursting out of leaf piles, flashlights, and running hard.

Later, we all retreated into the warm glow of the lanterns for the feast followed by tea, gingerbread, and brownies. The kids and many of the adults then joined in a big game of sardines in the dark. It was quite the romp through the house.

What a fun, glowing night. It ended, quite thankfully, with a gentle rain that eased my mind about any bonfire remnants.