Celebrating Family and Food: A Sunday Reunion Story

Today was our Gaffron Family Reunion at Laurel Hill. For the fifth year in a row, we had it at the indoor pavilion overlooking the beach. We had a decent turnout. While we missed some people who couldn’t make it, we were happy to see my uncle make it to the picnic. One of my cousins wasn’t able to attend, but he will be coming home to stay next week, after spending some time living in the Midwest. 

We had a great spread, including a chicken tray that my Mom bought at Giant Eagle. My sister made pasta salad. We brought our 12 cup Keurig and I provided a 32 pack of K-Cups. Mom also made a sugar cookie bar, and there were cookies from DeLallo’s. Those cookies are so big that you may have to break them in half if you don’t want to eat the whole thing in one sitting. 

Before I was on my way to the picnic, I stopped at Cutie’s to have some coffee. I was looking forward to a nice pumpkin drink. Unfortunately, my visit ended in tragedy. Just as I was getting into my car, I dropped my Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew on the pavement. I was so beside myself! 

Now I know worse things could have happened, like someone hitting my car, or the drink spilling inside my vehicle. I could have been sitting in a hospital room or sick in bed because of a head cold. But I love my coffee dates at Cutie’s. 

Maybe I could have sat for a few minutes to collect my thoughts before I set sail. It was a busy Sunday morning, and I wanted to get on the road. I did stop at Sheetz in South Greensburg and got a Pumpkin Spice Latte (only $2.99) so that was a band-aid on my boo-boo that was my spilled Cutie’s drink. I’ll redeem myself Tuesday morning as I treat myself to Cutie’s after the gym. It is nice to go during the morning instead of at 3pm, but I hated to piss away that first opportunity during my vacation week.

My mom’s cousin George, who’s the same age as Uncle Skip, had a computer set up complete with a slide show of old pictures of the family. Only a handful of us might have recognized who those Gaffrons were. It was nice to pick out some of our family members when they were little. Those who are still living and those who are no longer with us. 

The kids all had a great time. Annabelle had a great weekend with her cousins, riding bikes and eating pizza. She enjoyed her first week of being a teenager. We built a bonfire in the new fire ring next to our pavilion. My cousin put together some “S’more cups” for those interested in making one. She had plenty of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. 

We finished up sometime after 5 and cleaned up the pavilion. The indoor fireplace came in handy on this windy reunion Sunday. We could warm ourselves up as we enjoyed the old home movies and started to make plans for the holidays. Will it be a repeat of last Christmas Eve for us? Will I be invited to Christmas Day turkey with my second family?

I sported a new outfit at the picnic, with a white cardigan, leopard print top, and new jeans. All pieces are from Old Navy though the cardigan looks very LL Bean. The left boot and my lower pant leg sustained some splash back from the unfortunate pumpkin spice cold brew fiasco of this morning. But at least it blended into my shoe. 

The first third of the vacation is complete. I’m headed to Johnstown Tuesday night.