I have told my children more times than I care to think about, “I can’t hear myself think.”  It was usually in the middle of a spat or when they were especially rowdy.  I never actually meant it though.  Yesterday was different.  Yesterday we hosted the largest Thanksgiving we had ever hosted.  We had mom, two of my three sisters, a brother-in-law, three nieces and their spouses, a nephew and his new wife, three of my four kids, The Precious, five of my great nieces and nephews, my very dear, very southern friend who lives down the street, Boppy and myself for Thanksgiving dinner.

No one, now listen dear ones for this is important, no one in my family is shy.  When I get together with all my sisters it is usually the loudest who is heard so we have all learned the art of shouting.  The shouting also helps due to the fact that some of us have inherited mother’s limited hearing.  I wished yesterday that I had been blessed with that limitation.  Everyone was in the kitchen.  It is truly the heart of our home.  On Thanksgiving everyone brings a covered dish and we provide the bread, potatoes, and meat.  That way no one is responsible for bearing the brunt of the meal.  The downside to this is that everyone has to deposit their dish in the kitchen and since that is where the food is that is where everyone congregates. 

I had asked that everyone arrive sometime around two in the afternoon.  Everyone was prompt.  I had finished the meats by one o’clock so that the ovens would be empty for reheating anything brought in.  Boppy began carving the turkey at two.  The ham was to follow.  I was placing the meats on platters as he cut, and even with him standing elbow to elbow with me we couldn’t hear each other.  I began to say something to him, and I realized the noise had reached a level that affected my ability to put together sentences.  I had finally reached a point where “I couldn’t hear myself think.”  I knew how to quiet these people and I was working to do that very thing.  You see, the way to quiet our family is…feed them.  By 2:30 the only noises you could hear were utensils clanging together and gnoshing.  It didn’t last long though.  By 3:00 the fastest eaters were wondering who was going to cut the desserts.  I learned that the men in my family can carve turkeys, but can’t cut a piece of pie or cake.   I mean that.  My hubby can slice turkey so thin you can see through it.  Give him a pie of cake to cut and it is going to be so badly butchered you have to cut another piece just to even up the cuts.

There was one year, a while back, when the hubby and I were scheduled to take a cruise that was going to occur over the Thanksgiving holiday.  We volunteered our house to the family.  We did this for two reasons.  Number one was that our house is large enough to accommodate all of these people, and the second reason is plain continuity.  We have been having Thanksgiving at our home for probably the better part of eight years.  I think that it is a tradition that needs to continue for as long as possible.  I enjoy having everyone over one day a year.  I just sometimes forget how much I enjoy it while it is actually happening.  As I was standing by Boppy I told him, “you know…if we took a cruise next year we would be gone while all of this was happening.  I hear that Greece is beautiful this time of year.”  Without skipping a beat Boppy replied, “if you take a cruise at Thanksgiving you just have to go to Turkey.”  My witty brother-in-law suggested we go to both locations then we would have greasy turkey…(by witty I meant punny).

Shouting adults, yapping women, men who were shouting about football scores, screaming children upset about the cooler temperatures that kept them inside, and all of the other stuff that is family aside, we truly had a great Thanksgiving.  Our family has a lot to be thankful for.  My very dear, very southern friend who lives down the street called me after returning home to thank me for inviting her.  This was her first Thanksgiving with no children of her own in attendance.  She told me she really enjoyed my family.  Especially the little ones.  I told her that I was glad that she enjoyed herself.  I told her that she had been adopted and now they were her family too.  She sighed and told me, “there sure are a lot of them!”  Truer words were never spoken…and it we ain’t seen all of ‘em yet!.

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