Jacob's Feast...

Jacob had his feast, tonight. He's 15, and a barrel of laughs. Jacob is quick-witted and sensitive- always in tune with others around him. He's musically gifted, plays the violin and sings like nobody's business. He's a hard worker and I can always count on him to do his chores 100%. Jacob has the best imagination of anyone I know- myself excluded. He loves his dog, a black lab, named Shadow. What can I say? He's a breeze to be around. A real joy to spend time with.

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His feast... well, I think his Dad and I might has broken a rib or two, we laughed so hard. He settled on a Barbarian feast- told you he has a great imagination. His table was very simply set with a candle center-piece I had picked up at a thrift shop a few years back. With 5 "whoa! Those are the biggest red candles I ever seen!"(of tapers, Abe, 5y) He had gifts of pens and mechanical pencils with pretty ribbon tied around. The kids were each given a sample piece of ribbon and they had to find the match and that was their seat. John commented on how nice and roomy the table was... no plates. The appetizer was rather uneventful with three big platters of all kinds of fresh fruit. Apples, pineapple, grapes, raspberries, bananas, oranges and pomegranate. Everyone munched and had very civilized conversation. He had Jones' sodas and served them in big ole mugs. And then the meal started rolling out- literally. Plop! There goes a potato on the table, and then an ear of corn..."Um Jacob, don't we need a plate, man?" Bill started rolling laughing right there. The boys were trying so hard to be polite when reminding him he needed plates. He says, "Who needs plates? We're having a barbarian feast!" He grabs a leg off a chicken(3 chickens straight from the store's rotisserie)- and plunks it down in front of Abe- jaws drop, disbelief written clearly on every face. Silence at last, Mom thinks. He was halfway around our sizable table before the kids started to see the humor of the situation. Heads still shaking, they caved and started using their hands to butter their rolls and tear off their own piece of meat. Abe picked up on the theme way too fast. Rolls started flying through the air and butter started dripping off fingers and Bill proclaimed that we needed to do this more often. I don't think my sides could stand it- I laughed so hard as the kids really just let lose and enjoyed themselves. Daniel even removed his jacket- I am pretty sure that only happens on bath day. The food was yummy and I am sure that helped the kids over their initial shock that Mom said it was okay to play with their food. There was a bit of nervous twitter around the table as dessert was about the be served- I don't think anyone relished the idea of eating icecream off the table with their fingers! But Jacob had mercy on them and served up a tasty coffee cake- everyone in this family has a soft spot for cinnamon. The dish chore was a breeze- just wiped all the bones from the table and soaped it down. Done! ahhhhh... that really was a blast.