Our smiles had something to do with the rousing chorus of, "just take the feckin' photo, Nick" seconds before.

Totally worth it!

(Also how am I still this much shorter in heels?)

We had a really good night - feeling it this morning!

No but the lady who run the place are from Dublin 😂

If it goes poorly, you'll be the first to know. I'm due for a crash-our on social media 😂

Grand scheme, they aren't too expensive. They carry them in my local HEB, which is good because the nearest Euro import shop is 3 hours away. Makes having a fry-up a real event lol.

Truth 🤣

I really need to spend more time on social media - I miss our chats lol

Nice lol

Thanks.

Most of the time I love my role. Right now I'm having a pity party 🤣.

Of course this means budgeting, purchasing, & renting space needs to start now. Nothing new, I've done this before.

But they haven't.

And so now some of the members who initially were coming are now on the fence, some others refuse to respond. They're the ones who need to stay several days. 5/

This year, I wasn't planning on putting together any family reunions or Thanksgiving. I didn't feel like I had the bandwidth for it. In July we were told we were hosting (for about 20-25 of the closest family). Sigh. Okay, I can do this. It's lovely that when they imagine a gathering, it's here. 4/

Bear in mind, all of our parents (& most of our step parents) are still alive, as are their siblings. They simply, to a person, have no interest in doing the work. However, they refer to themselves as the "elders" in a matriarchal/patriarchal bent. Not gonna lie, it hurts sometimes. 3/

We strive to keep communication free-flowing, fights to a minimum, & offer a hub for everyone to gather whenever. The effort, cost, logistics - all up to us. Not only are we happy to do it (our family is markedly better having a person/place to anchor to), we're fortunate to have the ability. 2/

Thank you!

I've heard some excerpts read via TT, so I'm excited.