Grateful for Thanksgiving

Yesterday was a wonderful day, full of gratitude, thanksgiving, and pumpkin pie.  My own little family spent the day with my extended family, where we were all together, every child and spouse accounted for. We met my youngest brother's girlfriend and welcomed her into our crazy family and she fit right in.

Preparations were chaotic as the hour to dine drew closer, but we reveled in the fact that the kitchen was spacious enough for more than one person to cook at a time.

The turkey was moist, the potatoes smooth and delicious.  My youngest brother brought new dishes to our family traditions as he sautéed brussels sprouts and baked a delicious mushroom bread pudding.

No Thanksgiving would be complete without some sort of game playing, and Apples to Apples was the choice again this year.  Stiff competition as well as letting the little girls play was a change from the hilarity of last year, but fun nonetheless.

I am so grateful for holidays and traditions that solidify us and make me so much more tethered to my eternal family.  I love the fact that year after year, it just isn't the same if there isn't some shrimp cocktail at the top of my plate, in a cut crystal dish.  A tradition that was started many generations ago, before my mother's youth, that has been carried on to today.

We were blessed in the prayer my father offered in thanksgiving for the bounty we had before us.  I was touched that we, all 13 of us, were together, and surrounded the table, an offering to the blessings we had been so generously given this past year.

Today, we ended my brother's visit with family pictures.  All were decked out in their somewhat best...for us that consists of jeans and a button down shirt...and my other brother may just keep the baseball hat on.  It was a particularly wonderful conclusion to the Thanksgiving holiday.  Filled with love, we smiled for the camera, making jokes and teasing each other in the way only family can.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday too.  However you spent it, with family or friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!!