A Family Tradition

It's been a busy few weeks at work, but I can't neglect to post about a fun event a few weeks ago that happens every year in my family. Here's the background...follow along if you can.... My mom's mom, Mimi, is one of nine children. One of her sisters, my great-Aunt Vivian, didn't have any girls. So she decided she wanted all her nieces to come to her house for an annual "Niece Reunion." That was in 1983, and so it began. A handful of first generation nieces, my mom and her cousins, and some of us 2nd generation made an appearance as well, to be spoiled rotten by "Aunt Vudda" too!

The nieces and Aunt V on an outing to Lambert's Cafe (yes, I know the outfits date us. I'd say circa '97 by my skinny legs, Adidas, and Jessie's socks and Birkenstocks! HA!)

Here's cute Aunt Vudda (with cousins April and Rachael) modeling their poodle skirts for the 50's!

Heading down to Mobile in the late summer became an annual event. Each niece took a turn picking a "theme" for a year. We started off with a Birthday year special for Aunt Viv, we had Christmas in July, a fiesta, the Wild West West, the 50's, and the list goes on! We put on skits, we play games, we dress up, we act like complete fools and love every minute!! I've never looked forward to an air mattress more in my life!

Sadly, Aunt Vivian passed away when I was in college, and we put the Niece Reunions on hold for a few years. Last year we decided we should honor her and keep them going, and so I hosted about 15 crazy women at my house with a Hollywood theme!

Here are all the Hollywood ladies at my crib for the '08 Reunion...aren't we stars?!

That leads me to this year - my cousin Amy hosted in LaGrange, and we had an Easter theme...told you we were weird....and it couldn't have been more fun!

My mom's sister, the EVER talented artist Aunt Sandi sketched each of these real Easter eggs for us! The pictures don't do them justice!

We stayed up late and got up early.

But when you wake up to these two precious faces, you can't complain too much, right? That's Joe Boxer on the left. He slobbers a little on the heavy side. He was the only nephew allowed. That's Ellie on the right. She's a mini-me. I want to take her home. Too. Stinkin. Cute.

We ate a lot. I mean a lot. Easter cookies, carrot cake, you name it. We even ventured out Saturday nite to an amazing museum in LaGrange where we had a "Passover" dinner just like in Biblical times. It was amazing. (The experience, the food was just normal).

We told stories. Some of Aunt Viv, always the kind that make you laugh. We fight over who's her fave. Aunt Sandi tells ghost stories. It freaks me out 21 reunions later....no joke. We check up from the past year. Ups and downs, share pictures, family news. And most importantly, set the date and host and theme for the next Reunion!!

We took lots of pictures...here's the first generation (minus the one's that couldnt come! We missed them lots!)

And here's the second gen, we like taking pictures lots more than our mamas!

Love these people, and cannot wait until Aunt Nancy hosts next year (at the BEACH and cousin Connie's house)...theme: Valentines!