Day 17: Family Parties
Some of my very best memories of childhood are from family get-togethers and parties. I am the oldest of five children, but we also had four cousins who all lived nearby and were all around the same age as most of us, so getting together with family meant lots of crazy playtime with them. We got together with my aunts and uncles and cousins for every birthday, Thanksgiving, and for special occasions like baptisms and first communions. Our Christmas celebration on my Dad's side of the family always happened on Christmas Eve at my grandfather's house. All of my aunts and uncles were there along with my cousins. There would be a fire in the fireplace in the family room where the Christmas tree, stockings and presents were located. We would eat a big meal, and I always loved being at the 'kiddie table' - those were some good, silly times. After dinner, the adults had coffee and my grandpa, dad and uncles always played a game of pinochle together before we were allowed to open gifts. As a kid, that game always took sooooo long!
On my mom's side, my grandparents had a BIG 40th wedding anniversary celebration when I was about nine years old. It was in a large church hall with a live band and catering. A couple of years before that, my parents hosted at our house a 90th birthday party for my great-grandmother. A lot of extended family members came to that one, some who I didn't get to see all that often because they lived out of town.
By nature, I am NOT a party-planner, so we haven't had big birthday parties for my kids every year. We did have family over for their first birthdays and baptisms, and then just a couple of months ago, I had a big party at our house for my daughter's third birthday. We rented an outdoor bounce house for the kids to play in. A friend who is an amazing baker made cupcakes and we ordered pizza. It was a lot of fun, but even though it was relatively simple, it was still a lot of work. Still, I'm sure we'll have lots more birthday, first communion, and graduation parties in the future, because I want my kids to have the same good memories of family parties that I have from my childhood.
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