Last Night's Dinner with the Bottiny Family

Well, we had a great night at Jill and Drew's, as all the Bottiny's managed to make it, since Julia was home from school and Brooks works in this area.  It was great to see everyone, especially the kids, as they are often too busy to come to the lake or Cleveland.  Julia looks great and seems to love school, though it sounds grueling, especially during exams.  It's nice for her to have some time off before heading back.  And Brooks keeps moving up at Best Buy and has become their expert on home theaters, high end types of combos.  He now has his own apartment in Alexandria, the cool part of the city, so he really enjoys the area and having his own place.  They both seem so grown up, no longer kids or coeds, but the working class (though Julia is back in school).  It's hard to believe that little baby who helped us celebrate our new Chautauqua home is now thirty one years old. Of course, it's just as hard to believe I'm 67 and Patsi's almost sixty.

Walt took the day off and he looks the same, putting all of us to shame with his self discipline and workout schedule.  He and Drew have lots in common, having run the Marine marathon in the fall and keeping in great shape.  Patsi, as usual, was her thoughtful self, bringing the girls  beanie babies, which they loved, and proceeded to take upstairs and put on their beds.  And she brought us a purple martin gourd house, something we have been wanting.  Patsi always seems to know what's just right.  We did get a crappy gift for Brooks and Julia, some chocolate blue berries from Trader Joes!  Big deal, right, but the thought was sort of there.  I figured they already had an Ipad.

We had Jill's recipe for crostini for appetizers, along with some brie, and dinner was a spiral ham, with scalloped potatoes, green beans, and Evie's rolls.  Pumpkind pie and Christmas cookies finished off the night.  It was fun for Jill and Drew to have everyone over to see their house and celebrate in their dining room with a great dinner.  They are great hosts.

And it was fun for Jill and Drew to get to know the Bottiny's as I don't think they had seen each other since the wedding, eleven years ago.  Perhaps Jill has seen Ellen and Walt  but Drew has always been busy with the Army and has rarely been around in the summers.  All the Bottiny's were surprised at how grown up Halle and Hayden were, no longer little babies.  Julia seemed to really connect with Halle  Unfortunately, Hayden wasn't feeling well so she spent most of the night upstairs in bed.  O, I forgot that rascal, Coco, the new puppy, who was his usual annoying (but lovable) self, barking, getting in to the presents under the Christmas tree, driving her parents nuts.  More reasons why I don't want a dog.

We talked quite a bit about both Brook's and Julia's lives and Walt and I talked about changes in his department, how the budget seems to be effecting part of the IRS, his corner,  but not others.  He has an interesting job, working with multi national companies on their taxes, both negotiating and prescribing. It's a very different part of the IRS from what most people know but it serves an important purpose: bringing tax dollars to the government that might otherwise be lost.

Patsi and family are going to Bob and Carol Lange's for Christmas, as Thanksgiving was at the Bottiny's.  It will be nice for them to Jill and Drew around as well, to get together occasionally, though it sounds like Jill and Drew were talking about hitting some of the hot spots with Brooks and Julia.

It was a good night, one of many more to come we all hope.