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Friday was a Memorial Service for the mother of a church member. As the only actual member of the Bereavement Committee who doesn't work outside the home, I got to host. (NB: the BC only has three actual members, the pastor is exofficio. The food is mostly donations from church members.) Sunday was Christ the King Sunday (aka the first Sunday in Advent), and so time to Hang the Greens (aka decorate the church). We put out the leftovers from the Funeral Meal (we asked, that's what the family wanted us to do with them). (Reheated the beans, the scalloped potatoes, and the green-bean casserole; everything else (salads, chicken, ham) went out straight from the fridge.) I tell people that this is the kind of thing I do for fun. They don't believe me.
I've been working/hosting large-ish gatherings since I was 10 or so. Mum's family reunions were sometimes over 100 people, although usually about 50. Gramma Mil's girls always worked them, and MidSis and I are the only ones in our generation (and we are at least 7 years younger than any of the other kids in the family -- Mum was the baby of her generation and she had kids late). I think I was 8 the first time Mum sent me out to collect empty cups & plates, 10 when I was entrusted with putting salads/sides on the table, 12 when I got coffee/tea. I worked a few church dinners (sit down, buffet, and potluck) when I was in HS (MS and I were emergency reserve youth in the church that Mum grew up in, for all that we rarely went there). Then I got to college, found fandom, and started working the consuite at MiniCon in the mid-late 1980s. (Yes, the really huge ones.)
With that background, doing a funeral meal for 90 is easy. Especially if someone else sets up the tables. :) And I get so many compliments that I feel kind of guilty accepting them.
I've been working/hosting large-ish gatherings since I was 10 or so. Mum's family reunions were sometimes over 100 people, although usually about 50. Gramma Mil's girls always worked them, and MidSis and I are the only ones in our generation (and we are at least 7 years younger than any of the other kids in the family -- Mum was the baby of her generation and she had kids late). I think I was 8 the first time Mum sent me out to collect empty cups & plates, 10 when I was entrusted with putting salads/sides on the table, 12 when I got coffee/tea. I worked a few church dinners (sit down, buffet, and potluck) when I was in HS (MS and I were emergency reserve youth in the church that Mum grew up in, for all that we rarely went there). Then I got to college, found fandom, and started working the consuite at MiniCon in the mid-late 1980s. (Yes, the really huge ones.)
With that background, doing a funeral meal for 90 is easy. Especially if someone else sets up the tables. :) And I get so many compliments that I feel kind of guilty accepting them.
