Tis the Season

We celebrated McThankMas with Robb's side of the family this weekend!  Pasta bar and lots of goodies.  YUM!  I gained 4 pounds.  I'm trying to work it off but cripes.

It was a lot of fun getting together with everyone.  

Hadn't seen some of them since last year and a couple for several years.  And met a couple new grandnephew/nieces this time too.

Also had a wedding shower for a nephew and his fiance who are getting married this next summer.

My sister-in-law knocked herself out with her planning and organizational skills.  She's amazing!

However after only cooking half the pasta, we still had twice as much as we needed.  

Cathy also made some fantastic centerpieces on the tables.  There were 3 Christmas Vacation themed. One A Christmas Story 

and even one for Robb's mom, based on Hallmark movies with a Hallmark Bingo game.

There was a ton of spaghetti sauce leftover and I brought home the opened stuff so she wouldn't have to throw it out as she was suggesting or tote it home, four hours away.  I got it all canned up yesterday in various sizes so we can use some for pizza sauce too.  

We also have a few quarts of the Elfredo sauce leftover too.  I have been trying to eat it up as much as I can and that might be related to the weight gain issue...  I am doing keto but the heavy whipping cream in it might be kicking my butt.

Jen and I agreed to freeze it in manageable portions as I can't can it easily.

I did find out that if you heat up a bowl of it and then chop up a couple hard boiled eggs and mix it together, it's pretty good!  I used up the last of the hard boiled eggs this morning so I'll have to be creative for breakfast tomorrrow.  Elfredo sauce over spinach?  Not bread, I can't do that.

hmmm

Anyway, we played Apple Schmear and hit apples all over the deck.  I hit one and found myself in a cloudy mist of apple juice!  The kids all cleaned up all the apple bits and washed off the windows. 

Not sure what they were all looking at over the edge of the deck, but my BeReal app popped up and I am a slave to the light of the waffle iron BeReal App.

 Everyone helped with the cleanup and it got clean, lickedy split.  

The house is all decked out for Christmas now.  I'm NOT going to risk my neck, lining the roof with lights.  I'm just decorating the porch this year.  Maybe I'll feel more energetic next year and put a HUGE star and Santa on the roof. HA!  Probs not, even if I DO feel energetic.

Got my nativity up and the porch goose is gracing a beautiful bench, given me by my bestie when she moved.

The circle light thingy was inspired by a decoration I saw at our local Earl May garden center.  I had found a log holder at a garage sale last summer, so I strung it up with lights and positioned a plasticky wreath in the center with lights too.  At night it looks pretty cool!  And then of course, Robb's leg lamp in the window.

There!

AND Robb's bagpipe hat along with the gold colored crown of thorns AND the 18 year old paper star that Meri made in kindergarten for the top of the tree.

Now the rest of the season is mine to enjoy!!!

Well, if I don't count all the things I HAVE to do.

I'm altering a sparkly dress to wear to a candlelight concert this weekend.  A friend from my widow group invited me to go along with her.  Looking forward to dressing UP!

Beautiful Holiday But Glad It's Monday Issue

The last 4 days have been a wild ride!!!

On Thursday, I finished tidying up the house and made a broccoli/onion casserole to take to Jen's aunts for the meal.  I also went and picked up Leon from his mom's.

It had been a long night for Ryan the night before. He and Jen had hung out with her family until the wee hours.

Aggie got to spend time with her other grandparents and I held back because I get to see her every day.  I didn't want to horn in on their time with her.

The Packers/Lyons game was on the tv and while I don't really follow much sports at all, I intently watched this one. Maddy and Matthew were somewhere in the stands with his family, most wearing jerseys from both teams.  

I don't know why I thought I'd see them on tv but I watched clues as to where they were sitting.

Didn't find them. Oh well, there's cheesecake?

Got home around 7ish and watched two episodes of the Haunting at Hill House with Julie (virtually). She's in N Carolina and me in Iowa.  We get on speaker phone together and try to sync up the shows as best as we can, watching movies together.  Been doing this since last February when she moved out there.

I have to admit, this series has freaked us out quite a bit and we need to go lighter with our next movie or series...  The last episode was really good though and actually sweet.  

All our freaked-ness was calmed down.

Friday, I woke up early.  4am I think?  Might have been earlier. It's hard to sleep these days and harder to tell time when you're groggy and the things you need to do for the day are hitting you hard.

