House full of people

I have a large extended family. My dad is one of 5 and each of them had at least 4 kids. I believe the final count of Provost grandchildren was 27. This year for Christmas one of those families descended upon my cousin Bob's home for the holiday. Bob is from on of the smaller families, only being one of 4. He lives in Marietta, which is only about 25 miles or some from us. Somehow, though, we almost never see him. At Grammy Provost's funeral we learned we'd all be in the same city (more or less, since Atlanta is taking over all of North Georgia) and said we'd make a real attempt to get together. And we did.

Bob and his wife Vicki packed up the whole lot of them and carted them down here to my house yesterday. I never did get a firm number of people, but it was pretty tight in here. It was fun, though. They only stayed for a short time, long enough for coffee and dismantling a cute little gingerbread house. It's easy for me to distinguish my own cousins, of course, it's their kids I can't keep straight. And the place was lousy with them. They were delightful guests! Polite, but they made themselves at home without me having to put a lot of effort into hostessing. And, they all seem to love babies. Sarah was passed around the entire crowd and she did well. It took her over an hour to decide she'd had enough.

No one seemed bothered in the least that the place was a pig sty. And my Uncle Al, who I haven't seen in years, was here, which was a surprise! He's looking great, I only wish I'd had more time to visit with him. Kate was shy and clingy for approximately 5 minutes, then basked in the glow of all the attention.

Yesterday was also Joy's birthday and we celebrated it in the evening after the aforementioned gathering. Steve made her a cake with real caramel icing. He didn't realize that caramel involved brining his concotion up to 238 degrees and then letting it cool again. There was some griping. Then, in his haste, he frosted the middle layer while the icing was still somewhat warm and, when he placed the top layer on, there was a certain amount of sliding involved. I thought it was very cute, especially when he and my dad opted to rush the cake outside to speed the cooling process along. All in all, the cake looked pretty good. And tasted wonderful.

Kate celebrated the Joy's birth by donning the cowgirl accessories Steve & Joy got her for Christmas. She tried to pull her 6-shooter on Joy when she arrived and say "stick `em up, Jo Jo!" but she couldn't get the gun out of the holster and she couldn't remember her line. Oh well. Somehow, I failed to get a picture of the birthday girl. Here's the cowgirl, though.