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Originally posted by LHeym500:
THanksgiving has always been my favorite hoilday. My adopted and biolgoical family would always hold an elaborate feast to celeberate another year of life on Thanksgiving. This feast would be the only time I would see so much of my family in one place interacting together.

We had to set up a big table in the living room for everyone to have a place to dine. We would play Rook, Checkers, and Rummy tournements.

My Uncles on my biological mother's side would bring up their shotguns and my father (adopted) and I would attempt to best them in a Turkey Shoot. This would be followed by a Shotgun Safari where we would take squirrels, groundhogs, and the occasional grouse which would become second feast that weekend before everyone went home.

Football, played semi-tackle, was played in between.

The memory I remember most is how happy everyone was. Looking back, I know everyone was not "happy." However, everyone allowed themseleves to be for this weekend. Sunday evening would break up the feast as everyone would depart. Half of them would not be seen for another year.

This ended by the time I was fourteen. We would never all be in the same place at the same time again. Those of us who would gather on this day going foward would be reduced by the end of lives. Now, my adopted mother, old and not healthy after loosing so many we loved does not wish to have dinner with my wife and I.

These Thanksgiving feast were replaced with office feast as I grew up. My first firm was high volume and high intensity Plaitniff's firm. We worked over sixty hours a week. We spent more time with one another than we did with any family. However, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the Office would close and deep fired rock crusher bluegill and homemade pies. I have continued this in my own Firm.

Thanksgiving remains my favorite hoilday. This year my wife and her family will smoke a bone in venison ham, off the doe I killed last week, rubbed with sea salt, black pepper, cheyyne pepper, wrapped in bacon and set in a pan with hard cider vinger. We will shoot some clays.

The world from my point of view tries to skip over Thanksgiving for the commericalism and marketing that is Christmas. One barley hears or sees Thanksgiving, but everyone is worried about how Black Friday will go on.

I hope this long weekend will allow all of you to be wtih those you love in joy. If you have to look at chairs that have been vacated or replaced, I hope you feel the loss. Yet, instantly fell the warmth of joy at those memories.

Happy Thanskgiving Accurate Reloading.

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After all, you can be rich, successful and have the world, but without your family you are really nothing at all in the eternal scheme of things. When the chips are down, family is, and means everything