Husband Joe is now back to work after a two-week break, and our six youngest children are also back in school. It was wonderful having everyone home, but it is always nice to get back to a normal schedule.
On Jan. 6, we went to Jacob and Emma’s house for dinner. We had a breakfast haystack, which is almost like a regular haystack but you use breakfast foods.
We had biscuits, broken into bite-sized pieces, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, sausage, ham, tomatoes, green peppers, hot peppers, shredded cheese, onions, salsa, cheese sauce and sausage gravy. By the time you put a little bit of everything on your plate, you have a nice-sized haystack.
This is the first time I had breakfast haystack. I think I prefer it over a regular haystack.
A lot of people in the community have breakfast haystacks when they have their family Christmas gatherings. There are a variety of other foods that can be added to breakfast haystacks like olives, mushrooms, bacon and so forth.
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Also on the menu were Long John rolls, cinnamon rolls, peanut butter bars, rhubarb, orange and vegetable juices, coffee, tea and chocolate milk.
After all of that delicious food, the afternoon was spent playing Aggravation, which was enjoyable for everyone. We had snacks later on. It was an great day to spend time together with family.
On Saturday, we had Joe’s family here for a late Christmas gathering. Ten of his 12 siblings were here so we had almost 90 people at our house.
We had a carry-in brunch. We made fried potatoes, biscuits and sausage gravy, and the rest of the food was brought in.
Among the foods brought in were three big breakfast casseroles, cottage cheese, sliced Swiss, pepper jack, and Colby cheese, venison summer sausage, and lots of desserts, coffee, chocolate milk, orange, grape and vegetable juices.
Later on we had snacks that everyone brought. Games were played and some singing was done. It was a nice, sunny day with temperatures almost reaching 50 degrees. The children spent most of the day outside playing ball and other games.
We were surprised to see Joe’s uncle, Solomon, come to the Christmas gathering. We were glad to have him join us. He brought Joe’s sister and family from Indiana.
With Joe’s dad being deceased, it was nice to have one of his brother’s here. Joe has four married nieces and nephews and all were able to attend. Joe’s parents would now have nine great-grand children and 55 grandchildren.
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Before everyone left, the tables and benches were taken down and the basement floor was swept. The basement is where we had all the food and where everyone ate. We were glad for the help in cleaning up.
Sister Emma, Jacob and family came for awhile as Jacob wanted to say "hello" to all of his cousins.
Before Friday we had managed to complete the 1,000-piece puzzle. We received a 750-piece puzzle from a reader for Christmas, which will probably be our next project.
I would like to thank all of the readers for the Christmas cards and gifts that were sent to us. They were greatly appreciated.
Also, thank you for the encouraging words that help keep me writing this column.
