by Joyce
My baby sister turns 50 in a couple of weeks.
Last year around this time, she sent everyone in the family an email saying she rented a big-ass house in Deep Creek for the week of Thanksgiving. She invited everyone to come down for the week and celebrate her big day. On her dime. Make that lots and lots of dimes. I'm looking forward to it.
We're splitting up the cooking duties--each of us will take a night to cook, then we'll all make our "specialties" on Thanksgiving. I'm already being nagged to make the apple pie. And of course, we'll all pitch in to make our mom's recipe for the stuffing (made with butter and sausage--definitely NOT low calorie!). I also volunteered to make a couple of breakfast meals (I have killer recipes for bacon-cheese fritatta and orange-cinnamon baked french toast).
We stayed at the same house several years ago for a long weekend and had a blast. Baby sister made the unfortunate choice of a bedroom in the basement next to the room with the pool table. She thought it would be quiet down there.
Right.
My guys took fireworks. And beer. Lots of beer. All the guys played pool and drank beer. And set off fireworks right outside baby sister's window. Heh.
This time, she picked an upstairs room. I'm not sure who gets stuck with the basement room. Probably me. You know what they say about pay back.
Hmm. Maybe I need to get a few more gag gifts for her gift basket.
It seems like the older we get, the more time we want to spend with each other. For the last few years, we've gone on a "Sister's Weekend" every spring. With one sister who lives in North Carolina and one who travels a lot for work, it's one of the few times the four of us can be together. And it's fun!
Does anyone else do anything like this with family members? Or friends? It's not too late, you know!
Just for fun--no prizes--does anyone know what the title of this post is from? No Googling!
Since Paula guessed where that line was from, enjoy this:
14 comments:
I'm drawing a blank on the title, although I know I should know it.
I think it's nice that you and your sisters have these family gatherings. I only have one brother and I see him almost weekly when he comes to visit my mom. But he has four kids and nine grandkids and getting that bunch together is a blast. One branch has moved to Florida and we only see them all together once ever few years, which as it happens, was last weekend!
The truly amazing thing is that everyone gets along. Well, at least the grown-ups. As for the kids: nine kids and only one Wii. You get the picture.
White Christmas! One of my favorite holiday movies.
I'm the baby in my family, have two older sisters. Last summer the eldest was moving from Florida to New Orleans. She stayed a few nights at our other sister's FL home before the move.
I surprised them by flying down, renting a car and showing up unannounced. So much fun!
Paula
Paula, you guessed right! I love that movie.
My sisters and I sound pretty darn good when we sing that song. We used to sing together every night when we washed the dinner dishes.
Joyce, Sisters is one of my favorite songs, sung by Rosemary Clooney (who lived up the road a piece from here), and Vera Ellen (who? actually Trudi Stevens sings, Ellen just lipsyncs) in the movie. I also have Bette Midler's wonderful cover album of Rosemary Clooney songs, and she sings the song with the incomparable Linda Ronstadt. It's one of my favorites to sing in the car or while cooking.
The Thanksgiving holiday sounds great, I'm sure your family will have fun. For the last couple of years my now-scattered kids have all come together here at Thanksgiving, rather than Christmas. We all cook together for dinner, then the next day we go to my mother's for her leftovers, and to see the rest of the family.
All three of my daughters are joggers (one is a serious runner), so they have all, for a couple of years, run the Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day Race, formerly called the Turkey Trot, which is the oldest road race in North America. This year is the 100th anniversary, and so I am letting my husband babysit the turkey so I can walk with his cousin this year. I ran in the 68th race, back when it was a much smaller event, but there's no way I could run 6.2 miles these days. I'm really looking forward to the holiday this year!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YhTKiFEMAg
Enjoy!
FYI, that link I posted isn't to the Rosemary/Vera Ellen clip, it's the one where Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye lipsync...
Thank you Joyce and Jennie!
Joyce, when I watched your link, I loved it and thought, "I should go look up the one with Crosby and Kaye." And there Jennie had it!
Don't the two men look like they're having so much fun?!
Paula
They do look like they're having a blast. I think I might have to watch the whole movie tonight.
Karen, I'm not sure I could even run the .2 part.
I watch that movie every year. It is one of my favorite 'Oldies, but Goodies'. Wanna guess what that's from.
The whole house thing sounds like a lot of fun. Enjoy.
Patg
I like "White Christmas." I cry every year when all the soldiers march in at the end. My favorite oldie Christmas movie, though, is "Holiday Inn." It isn't only a Christmas movie, I guess, since it deals with holidays all throughout the year, but it begins and ends at Christmas. And Bing gets to sing "White Christmas" again...and you know it isn't really Christmas unless Bing sings!
Paula, they do look like they're having a ton of fun. It's a little like the end of "The Pirate" with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland (which is my all-time favorite movie musical, hands down!), where at the end they go into a production number of "Be a Clown" - and you can just tell that they're having a blast. It isn't the characters performing; it's the actors hamming it up for the camera at the end of filming, and it's wonderful!
I love White Christmas, Joyce! When my sisters and I would watch and pretend to be those women, I always wanted to be the skinny sister -- but as a middle child, I usually got to pick last. (Like you, I would be the one to get the basement bedroom near the pool table!)
You have inspired me to do something I've thought about doing for years -- I'm going to plan an all-sisters' weekend in the spring and will include my beloved sisters-in-law, as well. What a fun, inspiring post, Joyce. Thanks!
Hi Judy! Nice to hear from you!
I guarantee you and your sisters will have a wonderful time. I wish we would have started sooner.
I always liked Rosemary Clooney better. I could sing in her key.
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