My intention was to do a post about Thanksgiving and family but this year my family is scattered and it looks like it may just be Ken and I. Since I won’t have current experiences to share I decided to take a trip down memory lane.
I come from a large family who in the past got together for family dinners but the family is so large now that the group tends to break up into individual family units for the holidays. My individual family unit happens to be scattered across the globe at this point but I have a lot of fond memories of Thanksgivings past. The photos on this page are from one of the huge family meals I prepared at my home in Tahoe. We had 40 people to dinner that year. Yup, it was a lot of work and a lot of cooking.
Of course my favorite parts about my family Thanksgivings was always the game of Trivial Pursuit that followed dinner. It was pretty much assured that whichever team got Ken won since he is the sort of person that remembers every thing he ever saw, read, or heard. I on the other hand, am a fast learner but tend to be a fast forgetter as well.
I suppose that as we age things change. I look back on the family celebrations we used to have with warm feelings but to be honest I’m not sure I’d have the energy to cook a meal for forty people any more. In fact crashing one of my sisters family dinners seems just about perfect.
Random Thoughts and Meaningless Musings 
I’ve never held a family dinner. I ususally go somewhere to eat. This year is at my brother’s house. We are smoking a turkey and frying one. Thanks for sharing.
Usually for the past few years I have cooked for my hubby, kids and grandsons. This year we are invited to my husband’s sister’s house, so I won’t be cooking. It will be a nice break.
We usually have a very non traditional, last minute relaxing Thanksgiving. We never can decide what to cook until the day before. We also look forward to family games. It’s the best part of the day! Happy Thanksgiving!
We had those big dinners too. Too much work, cooking, and exhaustion when you get older, especially for my older Mom!! We forbade her from any more cooking and either go out with her and Dad or eat at our own homes and get together afterward at her house. We would all chip in and cook and bring food, but Mamma would always cook a ton anyway, just like me!! *LOL* Wonder where I get it from!? Wouldn’t take anything for those dinners and get-togethers though, priceless!! Thanks for sharing your beautiful family photos and memories!! ❤
Ours were like this, too! Yes exhausting but so worth it as the years go by. Thanks for sharing. This is what makes Thanksgiving.
I love family get togethers too but can’t imagine cooking a full dinner for that many!
I enjoyed reading your holiday post! Happy Thanksgiving no matter what you do to celebrate!
Those seem like great memories, hope you have a happy thanksgiving!
My Mom always had the big family Thanksgiving dinner but since she’s had to have back surgery several times we don’t do much of anything for it now.
We have a big Thanksgiving dinner with as many family members that can or want to attend.Some years when Mom was alive we could have as many as 35+ for dinner. Now we have Thanksgiving at my sister’s house. Usually all the siblings and
their families are there except my Brother Joe who passed away from cancer. After dinner there’s clean up which mostly the women do while the others watch football. When clean up is finished there’s desert to be eaten with the choice of pumpkin. lemon meringue, chocolate pecan and apple pies. Sometime a sweet potato pie is included. After this, if it isn’t too late we may play board games. It was always a fun day. 🙂
Lots of good memories.
While growing up we had huge extended family dinners (each family brought a dish of two). As the children (cousins) got married and started their own families, this changed to small immediate family units. Since our parents died, it has just been our small family. I have no idea what Tom and I will have. The girls will be spending the day with friends and our son is many miles from home. No matter what, it will be a day of giving thanks and loving on dogs!