AuburnChick's Adventures

Happy Birthday Audra!  (sorry…shout-out to a high school friend who doesn’t read my blog, but I always think about her on the 22nd)

Mr. AuburnChick’s parents have lived next door to the same family for 20 years.  I remember our first meeting…their twins in the stroller.

Two years later, the Mr. and I had our own child (Soccer Chick).  Because we lived in the same city and spent lots of time at the parents’ house, we saw the neighbors often.  Chick loved her older friends, and they loved playing with her.  They had a swing set, and she was there nearly every day swinging her little heart out.

It was natural for the families to spend Christmas Eve together at their house.  After my sister moved to town, they extended the invitation to her as well.  I don’t even know how many people were at their house each year, but the number grew as we expanded our families with new babies and siblings’ boyfriends.

Not too long ago, by unspoken agreement, we stopped going over.  It got to be too many people…finally.  I can’t blame them.  Kids were getting ready to go to college (the twins).  Some of the grandparents were getting more fragile.

What wonderful memories though.  All of the adults ate at the long dining room table, passing around two types of dressing, mashed potatoes, ham, and turkey.  For a short time, the kids’ room was quiet as they chowed down.  We always knew when they were finished because the noise level increased dramatically as they began making pleas for dessert.

It was so warm and comfortable.  It’s amazing at how large our families really are.  In fact, what defines a family?  It’s certainly not blood relations but those whom you cultivate relationships with, whether it be the physical therapist who got your child through knee surgery or the neighbor, who happened to be a pharmacist, who was always avaiable for late-night emergency medicine calls.

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