So, we had 41 amazing people, and one crazy dog at our house yesterday.

It would seem that we are crazy, and you’d probably have a good case if you were trying to prove it in a court of law. My house is not that big, and if everyone was there that should have been there we would have had 8 more people…but they would have to have spent the day in the crapper, as there was just no more room in the inn.

Seriously,…..Get Lost!

This tradition started when I was a child. My parents hosted my dad’s family - parents, 4 brothers, and their wives and kids, the odd parents-in-law, and his mom’s sisters, and his maternal grandmother and my mom’s parents……It was a big party! My parents had the most amazing house in North Vancouver. Three floors of space and we partied hard every New Years Day! It was the highlight of our year! We couldn’t wait until January 1st. It’s kinda weird, because New Years Day is actually more exciting for me than New Years Eve. I Love My Family!

When my parents moved to Walnut Grove, into a covered wagon right next to Ma and Pa Ingalls; well, the family just wouldn’t fit into their place. The family tradition was in jeopardy of extinction. Aunty Linda, and Uncle Rick stepped in to save the day. We spent a few New Years Days at their house, until they too down-sized into a smaller house with a huge acreage with an amazing pool. Perfect for summer get-togethers, not so perfect for winter get togethers - we wouldn’t all fit in the hot tub. Gross! Anyone for human stew??

I had the next biggest house! So the stress pleasure is mine! I have to say that every bit of stress is worth it. I love having my family together, even if the stress almost breaks my fragile grasp of sanity. I stressed right up until the last minute before we called everyone together and blessed the food.

It’s not so much a stress that we won’t have enough food, but more along the lines, of, “Will we have enough of the right kind of food?” Not so good if everyone brings chips, and one person brings a ham. Then we have ham and chip casserole, with a little coffee cream thrown in to soften things up a little. Doesn’t that sound delicious?

Everything worked out, and we ate - BOY DID WE EAT!. Eat, Eat and More Eating! It reached a point where, I think that people were eating just because it was there. I was good, and didn’t actually eat the lunch - more or less just grazed all day, and was then able to have a little taste of everything that was there. YUM!

Some of the highlights of the day:

My parents-in-law showing up to secretly suprise us at church, but the suprise was on them because there was no church that day! So, they came out and spent some of the day with us. It was so nice!

When Matt of Canadian Idol showed up to sign autographs. According to his manager, they had randomly selectled a few houses for him to make an appearance at, and ours was one of the lucky ones chosen. We screamed, we yelled, and a few of us even fainted - it was so cool to have a real superstar grace us with his presence!

The men in the family got confused, and had a make-do conference….in the kitchen. They were suposed to meet in the man-ly garage right next to the power tools, but a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do, and they sure gaggled like a bunch of women. Maybe it’s not really the women, maybe there’s a power at work in the kitchen that makes us chatter. Whatever the case, it was pretty funny, pretty squishy and pretty noisy!

The puzzlers got together, and drowned out the rest of us as they focused, heads bent down to complete a wimpy 500 piece puzzle. Record Time Completion - Shout out to you all!

What was up with all the hate in the family? It seemed like everywhere that me and my happy, snappy camera went - I was pissing people off. It might have something to do with the fact that almost everyone partied really hard the night before. Something about 3.5 hours of sleep will do that to ya, won’t it?

If you take one more picture of me, I’ll send my Hit Man after you!

Our new family favorite game of “Settlers” came out, and sucked a few family members into it’s grasp. Those strong enough to withstand the pull were not strong enough to withstand the pull of Mad Gab, Crib or Scrabble!

All in all it was another wonderful family gathering. It’s pretty cool to see my kids getting so excited about playing games with their extended family. Four Generations under one roof. I think the most precious memory for me was seeing my 8 year old daughter playing Scrabble with my Dad’s Aunt Ruth! That was something that I grew up doing, and to have my daughter get to do the same, and be so excited about it. Well, it just brings a tear to my eye. Not really but it sounds good , doesn’t it? and I was was very happy, just not “crying” happy

I hope that your New Years Day wasn’t spent in the toilet, and that you had a totally relaxing day.

This is going to be a great year. Live long and Prosper!