Thanksgiving with my mom

Being the product of a divorce means that you celebrate every other year with a different parent.  I didn't mind so much.  I have a fun family on both sides.  

Thanksgivings on my mom's years involved going to either one of my aunt's houses or my grandmas. I have four aunts and an uncle on my mom's side.  That makes for a lot of cousins.  It was always loud on family holidays.  There was always a lot of food (we are talking 40 people lots of food).  We always ate at one o'clock and unlike my dad's side; food was served buffet style.  We had giant styrofoam trays that were piled high with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, pea salad, green bean casserole, napa valley cabbage salad, cranberry sauce and so much more.  

After the first round of eating, we always played games.  Sometimes cards, sometimes board games, sometimes interactive games (like pictionary or charades).  Us cousins were all around the same age.  There were thirteen of us.  Most of my cousins were boys so we always played football.  I have scars in my eyebrows from playing roughly.  My one girl cousin close to my age (1 1/2 years older) never played.  She always went to her room and called her friends or played with her large amounts of troll dolls (which got me kicked out of her room once because I called them ugly...she told me they could hear me.  I still can't be around a troll doll without thinking they are freaky).  That's okay though, because I liked playing football.  I was a bigger child, so I was always a blocker; I didn't mind.  The end of the day was always us begging our parents to either stay the night with someone else or have them come home with us.  We normally split off into families.  All of my aunts and uncle each had two kids apiece except one who had three.  My two cousins from my Aunt Sue usually came home with us.  I do remember staying the night with my Aunt Kay and my cousin Candice (her and her sister Courtney are my favorite cousins).  She took us to the mall the next day and bought us choker necklaces when they were in style.  

We stopped celebrating Thanksgiving with my mom's side when my grandma got really sick.  I really miss getting together with them on Thanksgiving.  Now we really only get together on Christmas and Easter.  But when we do, we now get our kids involved in playing football or kickball.  I really miss those times.  

Thanks for taking a stroll with me down memory lane.  I am glad to have it written down somewhere for when I get older and can't remember as well.  

I am joining my friend Paula in talking about Thanksgiving through the month of November.