I'm awake!  I'm awake!!

Hit Biolife and then groceries for the big family reunion that day.  My cousin, Scott, was there a smidgen before 11am and we started dragging in all the groceries, turkeys and ham.  I didn't let him carry much because he'd had a heart attack a couple weeks earlier and was legally dead twice for a significant amount of time.  He's feeling good now though and really wanted to cook the turkeys, so ok!

I met up with a couple sisters and their families for a quick lunch and then back at it preparing the hall and food.

The reunion was a lot of fun and I visited with immediate family, several aunts, cousins, siblings.  There were 50 people there.  

Lots of board games in the afternoon and a football game on the big tv.

The kids ran uptown to see the town Christmas tree get lit up and were back in time for the big meal.  As usual, there are factions in families and some were avoiding each other.  I've decided next year, we'll need more tables and everyone who is bickering gets their own.

The food was all great and while we worried there weren't enough sides to round out the meal, I still had to skip a few dishes because there was simply no room on my plate!  I regret not getting to that pink salad that everyone raved about later...  AND I didn't have room for any dessert.

The rootbeer keg had something wrong with it and so we had to be careful and fill up pitchers at a time instead of letting the kids get their own.  We only pulled a few gallons at most off of it and did NOT do it justice at all.  I took it back to the liquor store with probably 3/4 rootbeer in it. Oh well.  It was a nice addition anyway. NEXT year, I'll tap it at the store before I leave.  Or not, what are the odds of it being horky two years in a row?

The talent show was shorter but the talents had improved!  

None of my kids participated AGAIN!  Maybe next year.

Everyone worked together to clean up the hall and by 9:30pm, it was all done but everyone was still standing around talking.  

I visited with a couple aunts but mentioned that I needed to get people out the door and how could I do that?  My cousin, the turkey cooker, said but yell it out that we're locking up.  Um yeah but I'd been yelling all evening making announcements and said that I couldn't yell one more time, so he did!  They all filed out the door, hugging as they went.

We're a huggie bunch! :)

Got home and in bed by 10pm.  I remember the first year we did this.  Robb and I didn't get into bed until after 11:30.  We've streamlined it enough now and since everyone helps, it goes much smoother than it used to.

On Saturday morning, I got up at 3am, not on purpose.  Got the house tidied up again and got the gravy in the crockpot, baked biscuits and made one of Robb's breakfast casseroles.  No one came until 9ish.  really?  The biscuits had been in the warmer too long and changed colors so I made another batch.  Two more families came later so that was nice!

One cousin stayed all afternoon while I put up my tree.  

Before

During

Kevin, during

After

That evening, I watched the last episode of Hill House with Julie.  

Sunday was a blur.  After church, I brought home a cheese and fruit platter for everyone to snack on while we decorated the tree.  Only Jen and I ate on it and decorated.  That's ok.  I had Christmas Vacation on while we worked.

I got a pic of the grands and myself under the tree, it was shedding like crazy.

Afterwards I napped in front of the tree for a bit, then babysat Aggie while Ryan and Jen ran Leon back to his mom's.  

She is rolling all over the place now and kept ending up under the tree.  

She likes the dangling things.  I watched Lethal Weapon ( another great Christmas classic) while we played in the living room.

THIS little angel (the daughter of one of Meri's besties and I made the dress) got baptized on Sunday!  Meri was a god-parent.  They spilled coffee on the dress so I'll be soaking it in OxyClean again in preparation for the wedding coming up in a month.

I can't tell you how many pounds of ham, cheese, mashed potatoes and veggie casseroles I ate on Sunday alone but it was a lot and the fridge is still jam packed with leftovers.  

But I was sick of them this morning so I had nachos for breakfast.

ONE of these days, I'll get my diet in gear and lose this weight.

Just not today.

You know you're from a big family when...

Friday: Robb gathered up his brined turkeys and we loaded the cars with everything we'd need for the dinner.  Leon and I met him at the hall to unload then left to pick up the root beer keg.

Leon made this video for me.    

He says it Japanese but I don't believe him.

 We stopped by the house to pick up some things we missed, like a smoked turkey in the smoker, and then went to the hall too.  My sister, Tammy, was already there making her corn casserole and other sides.  Leon bounced off the walls until his favorite cousin showed up,  Tammy's granddaughter, Skyler.  They are definitely two peas in a pod!

