Dinner Invite – I have changed names where necessary for my friends and Bern’s Family
I have touched on the joys of family quite a few times, but the family gatherings with Bern’s Family are filled with laughter, shared memories and the inevitable bottles of red wine.
Bern has a large family consisting of two brothers and two sisters and she is the baby of the family, there is 13 years between her and brother and 19 between her eldest sisters. So the family get togethers are interesting and diverse in nature. A family that has stood together and faced many a challenge and who when they get together it is PARTY TIME!
Her sister Katherine (not her real name) was turning 50 and her daughter Shez had gone to a great deal of trouble to give her mother a birthday she would remember for years. We all managed to keep the surprise of the party well hidden. Yes Katherine expected a celebration but she most certainly was not expecting a party the day before the scheduled dinner. There is more to this story but I will leave that for another time.
It was a fancy dress with the 60”s theme. We all dutifully dressed in our outfits and Cait was the typical Sandra Dee with the little bobby sox and sneakers. Bern’s oldest sister Annabelle (not her real name) joins in with such enthusiasm and is always the first one we call when we have a get together as she is pretty much game for fun and card games and 30 seconds.
Her chosen outfit was the round skirts of that 60”s era which flares out and floats beautifully as she she twirled on the dance floor. What an uplifting sight, pretty short sox and sneakers, shirt in pretty pink with black dots. Skirt flaring beautifully to expose her wonderfully NOT shaved legs. We all giggled and were so glad that Annabelle is so predictable in her down to earth and wonderfully genuine.
We tell her often that she is most definitely
The dumbest – Clever person we have ever met! She is very high up in her company and very educated but give her a simple cell phone to operate and she is lost. Many a times we have phoned her only to be disconnected. She phones right back and you can hear her throaty Ha Ha as she explains she pressed the wrong button. We have learnt to let it ring as more often than not she has forgotten where she put it.
One day she received a call from her mother which in itself is not unusual but his phone call was quite different.
“Annabelle, what shoes are you wearing today?” asked Annabelle’s mother.
Now Ana belle is extremely busy at work and was a little annoyed at the frivolous question. She looked down at her feet to see what she was wearing. Annabelle mother could hear the throaty chuckle that comes from the belly and she responded.
“Um one black shoe and one brown shoe!” exclaimed Annabelle. Annabelle’s mother had been asked by the lady who assists with the house work if she knew where the missing shoes were as she only had a left and right shoe in different styles and colour.
Annabelle had gone to work wearing different shoes. This was hysterical and once Annabelle was aware of this she found herself very self conscious of the difference and suddenly noticed that not only were the different heights! They were different styles.
We were invited to her house for dinner a few years back. It was winter time and we were looking forward to her dinner. On the menu that night was Ham and Pea soup and bread and butter pudding. Anne has wonderful dinners at her house.
We all sat down and were served this wonderful concoction of green water with a few pieces of ham, no peas and a slight taste of salt or was it the lack of salt.
We ate the soup with the cheese rolls and asked for Jam to put on the rolls. Bern’s brother Michael (not his real name) joked that they would need to stop at the KFC on the way home.
It was now time for pudding. Annabelle dished up the pudding with great pride. Bread and Butter pudding and we were all looking forward to the desert as we were a little bit hungry after the soup.
We sat down and politely at the pudding, Janice (not her real name) asked if there was any syrup to add to the pudding and we all tried to eat the pudding. With long teeth we sat there and pushed the raisin around the plate. Eventually Janice decided to fess up and asked Annabelle if she had cooked the bread and butter pudding for the full specified time.
The eggs were still raw and icky and sloppy and no matter how hard we tried we just could not pretend to like the pudding and then the family teased Annabelle about the dinner and her wonderful culinary expertise.
Plates were cleared and the Game of 30 Seconds was brought out which is often the case at these get togethers. Just before we sat down Michael asked who was up for take aways and who was going to accompany him to KFC!!!
I have touched on the joys of family quite a few times, but the family gatherings with Bern’s Family are filled with laughter, shared memories and the inevitable bottles of red wine.
