Nieces Kathie and Julie planned a small family lunch on January 1, and they brought the majority of the dishes. Since husband John wouldn’t touch black-eyed peas, I had never followed the standard Southern menu of collard greens, black-eyed peas, and cornbread – all dishes to bring good luck in the new year. We had those three items plus ham, apple salad, a creamy lime Jell-o salad, and a sweet potato casserole. To top off that plentiful meal, I passed around Date Pecan Candy, a recipe our mother made for the holidays. Bob hadn’t really remembered the taste and was glad to have it again. Of course, being almost pure sugar, no one would want it again for another year, if then.
I scrambled to take a closeup so I could see faces and missed Michael, David, and dog Gumball.
Beth and Bob spent the night and did what they always do – made themselves very useful. I happened to take a photo of Beth cutting Panettone (pronounced with four syllables), an Italian Christmas bread/cake that I had never tasted before. They were given two huge ones and shared one with us.
Bob restored my bathroom sinks to working order. Both had mechanical stoppers that had stopped working, because something was too loose. He had never seen that particular type of connection and looked it up on the internet. There were two things he adjusted, and I know where to look now, not that I could fix one easily.
The year is off to a good start. I hope the same is true for all of you.
Mehrling Muse 