Family Reunions, another taste!

Isleib family gathering, circa 1960

LUCY BURDETTE: So interesting that Ingrid invited us to contribute to a post on reunions during the same month that I was attending two! These were family reunions, one for my 90-year-old uncle, and one for John's 100 year old cousin (and yes, he has amazing genes.) I thought you might enjoy a little peek into my family's behavior during a get-together. 

John and Lucy with birthday boy

Uncle Don was my father's only brother, four years younger. They were devoted to each other – when my father was ailing, Don called every single day for several years running.

Years ago, when John and I were first married, he was attending his first extended family party with me, a 50th wedding anniversary for Don and his bride, Carol. John's family is absorbed (some might say obsessed) with sports. So he wanted to know what equipment to bring along for the weekend. Tennis rackets? Golf clubs? Ping-pong paddles? My cousin Steve responded: when you're with the Isleibs, all you need is a knife and fork.

This get together didn't let us down in the food department. The three daughters in law and their daughters cooked all the food – an amazing feast! (Here are my three cousins and Uncle Don in line.)









My cousin Tom, who you may remember from his appearance several years ago as our resident Limerick genius, is very interested in genealogy. He made this chart for his father. 





But much to the dismay of my siblings and me, we were not on it. And I have to confess that we were not gracious about our absence, although he explained very reasonably that he didn't have room. 




We felt compelled to follow up the next morning with a rejoinder.







Then there was a very clever quiz about my uncle's life – here's one of the questions:

2. What was the most disgusting food Don has eaten in his foreign travels, or at home?

a. Brains of a live monkey in Sumatra
b. Insect “paste” on unleavened bread in Cameroon
c. Fish with a parasitic worm in its flesh from Arthur Treacher’s Fish ‘n’ Chips in Lansing
d. Roasted goat’s eyeball in Zambia




And finally there came a wonderful game called where in the world is Don Isleib? And a gift exchange, for which we were asked to bring a gift related to some aspect of his life.





Here's the birthday boy, exhausted by his big weekend! So that's my family in a nutshell--food, clever wordplay, lots of laughing and teasing.


What would your family gathering be like?

You Belong In A Zoo

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: You know I love cool numbers, right? I always see when it's 11:11 on the digital clock.  (Jonathan and I have a deal to think of each other when we see it.) I always see 12:34. Dates are interesting, too. When it was 11:11 on 11/11/11? I mean, that was neat.  This year, we'll have 11/12/13, but that's another blog. 

SO to have a birthday on a fun date, that makes an already special thing even better. (Yes, I still like birthdays, I just don't think of them as chronological. It's like--Hank Day. Not about getting older. which is yet another blog. )When we  were growing up, we used to lobby for birthday WEEK, which Mom, sadly, never bought in to.  Our family's birthday thing was the honoree got to pick whatever they wanted for dinner.

So our dear Terry Ambrose, friends of the Reds has a birthday--today! On 1/11. NIce. even nicer, he has a gift for YOU. Read on. 

YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY
by Terry Ambrose

This blog appearance is something of a surprise party. When we set this up, I didn’t realize what day “January 11” was. Then, a day or so later, it hit me. Today is my birthday! 


And that’s not as in going to a restaurant and fudging the day by a few days just to get the free dessert. No, today really is the day.

Once I’d connected the dots, my thoughts immediately went to “what could make this a fun little celebration?” It would be hard to top my favorite birthday, which was a few years ago when we spent time on Kauai for three weeks in January. Now that was birthday in paradise! And, there is a downside to virtual parties. Wee can’t do cake and ice cream. Alcohol is out. So are the spankings. However, I can share some really unusual birthday traditions from around the world with one caveat: I haven’t experienced any of these traditions firsthand…thank goodness.

On Yahoo Voices, I found a 2008 post from Ayanna Guyhto about birthdays in Germany for men who have reached the age of 30. “According to custom, these men are made to sweep the steps of City Hall. Upon finishing this task, the birthday ‘boy’s’ friends toss in some more dirt and rubble to ensure that passing females will see him and know that he keeps a clean house.” Are you kidding me? I can just see his friends cheering and jeering. “The other end! It’s not a pool cue!” What if his arms get tired? Does that make him look like a weenie and blow the whole deal?

On the “Divine Caroline” blog in 2010, Kathryn Williams posted about parents in Lucerne, Switzerland who hire an evil clown to “stalk, harass, and eventually smash a pie in the face of their beloved birthday boys and girls.” This custom would appear to be a bit more popular than expected because you can find these clowns (no pun intended) on the Internet. There’s one who will even stalk your kids for a week. And, of course, I’ve got questions about this whole clown thing. What if the kid’s been good? Do they still do this? What if Johnny is always in trouble? Will the clown consider going on retainer?

Have you ever wondered where the birthday spanking tradition came from? Williams also reported that “In England and Ireland, kids receive ‘the bumps’ on their birthday, which sounds like an STD but is actually a lot more fun. Friends and family lift birthday boys and girls by their arms and legs, raise them into the air, and then plunk them down on the floor, once for each year they’ve lived.” Right. Try explaining that one to Child Protective Services.

There’s even an entire industry built around “unusual birthday gifts.” It seems that everyone wants to give a present that no one else will have. These gifts include things like T-shirts with clever sayings like “Authentic Vintage” and the year of the recipient’s birth. So, tell me, Reds, how many of you would wear one of those Tees?—that’s what I thought.

Celebrating birthdays is different around the world, but it seems that the giving of gifts is somewhat universal. And since the Reds were so kind as to host me on “my day,” I’d like to give something back. I’m giving away a free book to some lucky commenter. Choose either my new release, “License to Lie,” or “Photo Finish.” And, pick either Kindle or softcover. It’s your choice. Just leave a comment to enter and on Monday, January 14 we’ll pick a winner.

HANK: So, Red readers, let’s hear from you. Do you have unusual birthday traditions or customs? How do you like to celebrate those annual milestones?  

And happy birthday, dear Terry!


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You can find out more about Terry Ambrose and his novels, License to Lie and Photo Finish, at terryambrose.com. Find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter as @suspense_writer.

On birthday cake

ROBERTA: One of the traditions we had in my family growing up was that the birthday person got to choose their cake. I went with angel food cake with whipped cream frosting, tinted pink with food coloring.

My own John (yes the young groom you met on Monday) is turning sixty next week! With him (and my stepdaughter,) it's always chocolate. The recipe that I use for feathery fudge cake with chocolate sour cream frosting comes from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. My birthday falls in early January--not only are there no other bakers in my family, most of the good bakeries in the area are closed, exhausted from the holidays. I've managed to persuade my stepson (birthday in July) to prefer the cake I would choose: yellow cake spread with whipped cream and crammed with strawberries. I found this on a Softasilk cake flour box one year--it's a winner.

1.5 cups sugar
1/2 C shortening (JAN THIS IS BUTTER NOT CRISCO!)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
2 1/4 C Softasilk cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
whipped cream
strawberries

grease and flour 2 round pans, heat oven to 35o. eat sugar and shortening until fluffy. beat in vanilla, eggs and egg yolks, one at a time. mix flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in alternately with the milk, beating after each addition just until blended, beginning and ending with flour mixture. pour into pans. Bake 25 min or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. cool 10 min, remove from pans. cool completely.

frost with fresh whipped cream sweetened with a tbsp of sugar and a dash of vanilla. I put chopped strawberries in the middle layer and decorate the top with halved strawberries, maybe a few blueberries too.

So that's it guys and gals--it's anything can happen Friday and I've got birthday cake on the brain. Let's hear about your birthday traditions!