Bern has a large family consisting of two brothers and two sisters and she is the baby of the family, there is 13 years between her and brother and 19 between her eldest sisters. So the family get togethers are interesting and diverse in nature. A family that has stood together and faced many a challenge and who when they get together it is PARTY TIME!
Her sister Katherine (not her real name) was turning 50 and her daughter Shez had gone to a great deal of trouble to give her mother a birthday she would remember for years. We all managed to keep the surprise of the party well hidden. Yes Katherine expected a celebration but she most certainly was not expecting a party the day before the scheduled dinner. There is more to this story but I will leave that for another time.
It was a fancy dress with the 60”s theme. We all dutifully dressed in our outfits and Cait was the typical Sandra Dee with the little bobby sox and sneakers. Bern’s oldest sister Annabelle (not her real name) joins in with such enthusiasm and is always the first one we call when we have a get together as she is pretty much game for fun and card games and 30 seconds.
Her chosen outfit was the round skirts of that 60”s era which flares out and floats beautifully as she she twirled on the dance floor. What an uplifting sight, pretty short sox and sneakers, shirt in pretty pink with black dots. Skirt flaring beautifully to expose her wonderfully NOT shaved legs. We all giggled and were so glad that Annabelle is so predictable in her down to earth and wonderfully genuine.
We tell her often that she is most definitely
The dumbest – Clever person we have ever met! She is very high up in her company and very educated but give her a simple cell phone to operate and she is lost. Many a times we have phoned her only to be disconnected. She phones right back and you can hear her throaty Ha Ha as she explains she pressed the wrong button. We have learnt to let it ring as more often than not she has forgotten where she put it.
One day she received a call from her mother which in itself is not unusual but his phone call was quite different.
“Annabelle, what shoes are you wearing today?” asked Annabelle’s mother.
Now Ana belle is extremely busy at work and was a little annoyed at the frivolous question. She looked down at her feet to see what she was wearing. Annabelle mother could hear the throaty chuckle that comes from the belly and she responded.
“Um one black shoe and one brown shoe!” exclaimed Annabelle. Annabelle’s mother had been asked by the lady who assists with the house work if she knew where the missing shoes were as she only had a left and right shoe in different styles and colour.
Annabelle had gone to work wearing different shoes. This was hysterical and once Annabelle was aware of this she found herself very self conscious of the difference and suddenly noticed that not only were the different heights! They were different styles.
We were invited to her house for dinner a few years back. It was winter time and we were looking forward to her dinner. On the menu that night was Ham and Pea soup and bread and butter pudding. Anne has wonderful dinners at her house.
We all sat down and were served this wonderful concoction of green water with a few pieces of ham, no peas and a slight taste of salt or was it the lack of salt.
We ate the soup with the cheese rolls and asked for Jam to put on the rolls. Bern’s brother Michael (not his real name) joked that they would need to stop at the KFC on the way home.
It was now time for pudding. Annabelle dished up the pudding with great pride. Bread and Butter pudding and we were all looking forward to the desert as we were a little bit hungry after the soup.
We sat down and politely at the pudding, Janice (not her real name) asked if there was any syrup to add to the pudding and we all tried to eat the pudding. With long teeth we sat there and pushed the raisin around the plate. Eventually Janice decided to fess up and asked Annabelle if she had cooked the bread and butter pudding for the full specified time.
The eggs were still raw and icky and sloppy and no matter how hard we tried we just could not pretend to like the pudding and then the family teased Annabelle about the dinner and her wonderful culinary expertise.
Plates were cleared and the Game of 30 Seconds was brought out which is often the case at these get togethers. Just before we sat down Michael asked who was up for take aways and who was going to accompany him to KFC!!!
This made everyone laugh and the evening went pear shape from there. It became a free for all, jokes, teasing, shared memories, hidden secrets were revealed all in good fun and the family reminisced and continued the bond that belongs to a large family like Bern has.
Good times!
Good times!
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