Thanksgiving Traditions

I was talking with Poodle Wednesday night about our family's general Holiday traditions. She felt that we have no traditions because we do not have large family gatherings any longer. She only vaguley remembers the family dinners when both her grandparents were alive, and most certainly does not remember the huge family gatherings on New Year's Day that we had before my brother and his family moved to Pennsylvania.

The New Year's Days festivities were ideal--there was something to do for everyone. TV, computer games, pot luck food, and tons of room for the kids to play indoors. We used the church building, put up the dividers so the kids had 2/3 of the cultural hall, and we had the other 1/3 for visiting and setting up the tables. For only 4 famililies there were plenty of people: My parents (2); my sister, her husband and their 7 kids (9); my #3 niece and her daughter (1) [I counted the niece as one of my sister's kids]; my #1 niece's boyfriend (1); my brother, his wife and 5 children (7); and of course myself, my husband and our 5 children (7). That's a total of 27 people. Of course we had turkey and all the trimmings, presents and lots of conversation. The last one we had ended abruptly when my #3 niece spit in my face. We left abruptly, and the party ended. We never got together again, and I lost my desire for large family gatherings after that.

Later, we had smaller gatherings--just my parents and our children. One particular year after Sheep had run away from home and we had no idea where she was, or even if she was still living, being in a celebratory mood was very difficult. That December 24th Sunday, Sheep called. She refused to talk to anyone except Fox. She never asked about anyone in the family, not even her baby sister, Poodle. My heart broke. As we were getting ready to sit down to Christmas Eve Dinner, the phone rang. It was my brother. He had been in an automobile accident that morning and his youngest son had been killed. No one felt like eating That Christmas dinner.

Now that our children are all gone and away, it seems rather pointless to 'celebrate' in a large way. Sometimes traditions are just too painful.

Now you know, Poodle, the 'rest of the story'