I have been wanting to blog about this for awhile, but haven't
really known how to tackle writing about it. My style is usually to take
notes every day and do an accurate recap of events. That is not possible
this time. I was too busy to keep track of everything being "the
host" of the event. My first thought was to look at my meal
organization schedule, but that got all jumbled up and food planned got mixed
around. AND my computer has issues so my main computer I normally use isn't
available for me to load photos onto. I'm using our kitchen laptop right
now but don't have photos to go with my blog. I'm all out of sorts. :)
But I figure I'd better at least write something not too far away from the
event so I remember details. I've had lasik in my right eye since the
event and we hosted some friends for New Year's. So much going on!
I must thrive on being busy because I don't mind it, but it makes my
memories all foggy. Much to my disappointment, I had to wear my glasses
the entire time (having lasik requires no contacts for 3 weeks). I don't
do so well with glasses. My correction makes glasses seem like everything
is moving when it isn't and made me have bad peripheral vision. I knocked
over a lot of stuff.
I'll say first as a general thought that the gathering OVERALL was
amazing. Dave was absolutely thrilled to have all his siblings and mother
all together. He and I enjoy hosting so we make a good pair. The
LaMarche family members are thoughtful, kind, funny, easy-going, flexible, and
grateful.
The first thing to note is that Sean and April had an opportunity
with Sean's work and timing to come out a day earlier than Josh, Lisa and
Martha. Sean's normal work hours are 5pm-3am. Apparently he's used
to being awake all night, so he chose to pack up his family of 9 and drive
through the night Monday night/Tues morning. They left PA at 5 pm or
something like that and arrived at our house Tuesday morning at 8:30 am!
I had some baked french toast, scrambled eggs/cheese and hashbrowns ready
for the group when they arrived Tuesday morning. After the meal we all
hung out and helped Sean and family unpack and get settled. April is a
real worker in the kitchen and was always willing to help out with meal prep or
clean up. I had pre-cooked some pulled pork the day before so we made
some mac n cheese and ate pulled pork on buns for lunch along with some
veggies. Baked teriyaki chicken, rice and broccoli for supper. The
Sean LaMarche family ages of kids are 16, 15, 13, 10, 9, 7, and 6. Those
are approximate ages. Getting snapshots of families years apart makes
kids growth really obvious! All the kids are well behaved and cousins
connected quickly. Bowen and Calvin immediately started on legos.
Lynnea and Violet connected and ended up sleeping in Violet's stop bunk
bed each night. Adalynn and Vanessa hung out and the older kids mostly
hung out with adults and enjoyed card games at night. They taught us (and
gifted us) a game called 6 Nimmt. Nimmt means "takes" in German
- all the instructions are in German so you have to learn by watching.
Easy to pick up, fun to play.
Tuesday sometime Dave, Sean and some kids went out to buy a
Christmas tree.
Next morning (Wed - Christmas Eve) was sausage gravy over
biscuits. Sean and kids set up the tree and decorated it with our
ornaments. Violet and some other kids wrapped garland and red bows on the
stairs. We expected everyone else's arrival that day so we kept up with
their travels. Martha arrived in the afternoon, Josh and Carrie arrived
but first checked into their hotel, Lisa and Sten arrived...and we were all
together! I was preparing dinner toppings, etc...the plan was chipotle
chicken rice bowls, chips, salsa and queso. Whipping up that meal with
tons of kitchen helpers was a breeze! Rice, topped with chopped grilled
chipotle chicken, black bean/corn salsa, lettuce, mexican cheese, sour cream,
jalapenos, cilantro, tomatoes, etc...it was fantastic!
We borrowed a 6 foot table and some chairs that we set up during
meal time only - otherwise it was in the way. We used the countertop to
the right of the sink for "buffet style" serving.
One of my favorite parts of the week was right before mealtime
we'd all gather in a huge 26 person circle and sing a song before praying.
Usually it was the doxology. We have some amazing singing voices in
the group - every note gave me chills. And what a blessing to all have
commonality in Christ. There was no "awkward religious oddball"
- we all claim Christ!
The rest of the night was games/etc. We prepared the
cinnamon rolls and cut up a big bowl of fresh fruit for the next morning.
Thursday morning (Christmas day!) we baked up the four egg
casseroles (one cheese, one sausage, one bacon, and one 2 meat), two pans
cinnamon rolls, and a huge bowl of fresh cut up fruit. We had every color
of fruit! Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwis, grapes, bananas.
Breakfast was delicious!
