A Taste of the Holidays

As we move into the Holiday season I can almost taste the family recipe's and memorable morsels we have shared over the years.

Grandma's pineapple sticks with a cup of coffee on a cold winter evening. A fragile pizzelle that crumbles with the powder sugar down the front of your shirt. Angel wings melting in your mouth. And who could forget the ribbon jello that we all appreciate even more once we've made it ourselves?

How wonderful it is that we can bring back memories and feel the presence of those who have gone off to there reward with a little magic in the kitchen. Hopefully we are instilling a legacy in those around us with our own culinary skills. And someday, when we are gone, we can leave a little bit of ourselves on the dinner table.

Memories of Summer Visits with Grandma

As I listened to the rumble of thunder on a steamy August night last night I was transported back to my childhood and a similar night when I spent the evening with Grandma and cousin Jon sitting on her front porch on Maddalein eating fudgesicles and hearing stories about our father's childhoods and Grandpa. "We can sit out here until it starts to rain" Grandma said as we enjoyed the breeze that proceeded the oncoming storm. Ginger was inside, occasionally coming to the door to see that all was well. I can still hear Grandma's laughter as she told us of the fire in the basement of her old house and how all the neighborhood kids were most concerned with the safety of the pool table. Earlier in the day we had played cards and bingo for pennies in the coolness of the basement while we ate Bugles and drank Faygo. Talk was about our trip on the bus to Eastland earlier that day and the feast she was preparing for dinner. Grandma rarely parked us in front of the television. In fact, she kept us quite busy. And our stomach quite full!

I am very thankful that Grandma fed us such wonderful memories that we could pack away and take out long after she has gone to remember her and remind us of a simpler time in our lives. Her spirit lives on and she can still manage to touch us with her Grandmotherly love.

THANK YOU!

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. Reunion 2010 is already in the planning stage. The kick-off mass will become a regular addition to our reunion as it was such a nice way to start the day. Special Thanks to Dave and Debbie for making it so personal. Thanks to Judy for securing the park. And thanks to everyone who helped clean up. And thanks to Vicky, who wowed us with the awesome banner and the very challenging games!

Please keep checking with this blog as I will give regular updates to family news, share more old photo's and give updates to the planning of our next reunion.

If you don't see your name on the monthly birthday column, please let me know as my list is based on one we compiled a couple of years back. And let me know about the birthdays of the new little family members.

Right now I am going to put my feet up and rest with the fond memories of Warren Family Reunion 2009.

-Joe

It's Here!

I hope to see as many of you as can make it at mass this morning. If not, I will see you at the reunion! Don't forget your camera's. Let's make this a memorable day for all generations.

Pre-Reunion Celebration

I think I may have started a new tradition of my own. As the weather forecast for Sunday is still shaky, I am now confidant we will have a very nice reunion.

Today I paid a visit to the graves of the Szewczyk's. My first visit there. The Sacred Heart of Mary Cemetery on 6 mile and Mound is surprisingly well kept. In fact, if you go there you will meet the grounds keeper who is very helpful and friendly. I discovered a stone of the Kregier's, who would be Louise's(Ludwika Kregier-Szewczyk) Brother and Sister-in-law. Her name was Wiktorya, so Vicky has another namesake. Her husband's name was Michal and his picture looks a lot like his other Great-great nephew, Kevin Kwatera. After checking out those stones I found yet another stone, that of the Tyranski's. This family stone was of Louise Kregier-Szewczyk's sister and her family. This would be Uncle Ed's parents. What a history lesson!

I planted a 'Live Forever Seedem' on the graves of my ancestors. It is the plant of choice at the Sacred Heart cemetery as they live forever. I also planted some by the Wawrzyniak's, Grandma and Grandpa Warren and my Mother at Mt. Olivet. The Warren family stone always has had them growing there. A nice symbol of eternal life!

This was such a special experience. I plan to to this more often. Especially right before every reunion. If you would like maps, directions or a tour, just let me know.

