Stretch Parties!!!
Background/History of the Annual Duke Family Stretch Party
My amazingly wonderful fun Father came up with this brilliant idea about 15 years ago. There are millions of reasons why I admire my Dad, and this is definitely one of them.
The Duke family (about 40 + of us) get together the Sunday, Monday, & Tuesday evenings before Thanksgiving to eat and eat and eat, to stretch our bellies in order to fit more food in them on Thanksgiving. Each night is a different theme, held at various relatives homes. Sunday is typically, soups & breadsticks, Monday is breakfast for dinner, and Tuesday is hamburgers & salads. There are always yummy desserts involved as well.
It is a beautiful thing. We love this tradition. The entire week of Thanksgiving is such a blast!
The problem
This year some people we won't mention decided to have it only on Sunday night! I am sure it will be wonderful, but this is not how things are done. Mitch is more devistated than anyone. In Mitch words, "This is one of the reasons I married into this family!"
(Wow, he is getting passionate about this one. When he over-reacts like this I like to call him "Hollywood").
The solution
As my Dad's only daughter I feel a responsibility to carry it on the way he would do it. So it is left up to us. We have decided to take this typically "private family function," to a different level. We are going public!
The invitation
To all friends interested in stretching
Everyone's welcome to both
Nov. 24th, Monday & Nov. 25th, Tuesday
6:30-8:30pm
Our home
Breakfast will be served Monday
Tacos will be served Tuesday
Mitch words again, "bring something if you want, pot-luck style or don't bring something if you don't want."
Call or email me.
We have no idea how many to count on, so give me at least a few hours notice if you are coming so we can plan well.
It's that time of year...stretch time!
15 happy thoughts:
mmm. This is extremely tempting since my husband will be out of town. But I think it will be too much of a stretch (get it?) to go all the way home after work to get Finn and make it up there.
Oh man, my chance to participate in a Duke Family Stretch Party? I can't believe this day is here. I hope I can make it. I will keep you posted!
Ooooohhhhh.... I like the idea of stretch time. I'm going to have to get back to you on this.
Sounds so fun! Unfortunately we are going to miss out... we will be out of town until the 1st. Have fun!
I love the traditions you have in your family! Sounds like a lot of fun. We have friends here from England and will be stretching our stomachs out on all their favorite places to eat! Hopefully we can get together soon and let the kids play! Have a great week!
i love this story. i remember being a little girl and listening to your dad tell various stories about your stretching parties in church... such a funny man. he is very missed by all who knew him. i think i fixed my blog.. i dont know what i did to it.. one of these days i will make it over to your house so that we can chat all we want,
lol, clearly i have a problem with pushing the "publish comment" button too many times.
Katie I love the stretch parties I hope I have your permission to begin them in our family...you're dad is too cute! I'm glad he has you to help carry on his legacy!
What a fabulous idea! Count us in - all seven of us. Not sure which night - I'll talk to you and let you know for sure and you can let me know what to bring.
I'm sorry we couldn't come. Thank you for the invite. We miss you guys and are grateful you are our friends.
We wish we could be there...I've always LOVED hearing about this tradition.
LOL...about Nicco...Mitch is hilarious!!!
DANG! I wish I would have read this sooner! We would have loved to come...maybe next year!
p.s Your talk was great on sunday I hope im just like you when i grow up... LOVE, SARAH
Your stretching stories were among some of my favorites that you would tell at school! I love that you are carrying on the tradition! Love ya!
How in the world did I manage to miss this. My bad for being a back-burner blogger. I hope you guys had a lot of fun and I hope that we will be able to experience the "stretch" in years to come.
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