Flowery talk

Photos by Maggie Martin/The Times

Beautiful flowers, great food and an eclectic crowd of friends and family who just have a joyous time. (Guests also have responsibilities!)

Those are the ingredients for a successful party any time, anywhere.

And, Stafford and Marianne Comegys' holiday celebration is always the perfect combination.

They host it in their Line Avenue home, the outside glittering with lights, the inside warm with conversation, food by Cotton Boll and Bella Fresca and flowers by Prentis Brown. And, always, Alex Harris and Alex Jr., serving the drinks.

The Comegys are such congenial hosts, and on Saturday, guests ... several just back from fabulous trips around the world ... visited in the dining room, down the halls and in the formal living room, where harpist was adding soft music to the mix.

As always, Brown's creative arrangements ... different each year ... turn the home into a garden. This years edition were a little more contemporary and stunning.

So I am sharing photos of the flowers on the buffet table in the formal dining room.

To see more, including beribboned presents of flowers, go to http://www.shreveporttimes.com/ and click on the photo galleries.

... The John Knight Christmas Party for First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport members was bittersweet this year.

For as long as we can remember in our 38 years of marriage , husband Paul L. Schuetze, and I have attended the pot luck gathering at the South Highlands home of the late John Knight and his wife, Annette. It is a wonderful Christmas memory for us.

John died in the fall after a short bout, with an aggressive bout with cancer.

While he was dying, John remembered the party and how very special it is to all of us. He asked Annette to host it one last time.

She and their daughter, Julia Knight, did. In memory of John.

So we gathered there on Sunday, bringing lasagna, salads, and desserts.

We visited. We sipped wine and cold drinks.

We ate.

And, following a long time tradition, we sang Christmas carols, ending with "Silent Night," as we have always done.

We departed with special memories. (Paul remembered that one holiday season, we picked up Paul's parents who flew in from Washington, D.C., skimming over from the airport to the party.

And, sad, too, because, really another tradition has come to an end.

Thanks, Annette and Julia ... and John. Thanks for memories that can never be bought. They can only be given to us.