Thanksgiving 2013

What a difference a year makes, one year ago today, I was sitting here at Orchard Hills Big House typing a similar blog entry.  Today I am sitting in my office, after spending a good part of the day decorating the outside for Christmas.

This year we had a traditional family gathering here at Orchard Hills. Paul had his kids and their mother up for the holiday. Dad and sister were here as well. We cooked like we were preparing for the troops from Ft. Campbell.    The only thing missing is our loved ones that have passed and our Florida Family.  

Growing up it in Southeast Missouri, Thanksgiving was always a family event, I am fortunate enough to remember everyone meeting at our Great Grandparents house for the day. The Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins all gathering for a day of home cooking, games and just being together as a family.

Those were special times; the extended family unit was together as one clan. As our society moved forward, it seems to have lost this one important aspect of the family.  The family unit is more nuclear in nature today than in the past.  We move further from the family to pursue careers and then everyone becomes so involved with their own lives that taking the time to be with extended family does not seem as important.

This happen to our family clan, as the great and grandparents passed on, my generation was the one that moved further away from the homestead. We were the ones that pursued those careers and just never seem to have any time to make it home for the holidays. I, for one, realized this but only after the passing of my Mother.

Thanksgiving was always a special holiday for her. She called it her mid holiday.  Halloween was the first because of my birth, then Thanksgiving and ending with Christmas. She always wanted the family together for the holiday and for so many years it was just never possible for all of us to be in on location for this weekend.

Okay, I admit, my sister and I were too involved in our own lives at the time to think it to be a big deal.  You always think next year, I will take time off to be with family and next year you say okay next year.  We made the decision a year ago to move so we could be closer to family and it has been the best decision.

This past year has been the most rewarding and heartbreaking that I have experienced since my Mother passed.   We have lost so many special friends and family this year and the holidays just don’t seem the same without them. Although I know they are all with us in spirit and would want us to continue on with our lives and our traditions. 

Keep dancin’ Larry B.