Thanksgiving thoughts

Yesterday was Thanksgiving day here in the U.S.A.  A day that most U.S. citizens load up on more food and sweets than they should eat, and perhaps spend a minute or two thinking of reasons to give thanks while waiting for the next football game or other sporting event to be shown on their TV sets.

I'm no different than most U.S. citizens, so I traveled to my family's home and shared holiday dinner with my relatives.  What was different this year is that the relatives I saw weren't the traditional group of siblings (mine) and their extended families.  Instead, this year the holiday dinner featured my father's siblings, all in for a visit.  I suppose part of why they're in town is because it was a big birthday this year for my father, but also somewhat because my surviving grandmother has also aged to a point where we all have the question in our mind of just how much longer she'll be around.  Regardless of the reason, it was nice seeing everyone including some family members that my dad's part of the family isn't always so friendly with.  I guess time has worn down the things that irritated one part of the family when looking at another part and perhaps the realization that life is too short to be so petty may have helped as well.

Unfortunately what the lord giveth in one area, seems to be taken away in another.  Where my father's siblings were sitting this year would normally be spaces occupied by my own siblings and their children, virtually none of which were there for this holiday.  In one case I'm sure it was because one sibling has to spend time split between the families of his and her.  If one holiday is at my parents, the other holiday is at their in-laws.  I suppose that's fair, but I'm also sure my mother would prefer things to be different as she really likes to have her family all together on the holidays.

That explains the absence of one family member and their family, but what of the others?  There's still two more siblings, and with the exception of one nephew, the rest of the family wasn't to be found.  Again, I guess one of those siblings was spending time with their in-laws, but the other?  Well, perhaps some of the anonymousity that used to exist for my father's siblings now exists between that sibling, their spouse and my parents.  Over time the false smiles have given way to less tolerance and more irritation at the little things that either side might do, and finally we've gotten to the point that rather than demanding everyone be together for the holiday it's become a case of just stay the heck away if you can't be friendly enough to pass muster.

I'm sure over time things will change again and where one part of the family comes into favor, another will have said or done something that pushes them away.

In any case there are plenty of things to be thankful for in my life and I don't want to not be thankful for those things.  I'm thankful I have a job that covers my needs and those of my family.  (I might be slightly more thankful if my eldest child found a job of their own soon, but I know the economy is tough right now, which makes me all the more thankful for my own employment!)  I'm thankful for my health and that of my family as well.  I'm glad and thankful that my aunt that is fighting breast cancer is still around and continuing that fight, and thankful as well that my father-in-law continues his own fight against his own array of health issues.  Having those family members around gives us all an opportunity to continue to express our happiness at having them in our life.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and will have a great holiday season.