Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now we look forward to another holiday with family.  We are particularly blessed this year, because will have had the occasion to host two major holidays--Thanksgiving for the Carrillo side, Christmas for the Davis side.  And I have to admit that I had been looking to the holidays with some anxiety.  After all, with three children four and under, our house is chaotic on a normal day.  And so when I imagined nine extra people staying at our house, I endured passing fits of anxiety and some mild ulcer-like pains, as well as substantial hair loss.  Kidding about the hair loss.  I guess it's just not that often that our family gets together, all of us.  In fact, my dad's funeral was the last time we were all together, and that was almost two years ago.  And we're all just so different, my siblings and I, more so it seems with every passing year, and so we never know what a reunion will hold.  To my surprise, Thanksgiving 2008 was a veritable delight, and I think we'd all agree.  Our three little rascals couldn't be happier than they were playing with their cousins.  It amazes me what a bond they all have, despite the infrequency of their meetings.  They are indeed connected, and they are so similar, and they are all adorable.  Maureen enjoyed the holiday with Ryan, and though the direction of their relationship is uncertain, I know that my sister was able finally to enjoy a holiday with another person who can sign as well as she does.  I am now certain that I will enroll in a sign language class.  Ryan, though very sweet, is not as forgiving of my rusty language skills, and he was, throughout the weekend, ever so delicately correcting my mistakes.  Tee hee hee, there were many to correct.  It seems that Maureen has been putting up with a lot from me.   Michael and Twyla are now engaged, and so we can all look forward to spending many holidays with her.  We're pretty lucky--both of my brothers have brought some good, balanced females into the mix.  Mom, Maureen, and I are lovely, of course, but we are no strangers to drama.  Cassie and Twyla, however, have a calming effect.  I am grateful.  Mom was on hand to assist with Thanksgiving dinner, but she graciously stepped back and let Daniel and me cook most of the food.  I just hope that she was able to relax and enjoy herself a little bit.  All in all, it was a great weekend, and I was sad to see it end.  As Marcial and Cassie drove away with their kids, I was hit with a wave of sadness that they are so far away, that our kids will not grow up together.  Perhaps one day we'll have a little commune on a remote farm in Kansas.  Our kids will frolic together between their lessons and their chores.  I will become a friend of nature and will stop scaring at the slightest sound in the night.  And finally, finally, I will convince Daniel to wear a red and black flannel button down shirt.   But he'll never be a lumber jack, no matter what I make him wear.  He swears it.