Tradition! Tradition!

29- I am blessed with Tradition. Thanksgiving traditions abound in the family I sprouted from. Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday in our family. I think it stems from generations of good-pie-bakers. Not fancy bakers, just really good ones. My dad took a room-mate home to his Grandmother's for Thanksgiving one year. The roommate was concerned that he might be intruding, or that there might not be enough food (??????) or something. My dad assured him there would be at least 30 pies. Roommate doubted, roommate repented of doubt. There is generally an open-door policy at all Stewart feasts, which is anything Grandma puts on, it's all a feast. But Thanksgiving is still special. Aunts fill brown bags with treats and toys, Uncles hide said bags all over property (in most absurd hard to find places), and cousins make the great search for the bag with your own name on it. And get a good laugh at the cousin who has to climb up a pole to retrieve his/her bag. Some years have brought sugar cookies but in the shape of pilgrims to be painted with colored milk by kids. There have been plenty of football games on the large back-lawn. Many years have brought late nights of board games while feasting on pie. One year, the boy cousins took a bunch of pies out to the trailer they were staying in and polished them off on their own. The funniest part? No one missed the pies, there were plenty more. In a large (very very large) family, everyone has their own specialty, and when many hands pitch in, the load is lightened and the feast is amazing. Turkey, pan gravy, potatoes, rolls, cornbread dressing. Rainbow Jello, green salad, sweet potatoes, green-bean casserole, some-other jello, fruit salad, fruity-sugary-yummy drink concoction. Pie, pie, pie, more pie. They all come together so beautifully on our giant plates. But don't fill them too full. 'Take all you want, but eat all you take' (or else) says Grandpa. No worries, there should be a nice handful of teenage boys to help you out when your eyes are bigger than your stomach. This year, things weren't quite the same. Not as many people gathered together, and while we tried to make up for it, they were missed. The food was still good, but no Rainbow Jello procured itself. No pilgrim cookies. We even had to sneak the kids leftovers to the trash, because there was a decided lack of boys to finish it off. I really did not do my mom's rolls justice either. Unfortunately, it is a simple fact of life. We are growing up. It's hard enough to get together 11 households. (or even just half of them) but now that cousins are moving out, getting married, having kids, it's nigh unto impossible. My marvelous Aunts and Uncles are probably just as grateful as my parents are when they can get the kids back to their own homes, to say nothing of Grandma's house. But the traditions are still there, waiting for us to carry them out in our own ways, with our own children. I have a lot to learn before I can make a holiday run as smoothly as my Aunt PhyllisAnn can. I'll probably never pull it off, but I can take the most important parts, and create a wonderful Thanksgiving for my own family.

30- I am grateful for my extended family, and all they are. oxoxoxoxoxoxo(((HUGS))) to all of you. And Tyler, I'm gonna tackle you with my biggest one, just for old times sake.