This is the first year ever that neither of Cerwin’s parents were at the celebration. It was difficult for us – knowing that Mother could not be here. I expect it was difficult for her as well.

Because there were several out-of-state nieces and nephews in the area, we chose a date to suit them. There was Japheth and Aimee’s family from Minnesota, Reuben and Judi’s family from Wisconsin, and Dave & Denise’s family (who were in the process of moving from Florida to Minnesota).

We used some pretty table decorations leftover from our celebration the night before.

Jakey was helping his girls color, but by the time I got there, he was the only one coloring.

He is such a good dad.

Cousins – Judi and Jeff

Kinza, Reuben, Owen, and Dorretta.

Desserts

We have a finely-tuned pattern for going through the food line – enter the laundry, go through our bedroom, and then the hall before entering our kitchen.

Go through the food line and proceed to the garage and find a seat.

This year there were sixty seats!

This was the night that Jesse pulled a front tooth.

He was quite pleased with himself. I gave him a baggie to keep it safe and asked him to give the baggy to his dad.

Anthony was gumming a pickle when I walked by.

I think Japheth and Aimee’s Rose is the youngest in the High family. In this photo she is being held by her dad’s cousin Dorretta.

Dan, Dave, and Jere enjoying after-supper conversation.

Cerwin’s brother, Elvin, had stored all of Mother High’s things in his race car trailer since we emptied her room just before Thanksgiving.

After supper we cleared the tables, pushed them against a wall, and emptied Elvin’s trailer. Some people brought in the boxes while the rest of us opened the boxes and put things on tables.

Then the grandchildren and great-grandchildren chose what they wanted.

Jana

Aimee looking through Mother’s material.

We were quite pleased that so many of her items were chosen.

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On Tuesday I went through the things that were left and sorted them by category. Elvin stopped in today and chose a few more things. Since Reuben and Judi are here they also had opportunity to look through things more carefully. They also found a few things they can use.

Tomorrow Mel and Velda will come and help us pack the rest of the items in boxes. They will be given to a local re-use-it store (Jubilee).

Mother said that she would enjoy knowing what each of the grandchildren and grandchildren got, so I encouraged each one to call or visit her and tell her what they chose.