Giving the Thanks

I just got home from two family gatherings, one with my husband's family, and one with my own... I really do have a remarkable family.

At Mark's family Thanksgiving, there were four folks over the age of eighty who played two hours of cutthroat nickel-and-dime poker after the turkey. Mark's mother is always so glad to have us all around, and it's always enlightening to meet my youngest brother-in-law's new girlfriend... To think that I was lucky enough to marry into a loving family - even if half of them speak a French-Canadian patois I'll never understand...

And in an unprecedented move, people actually ate the cheesecake I brought!

When we met up with my extended family at my aunt and uncle's home, there were ... well let me count... twenty! twenty of us there... and it just reminded me how lucky I am in the group of people who had a hand in my raising, and the littlest ones that I'm having a hand in raising in turn.

Which brings me to thoughts of my other families, one of which sustained a stunning loss this past summer when Glenn died. So, I have to remember how thankful I am for them, and that I should say so more often.

In a few weeks, we'll celebrate the arrival of the holiday season with another of our families, at the OysterFestivus, and I love that our group expands and changes with the years, bringing new friends in, and opening for spice (plural of spouse!) and new additions, as well as the oldest of Mark's friends, who began the tradition with him eight years ago.

And in closing, I am, of course, thankful for Mark and I and our fallingdown house, and our crazy animals, and my kiddos at work.

On to the leftovers!