Grandma Dinner

A while ago my kids and I were walking down the sidewalk on our street, each carrying a component of dinner to a neighbor who had a sick spouse.  A small group of women were gathered in a driveway, sitting in chairs, and talking, as they did almost nightly when the weather was nice enough.  When we walked back to our house, they called out to me and teasingly asked why we didn't bring them dinner?  I quickly responded that we would love to do dinner with them, and of course they insisted that wasn't necessary.

Well after various events and trips and holidays, I finally felt like the time was right to make good on my word and host that dinner.  I told the kids it would be a Grandma Dinner, though three of the four women attending could easily be their Great-Grandmas.  We invited the three women in the original group and another woman on the street who's kind of adopted us recently.  I didn't want them to contribute to dinner - seems like we Mormons can't go anywhere without bringing something or other - and they were a bit uneasy about this, but I gave them a different type of assignment instead.  I told them that we would have a Show & Tell and that I'd like them to bring something that would help us get to know them better.

I kept dinner really simple - Ben grilled some chicken, and we had rice, fresh wheat bread, steamed broccoli, and fresh vegetables with brownies and ice cream for dessert.  Everyone arrived early, of course, which I wasn't prepared for, of course, but we just rolled with it.  We had our Show & Tell before dinner and I was so pleasantly surprised by the things our guests brought to show us.  One brought a picture of her as a baton twirler in high school.  Another brought some picture books from when her kids were growing up, and gave them to our kids to keep!  And another wanted to share a few of her favorite YouTube music videos because she has a love of music.  The kids and I shared things as well: Jack showed off his new Switch & Go Dino toy, Eliza showed a Christmas toy she received, Cat showed off her trophies and medals, and I showed an embroidery project I'm working on.  They also talked Cat into playing piano for them and were so impressed when they heard her play.

Ben got dinner on the table during the Show & Tell and everything ended up going pretty smoothly.  I had a great time with it, and I think everyone else did too.  I feel like the night was a success and I would like to do it again but I don't want to press my luck.  :-)