Thanksgiving

I love the holidays, especially the major relatives-come-to-visit holidays, which in my family are Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Hailing from a large clan there is always quite a crowd around our table for any celebration; this Thanksgiving we had twenty-seven, twenty-seven relatives and friends under one roof, breaking bread and giving thanks for our many blessings. This year we counted as our number one blessing the presence of my one-hundred and three year old grandmother at the head of the table.

How blessed we are to have our matriarch still with us, how blessed she is to have a family who loves and cares for her as we do. As I looked around our holiday table I was truly thankful for those gathered – husband, daughter, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends – each one a gift. Or as my grandmother says when she looks at her progeny, “You are all my fault” referring to the fact that none of us would be here if it weren’t for her.

Thank you, Grandmother (Big Red), for being the force that keeps up together and gives us so much to be thankful for at Thanksgiving.