Chapeaux de Paques

I missed the last Easter at my brother-in-law's house because of my mother's reluctance to party with a big crowd of strangers.  So Walt and I went our separate ways, he to Norm & Olivia's, me to my mother's.  We were going to do that this year, too, until my mother and I spent two days together earlier in the week and decided that we didn't need to do a third day just because it was Easter.   (As it turns out, she went out to dinner with two friends, including one who is a new widow, so it was much better all around.)

In 2010, the theme for the dinner was "bunnies" and we all wore bunny ears, which Olivia supplied.  I missed last year's Americas Cup theme.  This year's theme, I was told when I announced I would be coming after all, was "France."  Norm and Olivia are all in French mode right now because they are vacationing in France next month and this gets them into the mood!

We were supposed to "wear something French," and almost everyone came wearing a beret, except Walt who was probably more "French" than most since he was wearing the Tour de France cap I bought for him in Monaco.

(more guests came later, almost all in berets)

I didn't wear a beret because my head is too big to wear almost any off-the-rack hat, so my contribution to the theme was to bring my own napkin, which Jeri bought for me in Nice, so I could wipe the sweat off of my face!

(I don't think anybody noticed!)

Dinner (honey baked ham, under the sea salad and all the trimmings) was delicious and, with Olivia's professional musician cousin, there was lots of music. 

  

I had a nice chat with Olivia's (cousin?) and his wife, who have traveled in a lot of the places where we have, but with a different company.  We all reminisced happily about the beautiful Kizhi Island in Russia.  I also learned more than I wanted to know about the after-school care at one of the local school districts and the horrors that the "teachers" have to go through for the pittance they are paid.  Shocking.  

Walt, Norm and Alice Nan spent a lot of time next door at Norm's neighbors, who are out of town, and had given Norm permission to use their kitchen for the stuff that wouldn't fit in their own ovens.

Tom called at one point and we had a face to face chat with Brianna. We also had a chat (without face to face) with Jeri, who called at the end of her day.

Walt used his new toy (the cell phone he is mastering) to share photos with his brother.

When dinner was finished, there was singing in the dining room...

...and napping in the family room.

After dessert, all gathered in the family room for a bit of x-finity karaoke.

Because it had been an early dinner, we were home before 10.   The dogs were happy to see us, because they were 3 hours late for their dinner.

Thanks, Olivia and Norm for another wonderful Easter celebration!