Brunch

How it went down:

N to the Bishop, in late October: We'd love to have you join our family for brunch sometime. We're free these dates in November, let us know if any would work for you.

Bishop to N: I'm traveling currently, but will get back to you.

A couple weeks pass, the bishop travels a lot, we assume he's busy and perhaps has forgotten the invite, and we're okay with that. We'll try again another time. Then, out of the blue in mid-November

Bishop's assistant (a high school classmate of N's) to N: The bishop's mother will be visiting him for the holidays. Would you be interested in hosting her and him for brunch on 12/21?

N to Bishop (and his assistant): Of course! We'd loved that. We're honored.

Fast forward to the Gaudete party last weekend, which the Bishop kindly stopped by.

Bishop to N: In addition to my mother, my sister, her husband, and my niece may still be in town on the date of our brunch.

N to the Bishop: The more the merrier!

(all communications paraphrased, obviously)

*****

Last night I baked Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls for both the brunch and to be part of our Christmas morning breakfast. I was up till past midnight finishing them. As always, they were worth the work.

Nathaniel volunteered to help by making the quiches. As I directed him through each step of prep work the night before he asked, "Are you going to micro-manage me through the whole process?" "Yes. I can't help it. I've made the recipe before and you haven't." Did it end up saving me time? Yes. I think so? Probably. I appreciate the thought, anyway, and they turned out lovely!

*****

We kept it simple, which is hard for me. I didn't want it to be too pretentious when the invite was for a family brunch. I wasn't even going to use a table cloth (though obviously I was using the china) but Nathaniel wanted me to. We served Quiche Lorraine, cinnamon rolls and fruit salad. Also, coffee, OJ and mimosas. Honestly, it's exactly what we'd have served if any one of your families had joined us.

The bishop's family - his mom, Betty, his sister, Susan, her husband, Dan, and his niece, Kaitlyn - was wonderful and gracious and fun. Bishop Conley had taken them to visit several orders of sisters while they were in town, and they had funny stories to recount about the differences in the sisters from each stop. Hearing Kaitlyn refer to him as "Uncle Jim" caught me off guard, but of course she would.

His sister's family had their 9-week old chocolate lab in the car (the weather was mild, no worries), and asked toward the end of the visit whether they could bring her in for the kids to meet. Our kids have been obsessed with the idea of a "real pet" for the past couple weeks, and this won't have done me any favors. But man, that was a cute pup! I may have snuggled her a bit myself.

Bishop Conley took time to chat with our kids, although I'd had to bump them to a kids' table with the extra adults added to the party. They showed him our nature shelf. Peter took the opportunity to show Dan every toy car he owns. Thankfully, Dan was a great sport. He and Peter were fast friends. Rachel sang her way through the meal. Loudly. Betty couldn't stop laughing at the music.

The beauty of a house full of children is that there's never a dull moment in a dinner/brunch party. They keep it lively and relaxed.

We truly are honored and grateful that the bishop took us up on our offer to join us for a meal. What a beautiful way to wrap up our Advent.

(left to right, with some ups and downs along the way - Me, Peter, Betty, Bishop Conley, Kaitlyn, Marianne, Susan, Rachel, Ruth, Nathaniel and Meg. Photo by Dan.)