Saturday, November 27, 2004

Not dysfunctional, but a little bit crazy

Two of my friends spent Thanksgiving in Costa Rica because they didn't want to spend it with their families. I wasn't invited. Their reasoning- my family likes each other. At the holidays, I don't feel dysfunctional with my family, but I do with my friends.
My family isn't normal. At least in comparison to most of the people I know. There have been no divorces on either side of the family. We spend most holidays together. Not just Thanksgiving and Christmas, but Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day. And sometimes we randomly get together for no holiday reason. And my friends are right, my family does like each other. Oh sure, I've been annoyed with a few of them at times. But we really do enjoy talking and eating and having fun.
This year we spent Thanksgiving Thursday with my dad's family. Here are the highlights of that experience:
1. Lots of food- turkey, ribs, sausage, 2 pans of macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, peas, stuffing, coleslaw, spinach casserole, rolls. This doesn't even include the dessert table. We probably could have fed a small country.
2. Lots of drinks- beer, wine, coffee, soft drinks. By the end of the day there were only soft drinks left.
3. Games- Scrabble, State/Capital Trivia, Washers. This year there was no big Scrabble tournament. Perhaps the bitterness of Christmas 2002 lingers from when I won the $20 pot. There was a Washers bet between 4 of my cousins. The losers were very cold after they took the losing swim in the non-heated pool.
4. Karaoke- yes, we had Karaoke. I'm very suprised the police were not called because the singing and drinking took place outside. The best part of my aunt's house is the patio next to the pool. This is where the rented Karoke machine was set-up. When my aunt first told us she had rented a Karaoke machine we thought she was crazy. After all this is the same aunt who hired a pig to perform at her grandson's first birthday party. But everyone sang. It was quite a party. I'm worried Christmas will seem boring in comparison.

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