Thanksgiving and the entire family

The biggest tradition in my family is thanksgivings dinner at our house. My house has everyone in my extended family in it for thanksgiving. Christmas and Easter are always at different houses every year as it is on a rotation. My mother was smart and got us out of this rotation by volunteering to always have thanksgiving at our house. You may think this was a bad idea but it was a hell of a lot easier to cook stuff rather than have toys, clothing, and money going everywhere during gift exchanges.

So, when I say everyone, I mean everyone. all of my aunts/uncles, all of my cousins, all of my parents aunts/uncles, and all of my grandparents and some family friends. This totals to about 50-60 people in my house for one HUGE Thanksgiving dinner. It is always, always an incredible tradition and holiday where literally everyone that is related to me gets together for what is widely considered a bigger family holiday then christmas. (at least, in the U.S.)

This year, however, the first in at least 10-15 years, was the first year we did not follow this tradition. this is because of future events and thus was spent with just my mothers side of the family at her sisters house. Now, just because it was a vastly smaller group of people, it still felt like thanksgiving and everything was equally as great as its been in the past. And even though I can't wait till next thanksgiving when we're back in the full swing of things, I will admit that the change of pace was welcome.