Friday, May 25, 2007

All the Little Chickies go Cheep, Cheep, Cheep


And all the old hens go "cluck, cluck, cluck". I just have to get this off my chest. The people involved do not read my blog.

We have always good naturedly laughed about my mom's family being "savers". When we had the last family reunion, we had everyone for brunch here. My dear aunts help clean up after. One aunt insisted we wash the foam (disposable) plates. I told her I was just going to toss them. She instructed me that in this family, "We are thrifty". End of story. She washed the plates. Not really the end. I threw them out after she left. Anyway Jon has teased me a bit about my family.

Yesterday we went to a small reunion of ten of Jon's cousins. He has many, many cousins and one he had never met was in town from the east. One cousin invited everyone to her elderly father's house for lunch. Great. He is 98 and it was easier for him to stay put. I asked if I could bring a dish to pass and she said they would get deli food and we could chip in. Fine. Easy. Jon raised his eyebrows and made some comment about her being cheap like her dad. Her dad worked for the IRS and when his wife died a few years back called us with the news of her death and cheerfully said, "I will get the tax deduction for the year!" She died on January 1st. He had a reputation for being close with the buck.

Meeting a few new cousins was fun. The cousin he had never met is quite entertaining and we enjoyed his stories. The hosting cousins had a small meat and cheese platter, beans, relish, brownies and salad. Jon asked how much we could chip in and she said "$10--each. She then collected the same amount from all the guest including the out of town guests of honor. I was amazed. I think they made money on the deal. Anyway, my husband can never again tease me about frugal relatives. That took the cake.

1 comment:

Rice said...

I loved the part where you threw out the dishes after she left!
Pat