Last night, we had a family gathering. For once, all of my children that still live with us, were home. At the same time. I know, in a family of seven plus two, that is virtually non-existent! And while my eldest no longer lives with us (insert sad face), he still makes sure to check in often.

But anyway, the kids were all home. So was hubby. It was a miracle.

Earlier in the day, I'd decided to make meat loaf since our pickins' in the freezer are getting pretty low. I knew I had potatoes and I knew I still had enough deer meat for one more go around. It turned out that was a perfect idea…because we actually had a family dinner, minus the eldest. (insert sad face)

(Insert even bigger sad face) It was the LAST of the deer meat!

Now, you just have to understand that most people I encounter don't like deer meat. BUT, my mom makes the best deer meat. I'm not sure what she puts in it, but all we have to do is thaw it out and make patties out of it and whalla…amazing deer burgers! I'd never made a meatloaf out of it, but all I added was garlic and onions…and whalla….amazing deer meatloaf.

And now…it's all gone.

But, the family dinner was so much fun. We laughed and talked. We talked of eating Bambi. (Sorry for the morbid humor.) We talked about elbows on the table. We talked about napkins in the lap.

We talked about broken noses and black eyes; and how B-boo's injuries have all been self-inflicted from her clumsiness. We talked about facial features and the Talented One's cute dimple. I explained to him that he wasn't born with that dimple, but that it had happened when he was 2 or 3 and a little girl had picked him up and dropped him in Sunday school. On his face. His cheek had slammed into the corner of a table. He was bruised for weeks and ever since then, he's had a dimple on his right cheek. So, B-boo speaks up,

So, mom…you saying he wasn't born with a deformed face that turned into a dimple, it happened later."

We all spewed.

Yes, dinner conversation is much like our laundry folding. We all get together and the conversation takes on a life of it's own.

Now, if we could just get our hands on some more of my mom's deer meat, all would be well in the Vivas household again.