Are You Ready for Some Football?

I heard not long ago that the words "Super Bowl" were trademarked words...cannot use them. I am not sure who isn't supposed to use them (churches were one of the groups I heard mentioned), but to be on the safe side I will just say the Big Football Event. :)

So tonight we hosted the Big Football Event at our house. Every year our Bible Fellowship (or as the old-fashioned me likes to say...Sunday School :) class gets together for the Big Football Event as a time of fellowship, food, and football. As I have mentioned, we just have always gone to my parents' house. A lot of it is because with they have a dedicated room for playing/toys, so the little ones run off to play and I get a little time to just watch. Not football of course. I don't even care for Pro Ball. No, the commercials! One year Mark helped set up a whole men's fellowship associated with the Big Football Event at a friends' house. He went. The oldest may have gone. The rest of us? We went to my parents' house. I should also say that even though my parents are just down the road, I really don't see them often. My kids do; my mom will invite them to come play. But I myself don't get invited to play often. :) Really, most of our communication is done via e-mail or phone. So it has always been a nice time to visit. Between commercials of course.

Well, this year, Mark's miracle happened. When the talk about the Big Football Event came up in our Bible Fellowship, I opened my mouth and the words, "We'll host" came out. I am pretty sure Mark's jaw hit the floor. I still don't know why I said it. I guess it was just time to do something different. :)

So at first it looked like only a few people were coming. Thankfully by the end, we had a pretty full house. (I took pictures but didn't ask permission to post)

I actually gave up my Sunday afternoon nap to get some food ready. I made some mint chocolate chip brownies (with Child 2's help). I assembled some Hawaiian King's sweet roll ham sandwiches (with melted butter, poppy seeds, and mustard drizzled over the top). I also threw in some apples with peanut butter dip and a veggie tray just to be healthy. :) Mark found a yummy recipe for chicken wings with a barbecue sauce that baked in the oven. After about 45 minutes of smelling that, I was ready to eat the whole pan full! Then our guests supplied some goodies too. Rotel and chips. Yum. I an eat that all night (I did use my baked Tostitos). Another family brought a salsa with all kinds of things in it that I wouldn't eat on their own but sure did love together. (Like corn. Avocados. Oh, wait, I would eat those on their own) Another family brought some quesadillas. Oh, yum. And chocolate chip cookies. Mark surely enjoyed a few of those! M and m's. The kids chowed down on them. And someone else brought the drinks...much appreciated. So we had a pretty full spread!

Now the oldest told us from the beginning he would not be staying with us for the Big Game. He is a huge football fan. And he likes to focus. I think he thought that by staying, he wouldn't be able to focus with so many people. And knowing him, that is about right! My mom also offered to take any other kids (at least from our crew). After wrestling with that decision, I decided that it might be best for J-man to go there. I love that kid. And when he got home, I hugged him extra tight and gave him lots of kisses. But with that many new people, he would have gone into shy mode. And I would have had an extra appendage for the rest of the night...hardly a way to be a gracious hostess. Nor enjoy the evening. Even though he was a little sad to leave us, he had a wonderful time and came home quite talkative.

As sometimes happens, the men gathered in the living room. It was fun to share our Living in HD/Panasonic story with others. The kids moved from play area to play area (finally settling in for a movie in another room). And the women gathered (most of the time) in the dining room. I just really enjoyed the talking, the laughing, the sharing. I just don't have many opportunities to gather together with friends like that. I really should do it more often. Other than a child coming to tattle on occasion, I got to be a grown up, not just a mom.

In the end, I think you know who won. Even if I hadn't seen the ending, I would have figured out very quickly based on about 30 status updates on my computer. (I really had no opinion of either team. That being said, I had read today that when one league wins, the trend is for the stock market to go up. And vice versa with the other league. I won't embarrass myself with trying to tell you which league was which. It is all Greek to me. I just know that with tonight's outcome, I expect to see the kids' college fun take an upward swing. :)

I never really saw a commercial. At least on the t.v. Just too much going on. Later, Mark and I watched several on the CBS Sports website. I never found one that just had me rolling with laughter, though the Sumo wrestler one came fairly close.

Oh, and those chicken wings. They were amazing!

More later,
Reba
PS Please repeat after me. No Mo Snow!