Saturday, Feb. 20

We were up at 7 a.m., so we could get ready to go to Son and Daughter-in-Law's house a couple of hours away for a family gathering. We left home around 9 a.m. and arrived at around 11 a.m.

Family began arriving right away, including Grandson and his family, with newborn baby Great-Grandson. What a cutie! Naturally, I took possession of him right away, and held him for a long, long time (see a snapshot of him in an upcoming blog). He was, of course, the center of attention today, as he was passed from person to person.

While I was doing this, Mother and other women in the family heated the soups and laid out the deli meats and cheeses for lunch. Thirty-seven of us gathered, though not all of us ate lunch. Some dropped by for dessert only. Lunch was a choice of 11-bean soup with ham, chicken noodle soup, deli turkey and ham and cheese sandwiches on a choice of whole wheat bread or wraps. Desserts were chocolate and white cupcakes, or peach cobbler, with a choice of vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry ice cream.

After lunch, I distributed gifts from Mother and me to those who have birthdays this month or in the near future. Three of the lady honorees received gift packs of bath salts and lotions that we made. A photo of these gifts will be in an upcoming blog.

For a Granddaughter, I put together a gift pack consisting of a bundt pan containing a jar of friendship cake starter, a hunk of friendship cake, and the recipe for making her own cakes. Each year, I give one of these cakes to Son for his birthday, but it'd get pretty expensive to make the cakes for everybody who requests them. However, I'm perfectly willing to share starter and the recipe.

For the other Granddaughter, who is trying to lose weight to bring down her cholesterol and blood pressure, Mother put together a package of Weight Watcher booklets and information.

We were entertained this afternoon, when we gathered on the front porch to hear Nephew and Son play blues and bluegrass music on their guitars.

Later, we gathered for family photos, and then Hubbie, Mother and I headed home around 4:30. Since I didn't have anything planned for supper tonight, we stopped by a fast food restaurant and picked up cups of chili.

At home, we watched our favorite college basketball team play to a heartbreaking loss. Boo. Spent the rest of the evening watching one-hour shows I'd recorded on DVR.

Funny: Hubbie was unaware that the knob on the inside of the bathroom door had fallen off when he visited and pushed the door shut. So when he was ready to exit, he couldn't get out. Thanks to our noisy and boistrous family, it was a few minutes before he was able to get anyone's attention to open the door from the outside. I guess if he'd been in there much longer, we would have eventually missed him and sent out a search and rescue team.