King-Cohen-Aubrecht Holiday Open House And The Skydiggers

I missed last year's open house and arrived eight-and-a-half hours past the noon start time of this one, and therefore missed a lot of people who had already come and gone. I also missed some of the food, including Diana's famous east coast chowder, but still managed to enjoy some salmon Wellington and chicken fingers while passing on the ham, bread, vegetables, dip, cheese, pate, crackers, other appetizers and desserts. I brought my own beer, but there was lots that I could have drank if I hadn't. However, I had to sample the contents of the punch bowl. It was very tasty, but I couldn't detect the tequila. Tara's homemade Sambuca packed more of a punch than the punch.

There were lots of friends, and some people who were new to me, in attendance. And everyone was asked to either bring food or cash to donate to the Daily Bread Food Bank, so the event was held for a good cause.

A few of us headed to the Horseshoe Tavern for one of The Skydiggers' annual holiday season shows. The band have some great songs, Andy Maize is a fine frontman (and one of the nicest people around) and we had a great vantage point from the Horseshoe office, where I got to talk to the guys, Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy and others afterward. It's a tradition to hear The Skydiggers perform "Good King Wenceslas."

Horseshoe co-owner Craig Laskey invited me back to his place for a couple of nightcaps and gave me a Fred Sanford "You big dummy" T-shirt for Christmas since he knew I was a fan and got ripped off when trying to order something similar online a few years ago. Thanks again, Craig and Natalie.

I walked out the back entrance of the building and was forced to climb a chain-link fence to escape before walking home in the snow and cold and getting home around 4:30 a.m. It was a good night.