Tie me a bow

My earliest memories of Thanksgiving dinner were all at the lovely River Hills home of my grandma Kaka and her charming husband Normie.  Since their marriage was a second for both, the holiday brought together their two families making an already joyous jubilee even more jolly.  Gretters, Sam and I spent months anticipating the event and its fixings - it was always a real celebration.

Sadly, Normie passed away of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, a few years ago.

Sam and Normie - always one to get down

on the ground to play with us kids

The legend showing us

how it's done at Eaton's Ranch

With the kids having more kids (and we're talking a LOT of kids - more on that later), the grandkids going off to college, and the increasing cost of transcountry airfare, the Thanksgiving tradition of always getting together as a big bubbly bunch began to fall apart.  

But this year, Kaka brought it back with some serious style. 

While I don't have a picture to prove it, Normie was a notorious wearer of the bow tie, and a fabulous one at that; he wore it better than anyone I know.  To honor him and his high-class wardrobe, Kaka requested that all the boys dress up in the celebratory costume this past Thursday evening.

Sadly I was having too much fun to snap

more shots than this, but please note the ridiculously cute

nature of small little boys in bow ties

Now while that was all fab and wonderful for the majority of the males in my entourage (my dad - who loves to throw a black tie event like no other - could tie one in his sleep while my little bro - after inheriting Normie's top-notch collection - wore one every day to high school), my European half wasn't quite as well prepared. 

To his credit, he had successfully tied a bow tie once before: September 10th, 2011 to be exact.  We had been invited to a Swiss wedding reception with a black tie dress code (or "smoking" as they like to call it over there - don't ask, I don't get it either).  I had tried to convince him to go for the easy pre-tied bow, but he was determined to do it the old school way.  Unfortunately, we both forgot that he might need a little extra assistance in getting dressed in that particular outfit until a measly fifteen minutes before we were scheduled to head down to the party.  We spent those final few minutes in a full and utter panic madly searching for the best youtube videos on the feat (inquire within if your dress code deems a lesson necessary).  Eventually, he pulled it off only to learn that of the ~100 males in attendance, only 2 didn't take the pre-tied route.  Oh well.

Anyway, given that it was nearly 2.5 months later (and I'd taken the liberty of pouring him a few delicious glasses of the below), Stefan had forgotten much of his sophisticated stuff. 

Some unreal wine from the friendliest family

vineyards that we visited while on a Krieg family tour

of California wine country this past August -

more of that to come.  

So we kindly asked my sweet brother Sam to help out:

"Oh you need my help now do you?"

"Now listen up here mister..."

"...if you ever hurt my sis, I know where you live.

And let me remind you, I can benchpress two of

you for dinner and dead lift four of you for dessert."

"But seriously, you're a great guy.

But seriously, I am watching you."

One happy bow-tied (and slightly tipsy) camper

The event was filled with a plethora of divine dishes, free-flowing Veuve, delightful conversation, and a good helping of overindulgence - all in all a fabulous evening.

Tune back in tomorrow for one of the finest Krieg family traditions: the Candy House.

xoxo

KK