I am all ready for Sunday's reunion. I hope to share many memories and moments with you all. See you there!
Joe

Directions to the Park

For those of you who couldn't find the link to the Evite on the right side of this blog. Or the map link on the Evite. Or the location of the park on the right side of this blog to do a mapquest search. Or you can't seem to get the link to work on your computer. Here is another way to find the park. Just copy and paste.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=New+Baltimore&state=MI&address=Huntley+Ave+%26+24+Mile+Rd&zipcode=48047&country=US&latitude=42.6906&longitude=-82.75842&geocode=INTERSECTION#a/maps/m::11:42.692877:-82.761664:0:::::1:1:1::/e

The map to the church is in it's link, but it is now also here.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=New+Baltimore&state=MI&address=50931+Maria+St&zipcode=48047-2148&country=US&latitude=42.67843&longitude=-82.735347&geocode=ADDRESS#a/maps/m::11:42.680385:-82.747356:0:::::1:1:1::/e

From the Church you can follow to the park. My cell phone will be on if you get lost. The number is on the Evite link.

Grills

No, not the one's on your teeth, the one's you grill your lunch on. The park does NOT have permanent grills, so if you want to barbecue, bring your portable grill. Or your George Foreman grill, as there are power sources in the pavilion.

I hope to see more people responding to the evite so I can get an idea who's coming. Make a note of family members not on the email list too!

Meeting of the Executive Committee

Last night the Warren Family Reunion Executive Committee met to finalize plans for the 2009 Reunion. Present were Reunion Czarina; Victoria Graves, President of the Reunion Committee; Jessica Catalano and myself, Joseph Warren-CEO. All reunion plans were finalized and approved. The meeting was then moved to Arnie Beller's private club at the 2009 American-Polish festival for the purpose of experiencing our cultural heritage. A motion to introduce alcoholic beverages to the meeting was approved overwhelmingly. After a fervent open meeting with various junior members of the committee, Mrs. Graves and myself issued a joint resolution to recognize our hard work over the years and presented ourselves with congratulatory cherry bombs. We also recognized the origin of our mission being the time Grandma Warren pulled us aside to tell us we were her favorites and that she counted on us to keep the tradition of Warren family gatherings alive. Another Cherry Bomb round was introduced in a toast to Helen Warren and what she may have said to us. The rest of the minutes of the meeting are missing because someone spilled beer on them and rather than try to clean up the mess we just ordered another pitcher and headed for the dance floor. The meeting was adjourned...although we are not quite sure when that was.
Did I mention that Judy acquired a park permit that allows beer and wine consumption at the picnic? Any thing else that might turn up in your Thermos is your business. Two weeks until the reunion! Make sure your whole family knows about it.
-Joe

More Invites Out.

Today some of our guests shall be receiving their mailed invites. I am trying to send out as few as possible by contacting people via the intranet. If you have received neither, I will be searching for you. I am counting on those cousins who received the evite to forward it to the siblings and family members that aren't on the email list or whose old email address is listed, but out dated. So far I have saved over $13 in postage. I hope to do the next reunion entirely electronically. I will be gathering up new info at the reunion and through emails that I have sent out requesting addresses. I will be monitoring the evite to make sure people are responding. If I don't see that you have at least looked at the evite, I will be forced to spend a stamp on you. Don't make me do that!
Just a couple of weeks to go so pass the word and let me know. The mailed invites don't have an RSVP, but I hope those who respond via evite can include 'Mom', 'Dad','Grandma' and or 'Grandpa'.

Warren Family Reunion 2009 -Meet us under the water tower.

On Sunday July 26th we will gather at Aurand Memorial Park under the New Baltimore water tower at Noon for our semi-annual Warren Family Reunion. Bring your picnic lunch or pick up a Subway, KFC etc. on the 23 mile road strip. Make sure you log on to the Evite and reply so we can get an idea of who and how many are coming.

