Birthdays and Parties and Family, Oh My!

December is a busy month, no doubt about it. While Bruce and I have really cut back over the years in the amount of craziness that( a commercialized) Christmas can bring, we have not forsaken the idea of spending time together with those we love. In fact, that is the main focus! And let's not forget that both Bruce and I are December babies so between my birthday and New Years Eve, we can count on lots of celebrating!

grandson Bennett helping me bring birthday cake to Grandpa

Bruce's birthday is tomorrow (Sunday) but we had a little celebration last night with our son and daughter- in- love and our grandson. Today Bruce has gone snowshoeing with his son and a friend and tomorrow will be filled with church, family and friends. He's a lot more low-key about his birthday than I am about mine. He said he spent this whole year thinking he was already 58, not 57 and that realizing this was a gift in itself.

happy birthday!

playing with Grandpa

I am super excited this year. My big brother and my sister-in-love are here this week visiting from Montana. It's been a couple of years at least since our last visit. But what makes this visit extra special is the fact that today when we gather at my little brothers, it will be the first time in 7 years that all of us siblings will be under one roof at the same time. (The last time we all gathered was for my dad's memorial service in Jan. 2007.)  I have 3 brothers and one sister and today we will be together, with our spouses, kids, and our mom. (Pretty sure she'll be over the moon when she gets there and sees ALL of us together-- get your hankies)

Now, here's the crazy thing about our family... we all like to talk. No, I mean, TALK.  Um, as in.... TALK!! Aaaaaand.... some of us are not real good at the Listening part. My little brother said it best when he issued the invitation to come to his house today for what he is calling The Honcoop Hoe Down. He said "Bring your sitting pants and your gabbin' gear... no listening devices allowed. Dis is Da Honcoops!" 

To give you an idea about what I mean when I say listening isn't a strong point,  I give you this memory. My dad and 2 of his brothers were sitting in the living room in the house I grew up in. All three brothers were engaged in intense, enthusiastic conversation as they discussed baseball. All talking AT ONCE. No one listening. Just talking. At. Once. They just got louder. And louder. AND LOUDER. At one point one of the brothers was pounding on another brother's leg to try and be heard!! It was hilarious....

 (granted, we all know that all talk and no listening has its serious downsides)

I don't think we'll be that rude when we meet today. I think some of us have mellowed and learned to appreciate what our siblings have to say. But I don't doubt that this will be a loud, crazy, fun day. With lots of picture taking!!

Since my lil brother said this was a Honcoop Hoe-Down, I thought I'd found the perfect outfit to wear...

seriously, I already had the shirt before the Hoedown was announced.