Monday, November 19, 2012

Birthday girls

Twenty years apart in age only
When your parents decide to have kids and forget to stop, you end up with wide differences in ages. Today my dear sister Fia is fifty years old, and in a few short days I will turn seventy. Last night all six of us siblings got together to celebrate. Ten years ago we gathered for the same event, rented a karaoke machine and all made fools of ourselves, having a great time doing it.

Last night we went to Fia's apartment clubhouse, a place large enough for us to have a gathering for us all to share a pre-Thanksgiving feast. I guess it's necessary to start stretching your stomach for the Big Day. (smile) Actually, since not everyone could celebrate Thanksgiving together, we had it early. It was wonderful, but of course I ate too much. It's a family tradition, not to mention it's almost un-American NOT to overeat on that one day out of the year. Unfortunately we are extending it out over several days.
Me, Norma Jean, PJ, Buz, Markee, Fia
Whenever we are together, we have the obligatory photo placing us in birth order, oldest to youngest. You might notice a little gremlin behind PJ; that's Chad, Fia's son. It was wonderful to see everyone again. Norma Jean and I talk on video chat frequently, so we didn't have to catch up.

PJ (whose name is really Patricia June but she's always been PJ to the family) is my sister who loves to tell jokes, so she had us all laughing (or groaning) for hours. Buz's name is really Norman Francis, but he has always been Buz or Buzzy to the family. He and his lovely wife Phyllis are hosting both Norma Jean and me for the duration. Markee (which is a contraction of Mary Katherine) lives with her family in Alberta, Canada and is very close to Fia (short for Sofia). They see each other more often than any of the rest of us.

It's only Monday and already there is talk about going to a restaurant for dinner tonight to celebrate Fia's birthday. More food, but at least a restaurant meal is finite, rather than huge mounds of food like last night's dinner, which consisted of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green beans almondine, three different salads, and three kinds of pie with actual heavy whipped cream. Even if you eat a tiny amount of each one, you end up groaning at the end of the meal.

Buz just said that since Thanksgiving is Thursday, we need to plan a couple of big dinners to keep keep up our regimen. One-two-one-two-CHOMP!
:-)

35 comments:

  1. so is norma jean the only one who uses her real name in your family? adorable. every one of them. :)

    happy birthday to both of you sisses.

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  2. Happy birthday to your sister! It's really good that you are a family that can get together for a reunion.
    My youngest brother is 15 years younger. The way he was brought up compared to the rest of us was the difference between day and night.
    I can't begin to imagine 20 years apart.

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  3. Happy birthday to both of you!

    So glad you're having such a fine time.

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  4. What a wonderful reunion for all of you. Hope you are taking lots of pictures and don't worry about the food. Plenty of time when you get home to exercise and diet!

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  5. haha you have a couple good days to stretch yourself to be ready for turkey day...smiles....happy birthday to your sister! very cool that you all are together for it as well!

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  6. Well you seem well fed. Enjoy! What the heck?

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  7. So much fun, what a delight to read.

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  8. It's really too bad that we can't eat massive amounts of food in a short time and have our stomachs portion it out over the rest of the year. Ah well.

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  9. Great looking family. How nice that you got this opportunity to all be together.

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  10. Beautiful sibling photograph...and I love the gremlin in the fireplace...
    :))
    Happy birthday, Jan....
    Hugs,
    J.

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  11. Happy Birthdays! You and Norma Jean look the most alike. Have a great time with the family!

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  12. Happy birthday and happy reunion!

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  13. This was such a nice post DJan - nice to see family have the opportunity to get together and celebrate. What a lovely bunch you are, with nick names to boot for almost everyone. May you both have a wonderful Birthday.
    p.s. we did our Turkey thing last month and I agree - too much food taken in, but OOOH so good. Sounds like a great meal.
    Enjoy the rest of your reunion and blessings to all for a Happy Thanksgiving.

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  14. I can see that your family has the youthful looks gene for sure. Honestly, DJan, you could pass for your 50s and Fia for her 30s.. not to mention everyone in between. What a beautiful group you are. Happy birthday to both of you. I'm so glad you're all enjoying your reunion so much.

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  15. It all sounds wonderful! I'm so glad you are having a great time.

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  16. Seeing you gathered with all your siblings made me smile, and I love seeing the family resemblances.

    Enjoy your holidays with your family. XO

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  17. Love seeing pictures of you and your family, how wonderful that you are all together (would love to hear some of those jokes) Happy Birthday to your sister and Happy Thanksgiving, xo

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  18. Dear DJan, how wonderful for you to be part of a large family. One that gets together for Thanksgiving and celebrates their gratitude for one another. I so like the idea of the six of you eating your way through the week! Peace.

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  19. You all look so happy! I am sure you are having a great time with all your siblings (I’d love to have had sisters – it must be so great to be together.) With all the hiking you do all this eating won’t make a dent on your figure, I declare! Yesterday it was sunny and warm so we went to a park and hiked a bit – the trail was a bit rough and I was pleased to have a cane – I thought about you as this would have been child play for you. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

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  20. Happy birthday to both of you. What a wonderful family!

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  21. I read your list of Thanksgiving foods, and now I'm full...and dinner isn't until tomorrow! It's great that you are all together, and once again, Happy Birthday. You look fabulous; love the photo of you in your header.

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  22. I love the photo of all of you together. What a great group you all make! Enjoy your time. Eat as much as you like. Laugh. Celebrate. Treasure.

    Happy birthday to the two sisters!

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  23. Happy, happy Birthday to you and your Sis. (I can't believe you're 70!) and, I'm so glad you got to spend time with your siblings.

    My baby sister is nearly 10 years younger than me. (We have 5 kids in our family.) She swears that her christening and high school graduation pictures all on the same role of film... compared to my older sister who has about 1,000,000,000 million baby pics of herself.

    Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy, xo jj

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  24. I'm behind again on blogs! It is almost thanksgiving now. I know you are having a wonderful time. Great to see the picture of all of you siblings together. Enjoy!! :)

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  25. Such a superb family gathering, and a time for lots of fun and feasting (which is the reason for Thanksgiving, I suppose).

    I'm off to hibernate — the winter wont of Bears. See you in the spring.

    Blessings and Bear hugs!

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  26. happy thanksgiving djan...i hope you have a wonderful day!

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  27. What fun! Family is what it's all about.

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  28. I like your brother's idea of preparing for Thanksgiving! Although repeating today's meal several times in a week would definitely be too much for me! :p

    You guys look fabulous in that photo! You and Norma Jean look a lot alike. :o)

    Happy Birthday to you and your sister, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of you! Enjoy your visit!

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  29. And a good time was had by all.

    One of my daughters and her partner are both vegetarians and they brought along their own slices of "so-called" turkey. We had a nice dinner and a lot of what we had disappeared — thankfully.

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  30. Such beautiful sisters! Happy Birthday to your lovely sister and a most Happy Thanksgiving DJan!

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  31. What a lovely family photo...cool idea to position yourselves eldest to youngest. Happy Birthday to you and Fia! Have a great time with your family! xo

    Btw, my Mum's family is like that...where there is large age gaps due to my Grandmother having 11 kids.

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  32. A belated Happy Birthday to your sis. I know what you mean about wide age differences. My two sisters are nine and sixteen years younger than me.

    I got a laugh out of your TSA search. I've had my carry on bags searched on several occasions but never for a loaf of rye.

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  33. Happy Birthday to the both of yous! I know it's a special one this year for you D-Jan. I'll be thinking of you soon.

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