Family Thanksgiving Reunion, 2009

We have begun a tradition of having a family reunion at Thanksgiving time. Actually, it gets us two Thanksgivings: the Reunion Thanksgiving, held the week before the actual holiday (when travel is cheaper and less stressful); and the Real Thanksgiving, held on Thanksgiving Day and offering a chance for everyone to spend time with the other friends and in-laws. It works out well. And it's fun.

This year, our son Jason and his wife Tabitha hosted the reunion at their home in Ohio. Here are a few pictures of the fun...

I don't get to see our son Matt very often, since he lives in Los Angeles, but he was able to come and be with us for the reunion. This is what I look like when flanked by kids who obviously ate more Wheaties than I did...Matt's on the left, and Jason on the right.

Everyone always wants to look their best for the holidays. Leya helps Agnes get her hair properly (if painfully) styled...

And then helps show off the results...

My sister Lisa helps with the dishes...

And I try to avoid past mistakes by making sure all the giblet bags really are out of the turkey before we roast it (my mother-in-law still gives me grief about that embarrassing year)...

There's got to be time to read to the children, of course. Here is Opa reading "Room on the Broom" to Leya ... with all the sound effects of witches, dragons, dogs, frogs, birds, wind, etc...

Of course, all the sound effects drew other listeners, too...here, Noah and Joe gather round for the story...

Some people have to work, others have to provide the entertainment. Here, Matt and Agnes demonstrate the Tango corte. In the kitchen...

After dinner came the games. In the foreground is the loud, energetic scrum playing "Cranium;" in the back corner, son Jason and daughter Yasmin fight it out over a game of Scrabble...

This is only the smallest fraction of the 420 pictures I took...not counting all the ones Jason, Matt, and Lisa took, and the family portraits we had shot yesterday afternoon. We all had a great time, and it's always fun to have everyone together, if only for a brief and busy weekend.

And now we get to do it all again for the other Thanksgiving this week.

I need a vacation.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo