Yesterday, we were invited to a fam jam (as we refer to family get-togethers in my family) at my brother’s home in my hometown.

I’m the eldest of five siblings and all were able to make it except for my youngest sister who was “on call” for work. Hubs and I took Mom to the gathering and a good time was had by all.

My brother and sister-in-law provided all of the food and insisted that we bring nothing – only ourselves. I’m always a bit uncomfortable with that type of arrangement, but they’re the type of people who mean it when they say something like that, so we all abided by the rules.

Our feast was smoked beef brisket (made by my brother in a smoker he built from scratch – he’s so like my Dad), home-made baked beans and a side of corn done on the barbecue by my sister-in-law. A variety of freshly picked garden vegetables, inclusive of a cucumber and cream salad was the perfect complement for this summer meal. To say it all was delicious is an understatement.

We enjoyed an afternoon of catching up, reminiscing and laughter. We’re very blessed to be a close family and to all live so close together, yet even with that, we seldom manage to gather for a visit.

Yesterday was my favourite day of summer 2022 thus far.

Photo Note: I took the photo in portrait mode in order to capture everything on the table from the angle I wanted. Because the bowl of ciabatta buns was large in the foreground, I was able to crop half of it out in order to create the landscape format I wanted for the feature image and still show enough of the buns.

“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.”

George Bernard Shaw