Here’s to the hosts with the most, who open their homes, share their culinary (or food-ordering) prowess, uncork bottles of wine and cider and pitchers of sweet tea, and elicit joy and laughter as we nosh, imbibe and solve the world’s problems.
These hosts invite friends to gather year after year to annual events: Sandra and Barry, Nina and Chris, Amber, Brook and Judith, Marcia, Laura and Toby, Jeff and Brad, Faina and Richard, Leanne and Cy, Marie-Claire, the fabulous Mimi, Kathy and Bill, Johnetta and Shay, Portia and John, Joyce of Ashmonticello, Kathy and Bill, David and Sue, Sharon and Rick, Jackie and Nate, Ken and Lucilda, June, Kevin, Yvonne and Ray, and various Second Saturday card-party hosts. Forgive me if I’ve forgotten anyone whose hospitality I’ve enjoyed – it’s not that you’re forgettable, it’s that I forget. (Or maybe it’s been a while since I’ve experienced your hospitality – hint-hint.)
Let me hail the friends who don’t cook a damn thing but come early to help set-up and/or stay late to “break-it-all-down”: Carolyn, Leila and (back in the day) Pattie. I must also applaud the friends who always bring something to contribute even when admonished not to. 
Applause for the eaters/feasters who make banging the pots and all the sweat of preparation worth it!
Each year, it’s lovely to see that we’ve all made it through another year, relatively intact, with our spirits sustained and abundant joie de vivre.
Thanks, hosts, for your love, warmth and caring. Thanks for your consistency – New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, First Soup, August in Nantucket, July 4 barbecue, anniversaries, Christmas Eve, card parties, and other soirees magnificently organized or impromptu, elegant or down-home, cooked from scratch or ordered in – it’s all good.
Breaking bread, chewing the fat, sipping the bubbly, solving the world’s issues in conversations that go deep and then deeper, and strengthening our bonds, are the fuel to fortify us as we fight our daily battles and face our numerous challenges in these tumultuous times. I appreciate and love you all.
Here’s to more good times in 2018 and beyond. 