My family's portrait is in the illustrated dictionary beside "dysfunctional". Once upon a time we used to gather together at my grandparents' place. At first, that was easy to do since we all lived with my mom (we were her kids, four of us: brother John, me, sister Janis, and sister Carolyn). After we grew up and had families of our own, we continued the practice fairly regularly on holidays, but I became a JW and broke up the pattern, and then everybody kind of scattered out and we lost touch.
This year I changed that, at least for a couple of days. I hope we've revived an old habit that will keep my family close as we all go through our lives.
I invited everyone to my house for Thanksgiving, and to my delight, they all accepted. I was a little worried about how well it would go with upward of 20 people here. So, how did it go? FLAWLESSLY! We actually got along, cooperated, had things to talk about, genuinely cared about each other, and wound up having a fairy tale family gathering.
Janis, her husband Barney, their sons Brent and Bo, and their dog Bull came up Wednesday from Huntsville, arriving at almost the same moment as my mom and sister Carolyn from Kerrville. We all had a great visit that evening, and I bedded them all down and slept on the couch, myself... but I have a delightfully soft, welcoming couch. :)
Thursday morning I got up and fixed pancakes and scrambled eggs for everybody, but the big hit of the day was my lattes. I could only make them two at a time, and kept getting requests for them. Others began to arrive and soon the party was in full swing. My brother, his wife and their son arrived, followed by their three daughters. They brought lots of different desserts as well as snacks like celery sticks with cheese, for us to munch on while preparing the main courses. As I expected would happen, Janis and the other ladies pretty much ran us guys out of the kitchen and took over. So, we went outside for some serious football ("serious" is a relative term).
The weather people had predicted a freeze Wednesday night and cold weather Thursday, but it warmed right on up to about 70 degrees! We had glorious weather for an outing, and we made the most of it. When it came time to eat, my agnostic self invited brother John to say a blessing, and he did his beliefs proud--for which I was proud.
Late in the day a couple of stragglers arrived, nearly completing the family circle. One of brother John's daughers didn't make it, and my two sons didn't. But we have next time...
I cannot tell you how fulfilled and complete I feel. Ah, family! Ah, life!
Edited by - COMF on 29 November 2002 2:52:8