Manger Makeover

My family is prolific, your typical Irish Catholic types. We have 26 family members at Christmas gatherings, spanning four generations. So when it was our turn to host the event, it didn't take a genius to figure out that the suburban house was not going to work very well. It was then that my wife and I hit on the idea of a Manger Makeover.


OK, so a garage is not technically a trough for horses nor does it have that biblical cache of manger. Give me a little license, please... We decided that the garage had the square footage to seal the deal, but what about our messy possessions? Kathy is resourceful, and thought that they could be hidden for under $50 by hanging sheets on the sides of the room. (12 sheets bought on line from a hotel supplier) We strung twine through a sewn pocket on the top of those sheets that could not be stapled to something solid. Then, we bought $20 worth of on sale Xmas lights to string across the dining area. These were stapled up, except for the garage door, where we used clear packing tape.

Two 15,000 BTU heaters were fired up for two hours before the event. When Nathan, the two year old toddler, arrived we turned them off and put them away. Free Christmas MP3 music was downloaded for further mood enhancement. A good time was had by all during the dining and even more fun when we moved to the living room for the Chinese gift exchange.