Bring chairs and/or blankets. There are a limited number of picnic tables. We are also asking everyone who would like, to bring a dessert for our family sweet table.

The park has a play scape for the kids and lots of space for picnic type games. We have some surprises in store -as usual!

Let me know if you have any suggestions or would like to volunteer to help set up.
-Joe

We Have a Park!!!

The Reunion is a go! Thank-you Judy. Covered pavilion, 2 baseball diamonds, soccer field, basketball courts, open space for kite flying, Frisbee tossing, a brand new play scape and swings, as well as a skate board park. Including restrooms and alcohol will be permitted. Hallelujah! And it's on a hill so we won't find our reunion under water! Stay tuned for the official reunion announcement next week!

I love a challenge

I was going to take a drive out to do a walk through of Waldenberg park in Macomb Township...until I saw it on the news, under water! And the roads around it are closed. Also under water. When I told Judy of our probable choice yesterday afternoon, she said "As long as it doesn't rain too much. It's on a flood plane." I know now! Who builds a park on a flood plane?!?

On a different note, we have decided to move the reunion to a Sunday. Several people have said it would work better for their weekly schedules. This also opens up some of the options that were closed because of the Saturday choice. We will get there. I will have the official announcement with all the logistics worked out by July first. As of now, it is tentatively SUNDAY July 26th. 12-6. Location to be announced.

Just to be safe, I think I need to light a candle in church this Sunday.

Hit a Snag.

The original park we were going to have the reunion at wants to charge us $150 to reserve the pavilion and also suggested we reserve two with the amount of people we have. I said NO.

Let me take a little time to explain the new route to putting on the reunion. Having seen the hard work and cost the host family has to deal with, we want to make the reunion easier on all. And at the lowest cost to all. Simplicity will make things much more enjoyable for all involved. I also hope it will encourage others to become involved. Since this will set a precedent for future reunions, I am not giving up. I will have a park by this Friday. Either that or I will rethink the whole approach. I am open for ideas as I am calling different city's parks departments. Please just leave a comment after this blog entry or send me an email. I am also on facebook.

I work really well under pressure so this will be an awesome reunion. Make sure you're spreading the word.

-Joe

This Summer's Reunion

It's been a while since a lot of us have seen each other. I am sure I will not recognize any one's kids as they grow so fast. And there are a few people who seem to have disappeared completely. These are the best reason to get together. We also want to make sure we don't just see each other at funerals, which was why we started the reunions back up.

This year we will tentatively be holding it on the last Saturday of July at a park in New Baltimore. I want it to be very easy on everyone. As soon as we confirm a reservation with the park I will send out all the information. It will get to you all and be posted here by July 1st. One major change this year will be food. Instead of giving each family a course and going from there, we are going to ask everyone to bring there own picnic lunch. This will be much easier for people to come and go at different times and not have to worry about food being gone, warm or melting. I'll also find out and pass on to you info on carry out chicken, sub shops etc. in the area. I would like some input about a cookie contest or something like that. We could give out a blue ribbon for the best recipe.

Vicky and Jessica are already planning some events to keep us busy. Fun and active! I will find out if we can get a softball or volleyball game going. This will also be a great time to share pictures of what everyone has been up to. And we want you to take more, so bring your camera. Hopefully we can get another great group shot to mark the occasion.

Please let me know if you have any ideas or would like to help in the planning and execution of this awesome family event!

Welcome to Our Family Blog!

This will be this spot to find out the latest reunion information. To add input. To share news and information about family members. Or to just speak your mind. In down time I will try to keep you entertained by sharing memories and stories about growing up with so many cousins and extended relations. But I expect some input now and them. Become a follower. And enjoy our new Internet home. And please encourage others to join also.

I hope this becomes a one stop source of all family related information, keeping the reunions going year round by becoming a source of communication and information that will strengthen our family ties and build new ones.

Become a follower and set this as one of your fav's. And communicate!
-Joe Warren