Boil Them Cabbage Down

We hosted a corned beef & cabbage dinner today for our many branches of family. Betty and Dick brought the corned beef, we did the vegetables, biscuits and dessert (bread pudding). Lots of other additions to the table including cookies, pickles, cake and more!
Food is always a nice way to get people together, but it's the conversations and laughter that come from these events that keep me wanting to do them. Hearing stories, comparing pet peeves and how we deal with them, getting the latest gossip, watching the children play... good for all of us to be part of.
This entire weekend is special for me, I have all three of my adult children under our roof, along with my grandson. Having a few days of living together, putting meals on, cleaning up the dishes... dropping all pretenses of what we want to be or aspire to do... remembering things from thirty years ago and laughing, or quietly contemplating... not many families have opportunity to do this. As our lives take different turns, I wonder how often this will happen in the future... and realize how precious these days are. So, we put away our chores for the most part, and appreciate each other and all that we have together, knowing that this weekend in September '07 will someday be reflected upon as one of those times we were all together.
Part of today's magic was building Avery's idea of family, including his great-grandparents Bibeau, great-grandparents Davis, uncles Toby and Bryan, aunts & uncles, cousin Hunter, SK, Dick & Betty... along with us of course. Jen and Katie helped A with the little fiddle, with Katie accompanying on the piano... a lovely serenade.
Boil Them Cabbage Down is an old-time tune that gets played a lot by beginning fiddlers, some day Avery will be playing the tune, I'm sure.