Movie Night

We didn't have a Family Christmas Celebration with Neal's family, but we had a great alternative last night. Neal's sisters and only niece and nephew came last evening (yes, and drove home in all that snow!). Neal was still at the church because a ward that finished their meetings at 2pm took until 5pm to finish counting tithing - so our bishopric couldn't even begin until they were out of the room. Sheesh! Anyway, the family arrived at 5, and Margaret and I picked up Neal at 6pm. By then the snow had been coming down hard for an hour and it was a slippery mess between the church and the house. I put meatballs in the crockpot that morning, and just needed to set out plates with smoked salmon, grapes, cranberry nut bread, peppermint bark, peanut clusters, spicy pecans, dip and crackers. Lisa brought 7-layer dip with tortilla chips. I filled a punch bowl with sparkling lemonade and an ice "ring" in the shape of a star (love Mom's old copper jello molds). It was so easy - everyone could graze and then toss the paper plates afterwards.
The entertainment was old home movies, so we moved to the living room and eventually Neal and Lisa had the tempermental 8mm movie projector running to show various films. Neal's mom and dad shot lots of home movies, and Neal has wanted to have this get-together for years. We watched an old Colorado rodeo, then Margaret's 4th birthday party and a vacation trip to Bellingham from so long ago that crossing the Columbia river required a ferry ride! While we were watching Mileva and I served my blueberry cheesecake, and Mileva commented that the best part of the movies was the conversation going on between the three siblings - one would ask a question about where something happened and the other two would give two different answers. They were so funny - we saw where certain catch phrases originated: "Ha-ha me!" came from when a 3 year old Margaret turned the hose on Neal and then ran to safety behind their dad. We saw the ditch that was the destination for "just throw me in the ditch" which was first said when Margaret felt no one cared about her feelings. I observed a skinny 8 year old boy holding his 4 year old sister's hand, helping her up a slippery hill and going with her on a kiddy train ride. Lisa commented that the films explained their dynamic as they got older - it was no wonder they argued because they were always together! Lisa was just a tiny baby in the films we watched - in fact we saw pictures from the delivery room when their dad had delivered Lisa because the doctor was drunk - love those small town hospitals!
We had agreed not to exchange Christmas gifts, but in December my favorite factory outlet had an incredible going out of business sale, so we had purchased various jackets and shirts at great prices (60% off outlet prices!). I put everything in birthday bags, and everyone with a birthday between now and April received a birthday present. Poor Mileva - I should have bought something for her, but I realized last night that whatever I bought would have been too big - I seldom guess right on sizes. But we gave her a big container of hot cocoa mix for her outdoor adventures so she didn't leave empty-handed.
Neal wanted everyone to spend the night because of the road conditions but since they all had to work today, they insisted on leaving. I'm sure they were fine - Mileva has a 4-wheel drive and she would drop three of them at the ferry with David's big extended cab Ford truck parked on the other side. They've all had experience driving in the snow this winter, so they weren't worried. Neal was so pleased to have a movie night with them, and I'm glad we could find a night that worked for everyone.