We Wanted A Big Family Event
When our kids were growing up they never saw a true big family gathering. They grew up as kids of divorce so they were shuttled back and forth between households.
This year my husband and I are finally in our own home. We have all but one of our five blended family kids nearby.
We wanted a family holiday.
An old fashioned family dinner.
The kind each of us had growing up.
We invited the one living parent.
All siblings nearby.
All adult children and partners (except one, but that is another blog)
All grandchildren, nieces, nephews.
Mr.Snarky planned to do all the cooking with me as assistant.
Do you see where this is heading? I thought I did.
Especially since my youngest was announcing her pregnancy to everyone!
And my middle was also introducing his pregnant girl to those that had not met her yet.
And our newest granddaughter and her mother was meeting some family members for the first time.
Blended family fun!
I figured that there would be fireworks for sure.
I know that my good old fashioned family dinners always included some yelling.
Aunt Mary was mad at nephew Drew because he never thanked her for his high school graduation card five years ago.
Cousin Susan was mad at her mom because she gave the family pie recipe to her sister and not her.
Mr.Snarky's family was the same.
But the only yelling going on in my house was at and by the small children.
What did I do wrong? How did I fail by family?
Would my adult kids never know the reality of families screaming at each other over dry turkey and creamy mashed potatoes?
Would they be sent out into the world unaware of what could happen between pass the cranberry sauce and Uncle Joe making a pass at cousin Joan? In full view of his wife, Aunt Martha?
Would they go to other people's family dinners and expect to hear laughter and pleasant conversation?
Or maybe we did something right, my husband and I. Maybe we managed to teach our kids something that our parents families had never learned.
That family gatherings are about the family gathering. Together.
They talked. People who rarely see each other and even less often interact, talked together. They may not meet for coffee next week, but who cares.
They laughed. Everyone passed the new baby around and marveled over how much she looked like her dad. He was the only one missing. (Still away at school)
Mr.Snarky cooked and then before I had finished taking everything out of the oven he called for the buffet line to start. WTH?
I then spent ten minutes scrambling to find spoons and pot holders for food I was frantically pulling out to feed the twenty plus people lined up behind me.
Apparently once the turkey is sliced that is go time!
The only one unhappy was Mr. Snarky who said his turkeys (there were two) were too dry. (They were but we didn't care).
The biggest disaster was when he dumped the stock to make the gravy down the drain. He managed to save a little bit but there was no leftover gravy and it didn't have enough Ooomph!
But the family dinner? We all ate it. It tasted great. It was a success.
I hope that we have lots more of this style of family gatherings. I like them.
We forgot to put out the cranberry sauce.
I still have s load of i t left! You want some? Its delish!
No comments:
Post a Comment