FAMILY TIME

We had Mother's funeral this past weekend and had so many good friends and family members join us for several days. Saturday night we had a Vigil Prayer Service and story telling with friends and relatives telling their favorite Mary C, Mother, Grandmother, Great-Gram stories. Three of my boys made video tapes of the story telling and I watched one last night. It was wonderful!!

Sunday our parish priest celebrated the Mass of Resurrection for Mother and his remarks were wonderful--not to mention that he flew in from a meeting just for her funeral and flew back when the ceremony was over. That was such a considerate thing to do for our family!

All weekend our house was full of people. We had all three children and spouses here. We had all 12 of Mother's grandchildren and spouses here and we had all 12 great grandchildren here, plus cousins and friends. Luckily it was beautiful weather so the children played in our big backyard. One of our sons got small pumpkins and hid them in the wooded part of our backyard and led the little ones on a pumpkin patch hunt. Then his wife helped the children decorate their pumpkins to take home. Other children pulled out all the play dishes and a number of them "cooked up a storm" while some got busy with the sidewalk chalk on our patio. The older ones played football and soccer on the grassy part of the yard while adults either sat and watched or joined in the fun and games.

And, of course, we did what our family does best--we ate and ate and ate--thanks to all the wonderful neighbors and friends who provided several bountiful feasts for us! Pictures will follow later! I promise--when I catch up with a few other things around here.