A couple weeks ago, we had a house full of visitors from out of town. One of the couples lives in Abilene, Texas, and took five days off to come hang out in Nashville. They have a son who is almost two. You may remember my posts about our trip to see them last August, when we visited Fort Phantom Hill and the prairie dog habitat.
The other couple lives only a few hours away and stayed for two of the five days. They have a four-year-old daughter and an 18-month-old son.
Having a house full of 10 people was chaotic, but we had a wonderful time. Little Buddy loved having other kids to play with, and it was fun to see them interact. The oldest was really sweet to him and the other boys and even sang a song (unprompted) for one of them when he was upset. All three of the kids kept wanting to rub Little Buddy’s soft baby hair.
Little Buddy was the only child who couldn’t walk, but he tooled around in his walker and kept up with the big kids. He’s really good at maneuvering it around our furniture and even looks behind him when moving backwards.
Our house has three small bedrooms, so each family had a room to themselves. We don’t have a dining room, and we only have four chairs (plus a stool and a step ladder) at our kitchen table, so half the group ate inside and the others ate on our patio table.
Everyone was laid back and easygoing, so our time together was very smooth. Even when I completely botched one of our dinners. I announced the night before that I was planning to make honey barbecue chicken drumsticks, and they were all really excited about the meal. Well, in my muddled, mom-brain mind, I was thinking honey mustard chicken, even though I said honey barbecue.
I marinaded the meat overnight and didn’t realize my mistake until the next day, right before I was about to turn on the oven. It turns out that most of our guests don’t like mustard, so that wasn’t going to work. Thankfully, I was able to save the meal by washing the marinade off and baking the drumsticks in my homemade BBQ sauce.
We spent most of the time at our house playing games and eating, but we did venture to the 12 South neighborhood of Nashville to grab donuts and burgers.
Mr. Handsome has never understood why I have three strollers for one child, although I have tried to explain it to him. (One is for jogging, one is a compact stroller to keep in the car and take into stores and restaurants, and one is a larger stroller that reclines and has space for Little Buddy to stretch out and play.) All the moms I talk to are in agreement that all three are needed, and since two were gifts and one was purchased used for $40, they didn’t break the bank. When our friends came to town, our three strollers suddenly became a lifesaver, and Mr Handsome was glad that we had them. The extra highchair that a neighbor gave us, as well as the older kid toys that I found for dirt cheap at consignment sales also came in handy.
Anonymous
I never had a house full of people for a few days. My daughter did have a overnight slumber party when she was a teenager. That was really chaotic! Was Little Buddy sad to see the children leave?
Ellie
I think he was! 🙂
anonymous
In a way this is similar to those events that Christian families attend that they report on. Like Big Sandy etc is a multi family get together for days. You are brave to have everyone over. I think some people would get too strung out and sort of lose it, go unbalanced, if they had to host so many people for so long. I’ve heard true extroverts gain energy from social contact. Maybe you are an extrovert. An introvert would be missing some alone time in that long multi visit. But company might sort of grow on a person. I guess your house seems calm when they all go. But do people inundate you with texts and calls after to keep up the intense contact? I’m not sure it is entirely fair to your own family if you are focusing on attentiveness to other peoples needs and your own look to you but you are too busy with visitors for their usual routines. I guess you don’t mind a learning curve on how much you can benefit from and what you can handle doing socially. Trial and error. Getting yourself experienced for times, choices and chances ahead of you. To know what your family is interested in sharing, and wants and needs. (And also can or can not afford!)
Marilyn
WOW! You sure had a house full of guests. Glad you all had a good time.
Joan,Marion and Marilyn
Benita
Times sure have changed. I only used 1 stroller for each child and so did everyone else I knew. My momma only had 1 stroller for me and then for my brother.
Anonymous
I don’t think it is unusual to have more than one. I had an umbrella stroller and a more heavy duty stroller. Then when we had our second we got a double stroller. My sister and sister-in-laws had children around the same age as mine. Having extra strollers came in handy!!!
anonymous
Living in the inner city how often did I walk past an abandon stroller with a wheel fallen off? (quite)!
A person sees a nice looking stroller just sitting by the way and thinks oh a nice stroller…..but on closer inspection, no wheel!
Anonymous
There are tons of people on my husband’s side of the family. I was glad we were never the ones with the biggest house, the house closest to a major highway, or the house nearest to the tourist attractions. So even though we have 5 bedrooms, we never had to host the family get-togethers, hee hee. We were always invited guests at another house, or we’d stay in a motel. I’d still cook while there and clean up afterwards, but at least it wasn’t our house packed with people. Some folks like that, but I can only take it in small bits. It wears me out to host.
Anonymous
Remember the old saying –
Everyone who comes to your home brings joy.
Some by entering.
Some by leaving.
Rachel
I had to laugh about your Stroller comment. We have four children ages (almost) 5-10 and I have had 3 strollers for years (for different things) and my husband has never understood why we have needed 3 strollers. He’s always asking when we can get rid of one. I just decided last week to part with them because I haven’t used them in over a year, but your comment made me laugh. Hold on to them!
anonymous
This is very traditional behaviour amongst the wealthy that goes a long way back. Sort of like getting called to be a courtier by royalty. A person, if they had asll the time in eternity, under the disciplines of history, sociology, even psychology, could do an in depth study of this kind of group visiting. It is seen in history books, old movies, stories of the wealthy in the south of USA and lots and lots of places. I think it is more rooted and engrained into society than we realize. Do people do it in spite of themselves, because they think it should be done, it has always been done? What are the advantages and disadvantages the positive and negative outcomes?
How does a person effectively go along with or make a decision to break from,even aspects of, this kind of lifestyle?
Anonymous
OK.
Anon
Wow what a ummm comment. Really now? It’s called hospitality and we all like to be the recipients of such wonderful hospitality. It’s very important to practice hospitality. The world don’t hardly know what that is anymore! It’s all about self, myself, these days and what I get out of it. The Bible says to serve one another-put someone else first-and practice hospitality. Hospitality isn’t just confined to having people in your home even tho it is important to do that. It’s also your friendly demeanor towards others when you’re out and about. Are you welcoming and happy as your living your daily life? We all like to be around people that are cheerful and open in their spirit towards others. Yes, hospitality! Not just your house but also your self “house”. 🙂
anon
last year my daughter had to move in for a few weeks while waiting for their place. there’s only 3 of us here (and 3 dogs) so i welcomed the extra 4 people. then one of my sons got transferred here & needed a place to stay til his place opened up so he and my granddog moved in! it was cramped and loud and busy and wonderful!! lol, it seemed like the longest 6 weeks at the time but when it was over, it was like no time had passed and wasnt that bad at all
when i first had my kids, i had 1 stroller. there werent really a lot of options out there like there is now so it was a regular big stroller, no bells and whistles, just plain. he was outgrowing it and still needed to be in a stroller when out and about so we ‘reluctantly’ got an umbrella stroller. best decision we ever made as i was also pregnant and would need the big stroller for baby soon. i used them both for all the kids so they both got lots of use!! that being said, my daughter also had 3 different ones too for different things, including one for grandma here. umbrella strollers are impossible on certain terrain, and maneuvering big ones up & down stairs almost begs to say have one in the car and one in the home! i absolutely get it!! during an emergency i watched a friends 3 kids, 4, 2 & newborn and good thing i had extra strollers here. my son wants me to get rid of them as the kids are older now but i’ve held on to a regular one and umbrella one, just in case!!