 Other sisters, a brother, cousin and many others started trickling into the hall all afternoon.  The tables got set up, decked out with my tablecloths, from Maddy's wedding, that still need washing, along with the black table runners from Meri's grad party.   Salt/pepper shakers from Maddy's wedding distributed, food prepped, etc.

The annual tree lighting was 30 minutes earlier this year than I remembered so I missed it.  But no matter... I was making a gallon or two of gravy and couldn't be bothered.  The kids all made it down there just in time.  

We ended up with about 2-3 gallons of grease/broth from the turkeys.  What do you DO with that stuff?

It was so great hanging with my siblings...  I can't wait until the sister cruise where we can visit without all the cooking and chasing after kids!

A nephew brought his espresso maker and got his son making custom lattes and cappuccinos for anyone who wanted one.  He even had a sign advertising what he could make for you.  The sign is being saved above the ceiling tiles for next year! If we remember where it got tucked...

While I was worrying over the gravy, I heard a weird noise.  I was convinced it was the espresso machine but it was on solid.  Someone said it was a fire alarm but there was no smoke, so I dismissed it...  until four fire fighters came int thew kitchen to look for a fire.  Lights on their truck outside, the whole deal.  

Turns out Skyler's 4 year old brother, who is obsessed with fire engines, pulled the alarm and got to enjoy all the excitement and see the truck up close...

We invited them to stay for food, but the were having a dinner at the station anyway. After they left, my sister Ruth Ann expressed disappointment that they hadn't even taken off their shirts for us.  I guess not ALL firemen do that...  I said something about them helping make a calendar while they were here and Meri was shocked that I'd said that.  But Ruth Ann's comment was ok???   

I guess Ruth Ann says a lot of shocking things but Meri seldom hears me say anything like that.

This is my grand-niece.  Isn't she adorable?

Meri is the one who after watching a movie that I've suggested, wondered if I was old enough to watch it.  She's so protective of my sensibilities...

My dad started feeling ill during dinner so he and my mom went back to the hotel.  Found out yesterday that he had pneumonia and is finally responding to treatment.  Yay!!  He's still in the hospital but I'll take it!

After dinner, the talent show went on.  My fave cousin, Julie, didn't make it this year and her husband is usually the Emcee so his back up is my nephew-in-law who does a great job too.  My brother set up an apron contest and of course I entered.  The girls and I went to the second hand shop that afternoon and Meri found a lingerie snippet, determined to find someone to use it as an apron.  A little snip here, a little tying there and poof!  It's an apron!
She found my nephew Josh to be a willing accomplice.
   

The kids got to vote by standing next to their favorite apron.  I only had one niece stand next to me,.  I owe her a quarter...  Mark's friend, Cathy, won because she was giving the kids fruit snacks that she'd grabbed from the kitchen.  I'd brought them...  She ultimately won the prize that Mark had brought, but since she doesn't cook, she gave me the prize of the pot holder and oven mitt.  YAY!  

The talent show was a hoot.

My brother on the left, hadn't touched his trombone for 40 years until a week or so ago.  He and his son-in-law played Mission Impossible theme song with Annika accompanying.



Lots of talent and great fun.
My nephew Scott, who's son pulled the fire alarm, performed.

and if they didn't have much talent, they made up for in enthusiasm!
Here is Leon doing Cold as Ice, NOT Foreigners version, Minecraft.  Apparently there is a big difference.

Afterwards, everyone helped with clean up and we were OUT Of there before 10pm!  I was shocked!  

Got home and visited with Scott and Amanda until almost 11pm, then I tried to get to sleep but didn't until 1 or so.  I need the clock to not be handy to see from my side of the bed... Robb thinks it stresses me out to see how late it is and I do the time in my head as to how many more hours I have to sleep.  There could be some truth to that.

Wow, this got long.  But it matches how Friday was.  long.  BUT fun.  Robb and I counted up everyone and we came up with 77 people.  Yep...

Thankful for a good get-together.

Whew!  It's Thursday already and this still feels like yesterday!

Sew Relative

 Saturday morning, Robb and I got up early and started getting breakfast ready for the relatives that weren't going home until that day.  All of those had stayed at nearby hotels except for one of my sisters who stayed here until Sunday.

