Thanksgiving Thanks

This Year's Game

We had the best day yesterday as we once again traveled up to New Hampshire to spend turkey day with my cousins from my father’s family.  It was a tradition started by my father’s family.  They were a close-knit group of 8 brothers and sisters, members of the greatest generation, who started this tradition just before World War 2, initially at my grandparents’ home and then moving to the oldest sister’s house in Massachusetts (where I and my kids first went) and now at her daughter’s home in New Hampshire.  My father was the youngest of the brood and was, of course spoiled rotten, and we were always the youngest of the assembled cousins but it was one of the defining events of my childhood and instilled an appreciation of family that I hoped I have passed on to my own kids.  I can remember not wanting the day to end because this was usually the only time of the year that I saw those incredible aunts, uncles, and older cousins that I absolutely worshipped.  Yesterday was the same although I am now older than those beloved aunts and uncles from what I refer to as the Golden Age, kind of a startling thought.  The football game takes place no matter what the weather is.  It is kind of measure of age as the aunts and uncles gradually bowed out and now most of the cousins.  There were only three participants from my generation of cousins.  I am going to hang on to the game as long as I can and rely on the almost magical effects of ibuprofen.  I wish my daughter and son in law were present yesterday but they had obligations to his family that I have to respect if I am honest in my belief of the importance of family.  I am so thankful for days like yesterday but I am most thankful for my family.