Saturday-Sunday - November 30-December 1

Saturday -    another chilly day in NC but the sun shone brightly.   Our boys went to a surprise 60th birthday party for their friend Andy,    Brooke invited Mark and me for leftovers.   Played some games - Easy Money with Luke and Jokers Wild with Maeve.    Annette made her wonderful sauce for the tortellini (my Mom's recipe) with lots of celery and onion chopping.    We have 22 coming for dinner tonight....

Watched Notre Dame beat USC but a hairy game for sure.    Folks started arriving around 4ish.   Appetizers, drinks, euchre, football, visiting, etc.    And then time for the big meal,...the tortellini was excellent (Grandma D would be so proud), along with lasagna (thanks Leigh), salad, (Brooke) garlic bread (Judy) and wine!!!    DELISH!   

After the cleanup, 2 big poker games were underway, along with more euchre.    Then we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Drew who will be 25 tomorrow (12/1).   

The birthday boy and his fiancee, Tessa

Our "Littles"

Blair, Maeve, Luke

HUGE thanks to Brooke and Michael for their hospitality over this Thanksgiving weekend -]

hosting so many in their home, providing a marathon of good eating and best of all....

the camaraderie with our family!

Said our good byes to most of the kiddos as they are all leaving tomorrow along with Brooke's family!  AWESOME weekend!!!

H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y   D R E W

Drew (aka Drewby)

Oh my gosh....our oldest grandson is 25 and getting married next October.    So fun being with he and Tessa this weekend....wishing them all the best with their planning and bright future ahead!

Sunday - winding down the weekend.    Breakfast and then off to noon Mass at St. Charles Borromeo with Father Ken.   He continues to amaze us as he's 80+ years old....always wears sandals.

A lot of travel going on today  - Drew and Tessa driving back to Cedar Rapids, IA; Michael flying to Los Angeles; Brady to Notre Dame.   Davis is home in Winston-Salem; Karen (Auntie), Mike and Theresa arrived safely back to IL.

Played LRC (Left, Right, Center) with Mark, Annette, Luke, Maeve and myself.    Grandpa, Grandma and Annette were the winners.

We had leftover tortellini, salad, bread and wine for dinner.   Ryan joined us and then a good game of 5-handed euchre with Mark the winner.  

We said good bye to Brooke and Blair and then back to Philip's for family zoom with 8 siblings.    Thanksgiving recap, planning Chamberlain Christmas, niece Sarah and family and nephew Ed and family are buying new homes, Tom H having some serious back issues. update on Tom C's new promotion as bank president, etc.

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS...

Carlos, our grand cat

Huge thanks to Philip and Annette for their warm hospitality these past 4 nights and all the good food, euchre, LRC, easy money, wild jokers, bang, etc.

This family is almost ready for Christmas!