We spent Christmas Eve at Treehouse Tavern listening to music and eating an assortment of hors d’oeuvres. Treehouse Tavern is a 180 square foot building on our property, located just a short stroll through the woods from our main house. We used to refer to it as a guest house, but we haven’t had any guests in years, partly due to the pandemic and partly due to our travel schedule. During last year’s lockdown, we purchased speakers and renamed the building to Treehouse Tavern. This is where we typically spend Friday nights. We munch on treats, sip on a drink, and listen to music.
Tonight we heard Tchaikovsky’s excerpts from the Nutcracker, conducted by Arthur Fiedler and performed by the Boston Pops in 1956. We followed that by Firestone Christmas, featuring Rise Stevens and Brian Sullivan. Back in the 1960’s, the Firestone tire company produced Christmas albums and sold them in their store. Rise Stevens was a well known star of the Metropolitan Opera. Brian Sullivan was a tenor who sang with the Met, San Francisco Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Both had wonderful voices.
While we listened to this rather traditional line up of holiday music, we munched on smoked salmon, roasted vegetables, marinated mushrooms, and melted Cambozola cheese with fig preserves. We complemented the food with homemade black pepper vodka, served ice cold. It was the perfect end to a rainy week.