NATCHEZ &8212; For the Hinson family and the Golden family, the Fourth of July is about family, friends and food.

Tuesday afternoon, a dozen people grilled on the Goldens&8217; porch on Hommochitto Street, swinging on a bench and talking of old times.

&8220;We&8217;re usually at the lake for the Fourth,&8221; Lee Hinson said, &8220;but with the rain, we decided not to this time.&8221;

Kindergartners to college students helped themselves to food off the grill. Lee and her husband Chris have four children. Diane and Chuck Golden have seven.

A handful of the children were off with friends, Hinson said.

&8220;Over the last few years, they&8217;ve gotten older. They have boyfriends and girlfriends, now,&8221; she said.

The two families have known each other 20 years and are very close, Hinson said. Chris Hinson and Chuck Golden worked together as firemen for years, and the families became closer than friends.

&8220;We are family,&8221; Chuck Golden said.

They spend most holidays together and attend each other&8217;s weddings and funerals.

&8220;Our two families are more like family than friends,&8221; Hinson said. &8220;We&8217;ve shared good times and bad times.&8221;

Everyone took a grilled sausage as the plate was passed around.

The men had bought five pounds of sausages so there would be plenty for everybody.

Also on the menu were hamburgers, grilled eggplant, stuffed jalape&110;os, apple cobbler and homemade ice cream.

Friends of the families, Tommy Porter and Jerry McDaniel, were also there.

Porter and McDaniel, along with the Goldens and Hinsons, swapped stories earlier in the day, they said, but none they could repeat.