The Last Turkey Day: 2012, but not actually

Oh Thanksgiving. What a great holiday. Family, Friends, Food, and Football. That's what life is really about isn't it? It's interesting in itself, a purely American tradition, gathering with the people we love to pig out and lounge around all day. There are also many interesting spins on tradition for each family and  ways that Thanksgiving brings us together.
My thanksgivings are always awesome to say the least. My family has a system where every other year we have thanksgiving with our normal extended family (grandpa and grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins) and the other years we have it with the whole family (add second cousins, great aunts, third cousins, you name it, anyone related is there). This year happened to be a normal family year which is a little less exciting but also nice because you know everyone really well. It also happened to be at my stepdad's house this year.
Side note: My parents were divorced when I was young and I always spend thanksgiving with my mom's family, who I will be referring to as my family. My mom also passed away two summers ago which is why I won't be mentioning her in my observations.
So, I woke up around 10:30 or so, got ready and went downstairs. My grandparents arrived at about the same time and went to work on the inner workings of the meal. The turkey was roasting in the crock pot, a new attempt at cooking the turkey which turned out very well I may add, the potatoes, mashed and sweet, were cooking, the green beans were cooking, the pita chips with cream cheese and jelly (delicious) were being laid out on the counter for pre-meal snackery, and the rolls were baking. While this was going on, my task was to entertain my seven year old brother, and yes we did play video games. We were locked in a timeless battle of Super Smash Brothers when the first of the two other families attending arrived.
Of course that meant we had to go upstairs and leave our game, but it would be finished later. My uncle Brent, oldest of my grandparents three kids, my aunt Katie, my cousin Alex, taking a gap year before going to medical school next year, and my cousin Ryan, in his second year at Denver University, all walked in the door. They actually would only stay for a half hour or so because they were hosting Katie's family for dinner, but they wanted to stop by and see everyone anyway. It was then that my cousins, Kaeden (my brother), Tony (my stepdad), and I began to play Apples to Apples, a fantastic game if I have ever played one. I think I probably played that for a total of 3 hours with Kaeden on Thanksgiving but it was still fun. It's interesting how the game plays out because for every group of cards played, the sexual answer always gets the biggest laugh, but it never wins because nobody wants to be "that guy" who picks it.
We continued to play that until the next family arrived. My uncle Chad, youngest of my grandparents' three kids, my aunt Kirsten, my cousin Kaj, 15, my cousin Tait, 13, and my cousin Ava, 7, walked in. Yes I know they have odd names. Then Brent, Katie, Alex, and Ryan said their hellos and goodbyes and left.
Chad brought in the corn, cranberries, rolls, and sparkling apple cider and the spread was complete. Then once the food was done we all gathered around and read an excerpt on being thankful, gathered our plates, and dug in. It was delicious and I ate so much! Then we also had ice cream and pumpkin pie afterward, but I don't like pumpkin pie after a vomiting episode a few years ago so I just ate ice cream. Then the kids retreated to the game room and the adults stayed in the kitchen and talked.

So for my family observations now.
Well my grandpa is clearly the head of the family and he makes all the decisions and runs the show. When someone wants to do something with the food, the furniture, the TV channel, they have to clear it by him first, and he is the one who calls the family together when everything is done. He is also a very smart man though so nobody questions the decisions he makes because they are pretty much always right.
Now my grandma is second in command and she does a lot of the cooking and organizing. She is also the one that spoke to the family and I remember what she said, it went something like this, "This Thanksgiving as we gather here let us not be thankful for the things that we have, but for the things we have lost." As she said this everyone in my family was thinking about my mother who was not with us, and how much we missed her. My grandma is very good with things like that, saying just the right amount to get everyone's minds and hearts in the right place.
My uncle Chad is very relaxed about everything and goes with the flow. Kind of funny considering that he is a swimming instructor, but he is very nice and helps out wherever he is needed.
Kirsten is also very nice, and she usually travels around talking to everyone and seeing how their day is going and seeing where any help is needed.
Tony is probably the nicest man I have ever met, and he always takes care of others before he takes care of himself. He is normally pretty passive but can be assertive when he needs to be and he always knows what to do to make someone else feel good.

I really like my family and everyone gets along well. We don't really have any characters, or clowns who are looking for a laugh or attention. Everyone is very nice and they are exactly the kind of family I want and I am very thankful to have them.