My dad is one of nine children and with that comes a large family of aunts, uncles and cousins. Our family is constantly growing and we currently are at 100 members and counting. Since our family has grown so much, it's hard to find a house that's large enough to fit us all in for family gatherings and with everyone being married and having families of their own, we don't have our Christmas Eve get together like we used to. We do have the evening dessert gathering on holidays now, but my earliest memories are of being at my Grandma and Grandpa's house on holidays and Sundays for pasta dinners. All the cousins played on the steps and in the basement and were running all over the house while the adults were upstairs talking and sometimes playing cards; euchre specifically. That's how I learned to play and it is still my favorite card game to play.
As soon as you walked in, all you could smell was the pasta cooking on the stove with the meatballs and Italian sausage. It was heavenly and I can still smell it to this day. While the grandparents worked on the food, we would pass by and grab a meatball or a piece of soft, white bread and dip it in the sauce! I remember when I was old enough to help with the dinner preparations and my cousin and I were in charge of putting the meatballs on the platter to serve. Let's just say we overloaded the platter and the next thing you know there were meatballs all over the floor in the basement. (Along with being a goofball, I am also somewhat of a klutz.) But we were able to laugh at it and it's still a funny story to tell.
Those Sunday dinners don't happen anymore, but I will never forget the way the house smelled, the sound of all of us talking over each other in that small house and the laughing that all of us did. I would love to go back to those days, but as the saying goes "Life goes on" and that's what has happened. Everyone's families are growing and they all have so much going on in their lives, but we can still get together on the holidays and laugh and have such a great time like we never missed a beat. Those are the best days!
Thank you for stopping by my page and stay tuned tomorrow for Day 5 of the challenge...My Guilty Pleasure.
As soon as you walked in, all you could smell was the pasta cooking on the stove with the meatballs and Italian sausage. It was heavenly and I can still smell it to this day. While the grandparents worked on the food, we would pass by and grab a meatball or a piece of soft, white bread and dip it in the sauce! I remember when I was old enough to help with the dinner preparations and my cousin and I were in charge of putting the meatballs on the platter to serve. Let's just say we overloaded the platter and the next thing you know there were meatballs all over the floor in the basement. (Along with being a goofball, I am also somewhat of a klutz.) But we were able to laugh at it and it's still a funny story to tell.
Those Sunday dinners don't happen anymore, but I will never forget the way the house smelled, the sound of all of us talking over each other in that small house and the laughing that all of us did. I would love to go back to those days, but as the saying goes "Life goes on" and that's what has happened. Everyone's families are growing and they all have so much going on in their lives, but we can still get together on the holidays and laugh and have such a great time like we never missed a beat. Those are the best days!
Thank you for stopping by my page and stay tuned tomorrow for Day 5 of the challenge...My Guilty Pleasure.