NATCHEZ — Annie Marie Smith didn’t have to wait for the rooster to crow — she was already up.

Smith was up at 4 a.m. making homemade peach ice cream for her family’s Fourth of July lunch. Even though the dessert wouldn’t be eaten for hours, Smith said it was necessary to start the ice cream that early to make sure it was ready.

“The fresh — well they were fresh before I froze them — Georgia peaches are the secret,” she said.

The ice cream is one of the traditions that keeps her family members coming back to her house each year to celebrate the Fourth of July.

This year the ice cream, along with homemade apple dumplings, topped off a meal of ribs, baked beans, sweet corn and potato salad.

And while the food was delicious, what keeps family members coming each year is just the chance to spend time together.

“She is the glue that keeps us together,” said Mary Katherine Smith, Annie Marie Smith’s daughter in law. “She’s the one calling and making sure we stay in touch and know what’s going on with each other.”

This year eight family members, include Annie Marie Smith and her husband Rodger, spent the afternoon eating and story telling.

“We’ve been married for 62 years, so I guess we have been doing this for 62 years,” Annie Marie Smith said.

And in those years, the size of the family gatherings have varied. Danny Smith, Annie Marie Smith’s son, said gatherings now a good bit quieter than they were a few years back.

“We were just talking about the house used to be filled with kids,” Danny Smith said. “Now they are all grown up and couldn’t make it here.”

But the Fourth of July isn’t there only chance this family has to get together. They make a habit of getting together each Thanksgiving for skeet shooting at Rodger Smith Jr.’s house and Christmas celebrations typically end up with a big family gathering as well.

After a large family meal and an afternoon of chatting, there is one thing the Smith family enjoys almost as much as they do the peach ice cream — a nap.

“We were all getting comfortable and ready for an afternoon nap,” Danny Smith said.

But before the napping could start, there was food to be cleaned up. And Rodger Smith Sr. was the lucky one to draw clean up duty. But Annie Marie Smith wasn’t confident everything would get cleaned.

“I’ll have to watch him,” she said. “I still have to show him where the dish towels are.”