Thankful Doesn’t Begin

Newest Generation of Cousins
The BRS and FBR Together Yesterday

To describe how much fun the last couple of days have been with my daughter and the FBR in residence is a tall order and I will fail miserably. When you add in the annual family Thanksgiving with my father’s family up in New Hampshire combined with an appearance by my Favorite Son’s family, well, I think you can begin to understand the conundrum of adequately describing the joy in my life over the past couple days. As if that wasn’t challenge enough things impossibly turn even better today with a trip down to Great Aunt and Soxfather’s house for our traditional day after Thanksgiving gathering.

FBR in her New Bed

And Unicorn Sleeping Bag

Bounce Time

My daughter and FBR showed up Wednesday afternoon after a lucky easy ride up from New Jersey. Wingman had to stay behind in New Jersey since his restaurant is opening over the holiday weekend. We were excited to have the FBR see the new bedroom we’d created and what had served as the impetus to the whole reconstruction project over the last two months. My wife finished painting the walls (in the requested purple) while Deckzilla’s Dude crew finished up the electrical connection and other minor issues.

Dinner with Abuela

We bought an inflatable bed, complete with an attached bear. This will mark the first time the FBR would sleep in a “big bed” as opposed to a crib. My wife had also purchased a unicorn sleeping bag and a Paw Patrol tent to complete the ensemble. The FBR was suitably impressed and was soon happily bouncing ion the bed, causing me some concerns about the stress limits on the seams which happily held her enthusiastic welcome.

The Completed Birthday Puzzle

I’ve chronicled before the FBR’s new found fascination with jigsaw puzzles. She was ecstatic to learn I shared her love of the damnable things. She could barely contain her enthusiasm when my daughter brought out the birthday presents they brought for me. The FRB had personally selected two puzzles. She insisted on opening my presents for me and then immediately moved to the table to start construction on the dog based puzzle she chose for me. She’s figured out how much love for the canine species I have.

Daughter, Wife and FBR Walking Up Hill to Thanksgiving 

While she soon lost fascination with the frustration of an adult level puzzle, the best part was my daughter and I didn’t. After the FBR went to bed, which was a bit of a struggle being exhausted and the first time in a big bed, my daughter and I spent a couple hours working on the puzzle together. I treasured this time since we usually end up sharing another great love – watching movies together but this was so much fun. My Favorite Panamanian joined us for a while as well. It was a perfect understated evening that cannot be underappreciated.

Wife and the FBR

Seem to Like Each Other

Yesterday dawned as the coldest Thanksgiving in more than a hundred years so I put aside any thoughts of packing my football clothes. I relish testing the belief that I am too old to participate in the annual family football game but you’d have to be a special kind of crazy to even thinking about playing in yesterday’s temperatures. The drive up to New Hampshire was special because a robust snow squall came through overnight and deposited a beautiful blanket of snow on the pine trees. Not enough to impact driving but turning the always gorgeous landscape into something special and cementing the validity of the decision to forego the football game.

Favorite Son, ABFA, and the BRS Yesterday

The gathering of my father’s family was a little smaller this year but no less special. There really is something very special about cousins. The cousins I acquired through my father’s brothers and sisters are keeping alive the traditional gathering we all grew up cherishing. All of us are in our sixties and seventies now but the pull of the boundless love we all experienced when that special family got together for turkey endures. Even though we don’t see each other for the intervening year there is no awkwardness and an immediate sense you are surrounded by family as soon as you walk in the door.

BRS and FBR Together

I brought the fruits of my big project – the tracing of our family ancestry on my father’s side. Since all of my cousins possess the exact same line of ancestors I wanted to share with them and had crunched hard to get it done before this day. I almost walked out of the house without it until rescued by my daughter. The day was everything I hoped for and have always treasured. We were surrounded by the comings and goings as well as the usual pack of dogs from various houses, including one the size of a small horse. My cousins had come to the same conclusion I had regarding the efficacy of playing football in the frigid conditions so there was no game this year. Instead we gathered around the table after the meal to reminisce about the family tradition.

Favorite Cousins Across the Table

View from the End of Our Table

One cousin’s wife has been part of this tradition for more than forty years and was writing an article she hopes to get published in a magazine about our family Thanksgiving. It was so cool to sit back and hear all the stories come out. Some of these dated back from the older cousins to the start of the tradition before I was born. My grandmother’s dimly remembered but no less tasty, spice cakes, the hazards of the football field with one sideline dangling over a steep hillside, my father sneaking beer into the usually dry celebration, my kids playing with the same blocks I had as a small child, etc. etc. It was, in the final analysis, family, and there is absolutely nothing that can undercut the sense of warmth and shared purpose that means. I hope those aunts and uncles as well as my father rest in a little easier in their sleep knowing we have been true to the beloved tradition they started so many years ago.

FBR Fascinated with my Cousin's Music Box Collection

The Reminiscing Table

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law, formerly known both as MEF – Most Excellent Fiancé & MEG – Most Excellent Girlfriend; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involed in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rdmusquetera (musketeer); Buddy – AKA the Wonder Pooch – family dog, a black lab – hates squirrels, died in 2017; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting arrival of the BRS; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Excellent Boss – my former direct boss at work; Deckzilla Dude – senior citizen carpenter/contractor; Voices of Inappropriate Worth - members of public who come to every Worcester public meeting to complain, all are on public assistance along with demeanor issues