Mardi Gras Celebration 2020

Mardi Gras is just around the corner, on February 16, with Ash Wednesday the following day; and thinking about that made me reminisce about where we were--as a family, as a country, as a world--at this time last year. How much life has changed!

Just before the beginning of the first US lockdown (you know, just before the whole "two weeks to flatten the curve" so that our hospitals wouldn't be overrun), we had a big Pearl family Mardi Gras bash on Tuesday, February 25.  Of the four VA sons who live close-by, only our oldest and his gang couldn't make it, due to illness (not Covid).  So we had sons #2, #3, and #4 at our house, along with their wives and kids.  At that time last year, between the three of them they had 11 children ranging in age from four months to five years (son #2 has since added a fourth son to his all-boy household).  So we were a party of 19 altogether.

I planned an early dinner, since it was a [Fat] Tuesday and that meant a work/school night.  I bought a traditional King Cake at our church's bake sale to use for the event, but I supplemented that with other desserts, among them cookies and a berry trifle.  I wanted plenty of the sweet stuff, since the next day we would all be starting our Lenten sacrifices; in this family, desserts are especially popular and are often one of the things we give up for those 40 days.

Determined to make at least one "authentic" New Orleans dish, I found a recipe for chicken and shrimp gumbo (but I left out the shrimp, because my husband is allergic) to put over rice.  I made some breakfast foods and snack trays, too, because those are always popular with the littles. 

I get such a kick out of party planning for my family. NOTHING makes me happier than having all of our chicks (and their chicks) gathered together with their dad and me in our nest.  Looking through recipes in preparation and deciding what to serve is truly one of my favorite activities.  However...I also have an unfortunate tendency to look back once everyone leaves and think of ways I could have made the party better, foods that would have been tastier to serve, games we should have played, but forgot about in all the chaos...

But apparently, I need to stop worrying; for it appears that my grandchildren approve of the family parties.

It gets a little crazy, but in a good way.  And somebody always seems to get naked, or nearly so, as the festivities come to an end...

Not to worry, dear readers!  You will never find anything inappropriate on this blog!  Only yumminess and cuteness and such-like.  

God willing, we will have good times again.  And when they get here, we're going to let them roll--right?  I would love it if those good times started two weeks from today, so we could party like it's pre-Covid 2020...but regardless, I hope y'all will have a Happy Mardi Gras!

P.S. I just realized that I blogged about this party already last year in this post!  But what's interesting is that old post was mostly about giving up Instagram for Lent and how hard it was for me.  And now, a year later, I have deleted my IG account (along with FB and Twitter) for good! What a difference a year makes indeed!