When I was much younger, our summers were often spent at our Grandma's house on the coast. Along with my siblings, my parents and me, many of my aunts, uncles and cousins would also gather there for the holidays. My mum has 9 siblings- and so I have a whole battalion of cousins, aunts and uncles. Summers there were always fun, loud, and full of games, giggles, and delicious food. We often had people visiting and on days like that, dinners went on long after 'bedtime'. All us cousins were very excited at the thought of staying up late and giggling, chatting and playing games, and sometimes listening to the stories that our elders told. On the days that we did not have visitors, we would all usually go to bed on time. My grandma (Gramsy as we lovingly called her) would make sure her hall was swept and swabbed and the huge green and blue carpet was cleaned. Then all the cousins would excitedly each go and pick up a pillow and a thin cotton sheet to use. The excitement of ...