Happy Thanksgiving. The Family Prepares to Feast

Charles and Luella Williamson's First Thanksgiving as a Married Couple at the Mattson home in Spearfish, South Dakota. November 1957. Sitting at the table facing us is Elda Williamson (dad's mother), Luella Williamson, and Charles Williamson.  Kim is there somewhere. She was 4 months old at the time. I'm there as well but not visible (if you know what I mean). I was born in June 1958.

From the Fortress of Solitude

Pleasant Grove

Happy Thanksgiving!

     It's 9:47 A.M. here at the Fortress. I'm at my computer passing the time as I wait for the big feastorama about to take place at Ashley and Mike's home in Highland. 

     The family is growing in size as the years pass. We're expecting between 55 and 65 to be there, all decked out in their finest sweatpants with expandable, elastic waists.  
     Table discussions can turn heated with both the political right and left wings of the family under the same roof; not to mention the High Mormons, Middle Mormons, and Lost Mormons.  At such gatherings it is important we remind ourselves that we are a loving family that respects and cherishes diversity because diverse is what this family is, like so many others in our modern world.  I also take a moment to remind the political active that NO political discussions are allowed around Great Grandma Luella. Failure to comply will result in banishment from the dessert table and time out in the Decompression Room. 

     This year's Decompression Room will be the Costa's rarely used living room just off the family room. Diffusers will scent the room in a special DoTerra blend of fragrances tailored for family events like today's; think a green pasture surrounded by Ponderosa Pines with just a wisp of sunshine lingering in the air to help you ease quickly into your happy place.  Candles will decorate the room in dancing light. Music will tug at the ear with celestial melodies selected from tracks recorded by the Sisters of the Abbey of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. We didn't have a Decompression Room last year.  It made for a tough afternoon, leaving only the bathrooms or the cars as places of refuge. 

    This year we're taking a risk and letting the family choose where they sit to eat.  Normally we separate based on several factors. Conspiracy theorists, High Mormons, and those with an open mind usually make for good table fellows.  Democrats, Middle of the Way Mormons and the unaffiliated are good together.  The little ones have their own table, but tend to ignore the plates their mothers prepare. I see them sneak their way to the dessert table once the adults have their noses squarely in the feed trough.

     Today's choose where you want to sit approach will test the family's civility.  The standard used to judge whether the seating decision was a wise one or not will be based upon who is not speaking to whom at the end of the day. 

I'm looking forward to today's circus.

Victor