(Editor’s Note: Because of space constraints in last week’s newspaper, following is the remainder of Thanksgiving Day news from Ramona.)
Ramona correspondent
Dan and Connie Smith had two holiday dinners. They cooked for friends and their daughter, Catina, her fiancé, Chris Wiebe, and Catina’s son, Alston.
Catina is marrying Chris Saturday in the Grace Mennonite Church in Whitewater, where they’ll be living. Catina and Chris both went to Centre High School, where they occasionally dated.
“But life took them in different directions after high school,” Connie explained, “and then years later they meet up on Facebook, and began seeing each other again. We’re very happy for them.”
The Smiths went to Topeka to celebrate Thanksgiving with Dan’s brother, Don, and his family.
Marissa Makovec and her daughter, Shelia, went to Oklahoma the day before Thanksgiving to see Marissa’s mom who has not been feeling well. They came home Thursday in time to have a family dinner for 30 people. In her typically organized fashion, Marissa had cooked everything before she left for Oklahoma.
“I did get to stick the turkey in the oven,” Marissa’s husband, Gail, said.
Celebrations continued on the weekend with the clan going to Hillsboro for supper in celebration of Gail’s birthday.
“It was great having all the kids with us,” Gail said.
Warren and Paula Fike had Thanksgiving with their daughter, Linda Peterson, and her husband, Dan, who live in Burdick.
“Linda and Dan’s son, Jeff, and his family were there, too,” Paula said. “It was kinda nice having a more quiet holiday with just seven at the table.”
Fike family gatherings are often large — with numbers pushing 50.
Betty and Harold Ohm have been enjoying a visit from their daughter, Joey, who lives in Wisconsin. The week before Thanksgiving they took Joey to Kansas City to head home, and then spent the Thanksgiving holidays with their daughters, Brenda and Jackie. I have no other details because Betty and Harold are driving home as I write.
Merv and Leona Deines had 10 for Thanksgiving. Their daughter, Debbie, and her husband, Ross Coup, and children Samantha and Adam were there, along with Merv’s brother, Weldon, and his children, Curtis and Christina, who came with their families.
“Terry and Julie went to Julie’s sister’s place in Kansas City, and Jeff and Gayla’s family were at a gathering of Gayla’s relatives in Marion,” Leona said. “Later in the afternoon, Jeff and Gayla and their kids and friends came through and ate leftovers,” she said with a smile. “It was like Grand Central Station!”
Leona says she never gets “up tight” if all her kids aren’t around the table on Thanksgiving.
“When they marry and then have families of their own, we have to rotate. It’s no big deal. I know they’re all someplace.”
Leona said they enjoy their grandkids and the friends they bring to the house.
“Everybody knows everybody,” Leona said, “and the kids on Shelby’s basketball team all call me grandma. We love having them visit. They especially like playing pool out in our rec room.”
The Sondergards had so many home for the holidays that they rented Ramona Senior Center.
“It worked out so nice,” Darlene said. “We had all our kids and grandkids at home. We had 20 for lunch and 30 for supper. I’ve never seen so much food disappear so fast.”
Darlene and Al were especially glad to have their granddaughter, Mary, and her husband, Tad, home from Iraq.
“He was home for just 10 days, but he was able to be here to celebrate his daughter’s third birthday,” Darlene said.
Mary and Tad live in El Paso, Texas.
The Sondergards, Merv and Leona Deines, and Steve and Leona Eskeldson met at the senior center Sunday evening to put up a Christmas tree. Afterwards they stayed to play cards.
“It was ladies against the men,” Leona said. “We won five games out of six!”
“Winning was so much fun,” Darlene said.
The men didn’t find the experience all that thrilling. Steve Eskeldson was reported to have said, “This is totally embarrassing.”
And that’s the news from Ramona, where the women have the upper hand, at the moment, and a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.