When a few of us gathered at my sister Sharon and husband Travis’s house yesterday afternoon for this small party, more than half of my family was there- Sheila, Kathy, Steve, Sharon, Maureen and myself.

As a family, we try to pull this off each year but, of course, covid pushed those plans aside last year. Even so, we rebounded nicely and had a great time yesterday complete with all kinds of food, including clam chowder, a couple of different chicken dishes, salad and I believe they were boiled potatoes. Combine that with a number of appetizer foods like crackers, cheese, pepperoni, popcorn and more and what you’ve got is enough food to feed a small town.

Even so, we could all easily hold our own… and that wasn’t even the end of the food. My niece Jenna made a few different dessert things like cookies-the ones with the chocolate kisses in the middle and brownies that had frosting on them. Nice job, Jenna! Good stuff!

After everyone ate, we did the grab-bag. First every person selected a number to determine when you would select a gift. I had the number 8 and ended up picking a scented candle. It looked real nice and probably smells great, but we(Ann and I) decided to give it to Eric as a small Christmas gift. Among the gifts for the grab-bag were a birdhouse along some with some bird feed, coffee mugs and blankets. Most of these gifts were also set up real nice because they came in really colorful holiday bags. My gift was far simpler, a musical trivia book wrapped in some Christmas wrapping paper. I can’t remember who came away with that gift, but it was the bargain gift of the whole group.

Ah well! It was still a lot of fun anyway to see everybody again, to talk with everyone and to catch up with what’s happening. This party was exactly what a party is supposed to be: a time not only to catch up but to laugh often at and with one another about things old and new. Laughter has always been easy to come by when my family and in laws all get together and this time was no different.

Here’s wishing family and friends alike a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!