Monday, December 1, 2008

Holidays...

Well, Thanksgiving was great. I've always enjoyed Thanksgiving. Last Thanksgiving, we were in Russia and my family hosted a big "get-together" for all the other Americans there. We had a "turkey-hunt" and gobbled into the camera. This year was a lot different but just as good.
We ate Thanksgiving lunch on Thursday at my great aunt's house. This was when all the great uncles and aunts, and second and third cousins gather. We don't know them that well and so there was, naturally, that moment of awkward..."hello..." Later on, however, things got comfortable. Our third cousins, Maggie and Ben, went over and got their golf-cart. Might I add that this was the very same one that I wrecked when I was 12 and Maggie was 11, but we won't go into that now. We zoomed around on that, played red-rover, played spoons, and watched the Jonas Brothers sing at half-time of the game my uncles were watching.
Since we have younger cousins, I often feel a responsibility to "entertain" them. When I was younger, I remember how it felt to be left out and I also remember how it felt to be "let in." I've always wanted to be someone that would "let in" the little ones rather than push them out. Red-rover helped with that. ;)
On Friday, we spent the day with my mom's sister and her family. Hannah (11) decided I made a great dancing partner. I could have done better had there been something besides jazz on. -_- We ended up watching Mork and Mindy and eating Krystal. They left and my family had a some time to watch a movie for family night.
Finally, on Saturday, I got to see my dad's mom and step dad. I got to see my uncle, aunt, and their kids. That was pretty good, except that we didn't get to spend much time and it was raining outside.
I forget how wonderful it is to be with people you love. Even though I didn't know some of them very well, there's still a feeling of kindred-ness toward them. It's like my heart knows we're related and because of that I love them and am thankful for them. And I guess that's what Thanksgiving's all about anyway. :)