While my mom and another sister enjoyed the piano, Leon had a blast with his cousins that he'd been reacquainted with the prior day.  

Showing off ones toys is always a hit with him.  Until they touch them.

Almost everyone left by 11 or so and I got a call that Maddy's accordion that we'd gotten her for her birthday was fixed.  A couple chord keys had fallen inside of it and the straps needed to be replaced.  We'd bought it from the antique store.  It has an awesome sound to it!  So the kids, Tammy and I ran to retrieve it from the store.  Maddy wanted to take it back to college.

But not before Tammy could try it out.  Tammy used to sing professionally at bars around my home town and anywhere that would have her.  She moved to Nashville to seek her fortune and did with a different sort of fortune, nine kids.  None were able to come with her on this trip this year though.  

The accordion isn't much different that playing piano while laying underneath it, except you can sort of see the keys.

Mama's got a squeezebox!  

That afternoon, the kids ran an errand, so Robb and I put up the tree and got it ready for the ornaments.  Tammy napped.  Then Maddy, sleepy Meri and Leon put on the decorations.  Matthew helped some, but Maddy sent him off to the dining room to work on his paper that's due soon.  She's a slave driver, that one!

After a quick supper, we loaded up the family truckster and headed to Des Moines to see the Jolly Holiday Lights display.  It's a grand fundraiser for the Make A Wish foundation.  It's amazing how many sick kids want to go to Hawaii...

At the end of the light display, Leon got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas.  Two years ago, he wasn't too keen and cried the whole time.  

Santa was scary that year. 

 But this year, he knew what Santa was all about and had a list of things he wanted, practicing the whole way there.  As well as a cookie that he and Maddy had made that afternoon  contained in a baggy because Santa likes fresh cookies.  Santa was so impressed with Leon's kindness!  Apparently another kid had given him a Coke, so the cookie was a nice addition.

Then after slushies, home.  

It had been a long few days so far...  But fun. 

Tammy left Sunday morning.  After church and a lunch with Maddy and Matthew at the HyChi, they left too.  I spent the afternoon sewing!  I just have a belt to make and my outfit for this next weekend is done.  Well, with a little handwork...  But that's what a car drive is for!

Rootbeer Dreams

It's that time of year again!  The weather can't decide what to do with itself.  Some mornings you have to scrape the cars, the next morning use your windshield wipers...  

And the Rootbeer keg for the family reunion has been ordered!  

Since the reunion is in the next town, I've contacted the city hall to make sure that I truly DID reserve the room.  Someone mentioned 79 cent per pound turkeys at Target, so Leon and I went there last night to pick some up.  They were ALL out and only had 2 Butterball turkeys left, but they weren't the price I was looking for.  I need 4-5 turkeys.  big ones.  and a spiral cut ham.  They'll get another shipment in and when they do, I'll BE there picking out my turkeys as they roll out of the truck!  maybe.

We're expecting 50 so far with more that haven't responded yet to my emails.  Each email lists who's coming with how many and what they've promised to bring and a list of what we're still needing.  In the past we got to 97 people, but I am counting the unsuspecting family who followed some of the teenagers into the hall thinking this was the firemen's chili feed... They didn't stick around to eat, but they did come in!  They count!

Meri is looking forward to seeing the tree in the city center get lit up this year.  She hasn't seen that in a long time.  They usually have Santa ride in on one of the fire trucks to do the honors.  All the kids head down there to sing Christmas carols while the adults are scrambling to put all the food on the table for dinner.  Then we eat when they get back.

My brother is going to make a banner that says the year on it, so when we see a big group shot,we will know what year it was without having to do carbon dating.

There is always so much going on that night that I don't get much time to visit, unless you come into the kitchen and visit with me while you and I work.

I'm not sure what talent I'm going to display during the talent show...  There is only so a computer programmer can show off without everyone glossing over...  "and here is how you edit a file in Linux!"   I might have to come up with something else.  

I did my Black Belt form one year and will not do that again!  Not only was I so out of breath that I almost passed out afterward, but one of my BILs took a picture of me and posted it online... Also a cousin dissed me, saying that my niece did hers better...  sigh.  I get no respect...  That's my Rodney Dangerfield impersonation today!  How was it?  Do I get a movie contract yet?  sigh...

