Day of Thanks

Thanksgiving, a day of traditions. Some fun and anticipated; and some suffered through. Coming from a big family, that was also a part of a big family, our traditional Thanksgivings usually consisted of a festive gathering with somewhere between thirty and forty people between two months and eighty-two years of age.

Every tradition surrounding our Thanksgiving is just a little different and can be traced back to its origination. The rotating host house for the event, dates back to when my parents moved out west and were soon followed by the brothers and sisters. Uncle Dwayne making candied yams every year started when he married Heidi,  and baking a ham as well as a turkey started the year Uncle Steve baked only ham and from then on host house bakes both. King Elephant, well that game is thanks to Cousin Corinne.

Every year is filled with wonderful memories and copious laughs. Most of all it's filled with family. It may seem trite but family truly is what matters. Even when I have to tell twenty different people that "I don't know what I want to do with my life," "no I'm not working in my field of study," and "yes I am still planning on travelling to Europe next year." Family can't live with them, don't want to explain your life choices to them, but love them none the less. No one knows how to piss you off like family and no one knows how to make you laugh as much as family does. The thing with family is that the stories are almost all "had to be there" kinds of stories.

Sitting around the dining room table, twelve of us at a table for eight. All the cousins from eighteen to thirty-two playing Taboo. A well known story of the battle of the sexes. Boys vs Girls. The age old mystery of who is the weaker sex was solved. Boys. Boys are clearly the weaker sex when it comes to verbal communication, but when it came to spacial reasoning in Jenga, the woman were definitely schooled.

The best part of Thanksgiving is that it is the beginning of the Holiday season. A lot like this is the beginning of my blogging adventure.