Recently, the GaGa Sisterhood celebrated its 12th anniversary at our annual anniversary/holiday luncheon. One of our members hosts the event and we all look forward to it because the house is festively decorated, the potluck lunch is bountiful, and the joyful celebration of being together is heightened during the holiday season. At least half of us show up wearing red. During some point in the festivities, I share the story of how it all began.
Twelve years ago, 15 grandmas sat in a circle in my living room and began a conversation about what it means to be a modern grandma. We told stories about what our grandchildren call us and how we got those names; the great lengths we go to see them; how we juggle all our roles to make time for them; and most importantly, how we get along with their parents. There was so much to share and not enough time to dive into all of it.
But one thing we knew for sure … we wanted to continue the conversation. And thus, the GaGa Sisterhood was born!
I realized the role of “grandma” was complicated and that grandmas together could figure it out better than one grandma all by herself.
We’ve been meeting bi-monthly for twelve years, not only to better understand our role, but also to form a community of like-minded women who feel comfortable sharing both the joys and challenges of being grandmas. Our speakers have shown us creative ways to stay connected with our grandchildren, taught us techniques for improving communication with our adult children, and inspired us to continue evolving as human beings.
Holiday Disaster Stories
At our anniversary luncheon, we always sit in a circle and share holiday stories. This year I suggested we share holiday disaster stories and we sure did enjoy some laughs. Here are some of the funnier ones.
- One grandma put her turkey in the oven and three hours later realized she wasn’t smelling those wonderful fragrances that accompany a roasting turkey. She’d forgotten to turn on the oven. So all her guests had some more drinks and then decided to eat dinner in reverse order starting with dessert.
- One grandma wanted to make sure her new oven was sparkling clean, so she set it to self-clean. When she was ready to cook the turkey, she couldn’t open the oven because it was locked in the self-cleaning setting. They all had to go out to dinner.
- One grandma spent Thanksgiving with her friend, who was a veterinarian and on-call for the holiday. The phone rang every ten minutes and the four friends ended up making eight trips to the hospital to tend to ailing pets, including one c-section on a Yorkie.
- One grandma remembered the Christmas her sister received a Shirley Temple doll while she received a boy doll. She was so jealous she put her sister’s Shirley Temple doll in the bathtub and washed the doll’s hair until it came unglued.
- One grandma recalled her first Christmas with her husband 50 years ago when they were both students and had no money for a tree or presents. They found a Styrofoam tree and decorated it with toothpicks. Her husband put two small wrapped boxes beside the tree the week before Christmas. Curious about what was inside, she shook the boxes and they rattled a lot. When she finally opened them on Christmas, to her disappointment they were filled with bolts and screws!
I hope you enjoy these disaster stories as much as we did. Somehow, now that we’re all grandmas and have weathered more than a few storms, they seem a lot funnier than when they first happened.
I’m slow at seeing this post. (Crazy busy Christmas season!)
Twelve years! That is amazing! Congratulations for staying together so long. And, I loved reading the disaster’s that you shared. (I could have shared my scorched mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving story!)