Celebrating Family -- Mine to be Exact

For the second year in a row Montse, at http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/ is hosting a wonderful celebration of family based on "The Proclamation on the Family," a document of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Last year I enjoyed the posts a great deal and found many wonderful ideas to use with my own family.  Many of those involved had young families.  I have an older family.  My children are grown and have homes and families of their own.  I thought how nice it would be to have "older" moms posting as well.

 Things change as children grow up and leave home, but the need for connections grows exponentially as those grown children begin families of their own and navigate the new-to-them world of marriage and parenthood, while the new grandparents navigate the world of parenting adult children and learn the joys of loving grandchildren, and learn to be an independent couple.

The question posed for this initial blog post is, "What does your family like to do  in the fall?" -- Our family hits the back-to-school season with a plethora of birthdays.  We have 7 birthdays to celebrate in a six-week (give or take a couple of days) period of time.  Also, I, the mom/grandma, teach school which also creates chaos of its own! -- We began a new tradition this year of attending a play (musical) followed by an out-to-dine meal together.  Everyone over 3 was invited and the babies had wonderful visits with dear friends.  -- For our family, who most generally parties at home, this was a unique experience filled with delight as we watched the little ones enjoy a theatrical performance.  We enjoyed our meal filled with laughter and conversation and look forward to a similar celebration again next year.

That was the NEW tradition, our OLD tradition has nothing to do with birthdays, but is nevertheless fun.  We roast chilis!!  We all love roasted Anaheim peppers.  If you've never had them you are really missing out! -- This year we purchased a roaster and cut our roasting time by 80% or more, leaving us more time to visit and eat peppers.  (If you don't know what a roaster looks like, check it out! http://arizonachileroasters.com/HomeRoast.html) -- Chilis are usually ready about the same time as corn, so a roasting party is our fall tradition.

I look forward to this celebration and hope the perspective of the mother of adults contributes to the whole.