Day 21: Family

Last week my side of the family came over to celebrate Tessie’s 13th birthday.

I invited them to come over at 5:00 pm. My brother-in-law and my niece texted that they would be a little late coming to the party. Not a problem. They ring the bell at 5:30 pm. They are not late. They are actually the first ones to arrive. My mom, my sister, and my niece call at 5:50 pm to open the garage. They are here and they need help to bring in my mom’s pastitsio and Greek oven potatoes, requested by Tessie. My nephew comes at 6:00 and his mom and sisters follow at 6:40 pm. Sorry. I was on a waitlist for he vaccine and I needed to stay close to home in case they called. Of course they didn’t.

My mom, my sisters, the husbands, and I sat in the dining room while the kids sat in the kitchen for dinner. The kids (8 kids, aged 9-24) hung out, laughed, and played. Other than putting dinner out and then about an hour later, dessert, us adults relaxed. They ended up leaving at midnight, with me holding my nephew’s hand as he drove off, reenacting our goodbyes from 20 years ago, but back then he was in his car sight and now he is driving. And of course the Oswego goodbye. I am definitely the crazy aunt!

This week my husband’s side of the family came over to celebrate Tessie’s 13th birthday.

I invited them to come over at 4:00 pm. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law, along with my niece and nephew, came at 3:45 pm. My brother-in-law, nephews and niece came at 3:55 pm. My mother-in-law calls at 4:00 to open the garage. She was here and needs help to bring in her spanakopita (spinach pie) and green beans and potatoes, requested by Tessie. They made no mention that they were early, even though they watched me take the last of the appetizers out of the oven.

As the kids (5 kids aged 2-9 as well as my 3 teenagers) ran around and screeched and laughed, my sister-in-law and I sat in the dining room for about 5 minutes before the kids came in to announce they were hungry. We got up to give them some appetizers and start setting dinner up. As soon as I finished eating dinner, I got up to start cleaning up dinner and getting dessert ready. They ended up leaving by 6:30 pm. Hugs and kisses for everyone, but the kids were done. They were ready for bed.

The two families are day and night, but I love them all dearly and I am grateful that we found a way to celebrate Tessie all together, separately. Hopefully next year we can all be together on the same day!