After cleaning up breakfast Lisa kicked-off the gift exchanges for
kids/adults. The kids exchanged gifts (each brought one and it was
supposed to be a white elephant game but we decided the kids couldn't handle
"stealing" from each other). All ended up with something they
liked! Kids off to play. Adults did gift exchange - Emma, Kristina,
Emily and Alyssa joined in adult gift exchange. Rule was to bring a gift
worth about $10 for the white elephant game. All have numbers, then go in
order choosing gifts. Next number in line has option of stealing gift or
opening a new one. Fun! Gifts I remember being handed out were
Starbucks gift cards, york peppermint patties, cashew brittle, whiskey, mugs,
sock monkeys, crackers, peanut butter cups, pens, scarves, dark chocolate tim
tams, Sten was given verbal award for the gift with the most thought put
into it.
All the kids packed up to go swimming at the hotel where Josh and
Carrie were staying, which was a nice break for those who stayed home.
Rachel brought over some paper and showed the older girls how to make
these pretty paper snowflakes. Emma put three together to make a 3D
snowflake - so pretty!
Some people had lunch meat/chips that Carrie brought for lunches
prior to going swimming.
I stayed home with some others (April, Martha, Rachel, older
girls) and prepared Christmas dinner. Ham, green beans/bacon, and mac n
cheese. Martha made up the pans of mac n cheese, Lisa put a glaze on the
ham, and others helped with green bean meal. Lisa had brought up a lot of
buns so we put those out also. Sean/Josh carved ham. Everyone
pitched in with meal prep/serving, it was so nice. I almost felt like it
was easier having people here than when I'm on my own at home! Eclair
cake.
Conversations seemed to flow naturally, every room in the house
was filled with people. Lots of card games were played. Josh learned
strategy for the game BS. Sten organizes 6 Nimmt cards better than anyone
else, and I discovered Instagram. Jokes about hashtags and "ain't
nobody got time for that!" were frequent.
Friday the plan was to make pancakes/sausage but we had so many leftovers
from previous breakfasts that we reheated a lot of food. Egg bakes,
sausage gravy and biscuits, cinnamon rolls, etc.
The day was spent at Bethany Bible Chapel. We had reserved
the coffee nook, gym, and kitchen for our family's use most of the day.
We packed along lunch and supper food and ate both meals there. Set
up volleyball, 9 square, and enjoyed playing more games, coffee, and food.
I had a hard time playing volleyball with my glasses. But it was
still fun. Martha had a tough experience that day when her knee swelled
up to the point that she couldn't walk. I made a run to a pharmacy for
her (her boss called in some paid medication for her) so she could function.
We had lunch meat/chips again for lunch, and heated up Lisa's black bean
chili with toppings/chips/salsa for dinner. A big plate of chocolate chip
cookies that April baked a day or so earlier got consumed. Calvin may
have eaten half the plate of cookies.
Saturday morning was supposed to be something but we ended up
putting up a continental breakfast bar. Cold cereal, english muffins and
bagels to toast, and some leftovers. People felt like eating up leftovers
was smarter than cooking new, and we had plenty, so we went with it. We
knew everybody was planning to leave Saturday except for Sean/April and family
so we scheduled in our visit to Waterloo Trampoline and Tumbling Center right
after breakfast. We jumped and jumped for two hours. Snapped a lot
of family photos, including one big group photo that Rachel was so kind to take
for us. Everyone had fun at the gym! Many thanks to Lee and Linda
Whitmore for allowing us to have such a fun time there. Some planned to
leave from the gym but all decided to come back to our house for lunch.
There was plenty of food so it worked ok.
Lunch was reheated ham and pulled pork to put on buns, mac and
cheese, veggies, green beans, and a cheese/cracker plate.
Ping pong games were played, but I don't remember when.
Emily, Alyssa, and Corban are all good players!
Josh/Carrie and family left. Sten/Lisa left, Martha left.
Martha left but then turned around to come back since she had forgotten
to get something, plus, she'd asked for a "to go" bag of leftover
food. We packed her up a lot of goodies and sent her on her way.
Sean/April and crew - what did we do when everyone left? I
have no clue. I can't remember that day! haha! Dave doesn't either.
I bet we cleaned. And played more games.
Specific memories of each person involved:
Martha - poor knee inflammation. Loves to help in kitchen.
Enjoyed gift exchange game. Snuggled with oldest girl grand daughters.
Josh - happy. Learned to play Speed and taught nieces/nephews.
Carrie - always willing to help! Brought yummy lunch stuff.
Told Vanessa she'd mail her pink sparkles for stocking.
Austin - wanted to play perler beads but didn't get to. :( Didn't
enjoy volleyball coaching.
Renee - played with Violet and Lynnea
Wesley - got out viewmaster toy and broke it, haha
I'll try finish others later...that's all I could finish right now.
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