Once upon a time, when I was growing up, Thanksgivings used to be huge affairs. Big family, maybe 15 to 20 people easily, maybe more, gathering at either my grandmother's or my aunt's big house in the country, with everyone bringing something. The kitchen was stocked with food with no real space of counter or kitchen table spared. You went through buffet style to fill your plate with everything imaginable and then found a place in the diningroom or livingroom, or even outside to sit and eat.
Now, Thanksgiving consists of just my little family, meeting my brother over at my mom and dad's house, and sitting down to a simple meal of turkey, potatoes, noodles, stuffing, corn and pumpkin bread. I miss the big gathering and all the different kinds of food. So many of the family have passed on now and what remains seems to have branched off into their own little pods. Where Thanksgiving used to be this big production with family members one hadn't seen in ages, it's now just another day really. Kind of sad now.
