We have had a fun year and as we are in our 70s every day I am thankful that we can do this, I am married to a guy who loves to entertain, have overnight guests at our house and travel! We are fortunate and every day I have gratitude for all of this!
So Thanksgiving, choir party and on we go to Thanksgiving! We're ready for 6 (with son Chris and his family) and we get a great phone call from our daughter-in-law Amy's sister Katie saying "We are so happy we were invited and now we will be in town for Thanksgiving" - woohoo - and she helps me plan an Italian dinner and everyone brings something and it was awesome.
Ross as always sets the table (I would not be quite that fancy but I love it), cleans up after and of course loads the dishwasher a few times and puts everything away. But do not forget I clean the house (mostly!) and love to cook and spend a lot of time with this!
And it's a good thing we have a big table to start and have 3 more 18 inch leaves to add as needed. Here's the extended family!
Christmas Day - and anyone who follows my trek knows that Ross loves, loves Cathedrals. So he finds that there is a Christmas service in the Episcopal church, Cathedral of St. Mark, Minneapolis, downtown and off we go back at the same place we were married in August of 1972. It always brings back such good memories and it is a beautiful place for sure!
A little more Christmas Eve - Alex got a very cool tech gadget from Ross' brother and the Jones Dad and son are trying to figure out exactly how this machine can work with just a cup of hot water to get it to spin. I think he might be destined to be an engineer like his Bapa Ross.
We got this ceramic pot from Amy's mom many years ago and it is put to good use all the time. This is granddaughter Lucy this year:
And the same pot, same little girl in January 2009. I'm sure she's thinking "how in the heck do I get out of this now?"
And a little music, giggling, and kids hanging out after dinner - what could be better?
And yes the morning after Christmas eve and I always call this the "kitchen hangover" - this is after a couple loads have gone through the dishwasher.
And on to the FAB6 (we named ourselves) and it's our turn to host and it was Italian and I told them the theme was Wear Red or Be Dead! - not really but it worked. A couple people said they didn't really have red garments but Janelle had red Christmas socks and Mike had a red stripe on his sock and he said he does have red underwear - is he wearing it? There was no security check on that one!
I feel like a proxy mom and it's a good part of my life to listen to younger women and learn from them and we can always help each other - that's the best part! I remember the day Janelle started working in my office and sat right next to me for a long long time. Still doing that:)
Somebody brought this paper wine bag to a house in 2014 and we all liked it so much and someone started putting dates on it and we take turns. So...bottom line.... if it's at our house it means we hosted the last dinner and we must not forget the bag, with wine of course, to wherever it is next and we do take turns and goal is quarterly.
And to start the new year I have been putting old photos and memorabilia on Facebook and relatives are finding it so interesting that a 5th generation young woman has organized a get-together at our house and I'm going to load the table with a lot of the stuff that I have - it is awesome and unbelievable. The silver wedding anniversary in 1941 was my Grandpa and Grandma Schultz's and it says they had 53 people at their house. I do see very often where I get my family reunion, potluck dinners and entertaining genes. First two guys were in the paper in 1931 - called "The Church Reporter" -
Interesting that in the church where my mom and dad got married, the last funeral there before it closed was my Grandma Alma Wolff Sylvester, and I was baptized there. I do notice in this 1931 report that they had both English and German services. That is so awesome!
This was the first house on our family farm and a few years after the "dormer" windows were added. My room was behind those windows and of course shared with a couple or three brothers! It had one small closet.
I think this photo was supposed to be a photo of the cute new puppy but it also shows the first house I lived in for a couple years across the gravel driveway from the "big house" and my mom and dad bought it and it was a converted one room schoolhouse. I really would like to know how much they paid for it! They were 19 and 24 years old.
And this is the church and I remember every details of it very well from top to bottom. The cemetery is next to it and the church was torn down many years ago and it was very sad days.
This is the Wolff (my Grandma's side) family photo and the wedding anniversary of my great grandparents held in Myrtle, Minnesota.
So - on I go into 2019 - ready for another theme dinner in 3 weeks, heading to India which should be an adventure and who knows what comes up next!!!!!
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