Sewing-wise...  I got the facings put into my shirt yesterday and just brought down the sewing machine that does the button holes.  No, I didn't do that yesterday...  Hopefully over lunch I can do the holes.  They're going to take some concentration... and probably booze.  So the button holes, hem and sewing on some buttons is all that's left of this shirt.  Then I can concentrate on getting that skirt to fit better.  Hopefully that's just a couple straight seams and an iron!

I can always wish!

4 days later...

Sounds like a zombie movie, huh? But it's not. Thanksgiving weekend is over. My house is all decked out for Christmas now and the freaky pilgrim people are put away. Christmas lights being put up a few strands at a time and there are tiny bits of our artificial tree all over the carpeting until I get a chance to vacuum it up.On Thursday we had 11 people total, so we were able to fit everyone around our dining room table. My son and his girlfriend got to sit on the piano bench at the end. *the hot seat* They felt like celebrities. Had company arrive that night to stay over.

On Friday is when the big action started though. My daughters, sister in law and niece went Black Friday shopping starting at 6am. More family arrived. Some left and moved into a hotel for that evening. We didn't kick them out, but the house was going to be full for Friday night... Robb took the 3 turkeys and 3 hams(after I sliced them) to the hall and started cooking. I went shopping for a few last minute things and picked up the rootbeer keg with my sister.

After more running around and then stopping back at the house for all the things I didn't want to forget for the dinner, we all ended up at the hall. This place is great! A huge kitchen with 3 stoves and ovens. Maximum counter space. Microwave, extra dishes and silverware if needed. Huge room to set up 10+ tables and chairs. Area for kids to play with the playdough and board games. Like I said, perfect!

The whole afternoon was filled with prep work, visiting, laughing, ordering kids out of the kitchen, etc.The kids went down the block at 6pm and sang Christmas carols with the towns people while the tree lighting ceremony commenced. They got cold and came back before it was lit. When they came back, we prayed and dug in.

Robb counted them all up on Saturday morning with another sister of mine and they came up with 83 people as our final tally. We had 96 last year, but that was counting the people who came in by mistake thinking it was the firemen's chili feed...Some teens and myself tried to take pie down to the police station downstairs, but found out they were all out on patrol or trying to avoid the huge party upstairs that was causing such a racket. Yeah, us! Probably sounded like an elephant luau...

With the help of my younger sister, we managed to embarrass my older sister's minister of a husband. Yes, in addition to getting him laughing, we got him to blush. We were of course discussing the talent show and what talents they could do. I mean, they HAVE 14 kids...

The talent show started when all the perishable items were put away and tables cleared. It only lasted 1.5 hours this year, I think because one of my sisters banned her 5 year old from doing several improptu piano performances like he had last year.

Meri played her clarinet. Maddy played a piano piece. Robb played the bagpipes, and I did my 2nd degree black belt taekwondo form. I had brought my uniform along and I think shocked some of my relatives who didn't know I had been in martial arts for 19 years. (well - 9, I did take a 10 year break) When I got done with my form and sat down, my heart was pumping like crazy through my neck. I think that form should only be done on an empty stomach and after lots of stretches... Stroke city, here I come! But thankfully I calmed down and my heart rate got back to normal during the rest of the show. I need to lose some weight before I do THAT in front of my relatives again. Too many cameras around! Oh! And a cousin, who is not IN Taekwondo critiqued me and said that a niece did hers better... He's not invited next year. :\

Then after cleaning up the hall and loading up our cars, my house then filled up with sleeping bags and kids. I think someone counted 25 people sleeping in our house. All adults got a bed, but all kids were camped out on floors, couches and the futon in my office. Robb and I didn't even sleep there. We made sure everyone had enough blankets and we locked up the house at 11pm and slept elsewhere! Came back at 6:30am and got the breakfast ready.

That next morning a bunch of relatives came over for breakfast, kind of in shifts. Robb and I had biscuits and gravy, eggs made to order, pancakes, juice and coffee available and got more visiting in before everyone scattered back to their home towns all over the midwest.

We've accumulated a lot of leftover things that people left behind. Socks, blankets, gloves and a spiderman hat. Also found a skirt my mom couldn't find and a whole packet of pictures that she was having people label at the reunion. And for some reason a bunch of boy scout booklets from the 50s....

Yeah - and that was just Friday through Saturday morning! Part 2 tomorrow I guess!