Post Thanksgiving

Alas, all good things must come to an end. It was back to the grind Monday morning. I spent the last two days of vacation visiting family at the annual get-together at my uncle's house in the country (Saturday) and being as lazy as possible (Sunday).

Last year the Thanksgiving family reunion had to be cancelled due to illness in the family. This year almost everybody showed up to catch up on two-years' worth of family gossip. The weather was crisp and cool and the Ging grandkids had a great time creating piles of leaves and then jumping into them.

My uncle's house has a terrific screened porch/breezeway where the cousins gathered to visit before lunch was served.

We are due a cold day in July, it would seem, since I was able to snag a photo of my aunt with all three of her boys, an almost impossible feat.


We started a new tradition this year and rather than have all the cooks exhausted by lunch time, we dug into a huge pile of barbecue. Nobody missed the turkey and dressing.

Every time we have these gatherings, I can't help but recall when they were held at my grandmother's house. All of the women would be in the kitchen cooking and talking at the same time and all of them kept up with all of the conversations. Sometimes it would seem like there was a huge clatter in my ears where all the conversations collided and I would have to periodically leave the room to let my head clear. As I grew up, I too acquired the ability to monitor a half-dozen coversations and take part in all of them at the same time.

When my grandmother died, my uncle took over the hosting of the annual event and once a year we all head back to touch base with our roots. We catch up on new grandkids, new significant others and new jobs and tell old stories and share old memories. We may only see each other once a year, but we are family and when we come together we pick up where we left off.

My mother's health will no longer permit her to take part, but the other siblings were all there this year.

Something tells me Horace and Lucy were in attendance as well. They always loved it when the kids and grandkids were home. Time together with family is quality time.

LSW