Though you might think a wedding is an important family moment, trust me, the really, really big thrill for a parent comes when one of the kids decides to host a major holiday event. This year, for the first time, my daughter and her husband had Thanksgiving at their place.

It's not that we have a really big family, and we do like to cook, but year after year the primary responsibility for arranging and hosting all holiday and birthday events has fallen on us. And frankly it just gets old. You start to wonder when, if ever, your children are going to pony up and invite you over instead of just bringing the pies and the sides.

Something about kids coming home makes them, well, "kids" again, and though they are more than willing to help, if asked, they rarely do offer to help. Instead, they tend to fall into old patterns, plopping themselves on the couch in front of the TV watching the football game or reading while you slave away in the kitchen. I love my family, but sometimes I'm boiling right along with the gravy, yes I am.

So, in September when Susan and Abel offered to have Thanksgiving, we were very happy. Never mind that we had to share the event with my X and his Yfe, no problem at all. We're all grownups and that was a long time ago. Besides, there are two ends to every table, right? Abel's Mom and sister would be coming from out of town as well.

It was an especially momentous occasion, because neither Susan nor Abel are big on cooking. So, what started out to be a manageable event just kept growing. My son, Rob, his wife, Trina, and my two grand daughters accepted. Then my other son Al, and his wife, Rachel, in Seattle decided to fly in. My sons are the cooks in our family, one professionally, and the other spent years in the business, from waiting tables to managing restaurants. So this was a definitely a big event.

Much anticipation ensued. We could hardly wait to bring our sides, Mom's famous dressing, and Chuck's famous cranberry sauce, and then plop ourselves down on the couch in front of the appetizers waiting to be served. No, really, we were going to offer to help, really we were. Heh, heh...

So the big day came, we all appeared with our dishes. We did offer to help, of course, but they insisted they had it under control, and they did. It was the perfect opportunity to set their new dining table with my Mom's good china, a wedding present to them, and it looked great. There were 16 people to eat two turkeys, a ham, two cranberry dishes, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, dressing brussels sprouts, and green beans, and wine. After we properly stuffed ourselves, they cleaned up, and did the dishes while we crashed on the couches. Then we played some games for a while, and later partook of our choice of 5 pies.

Finally, those that were left watched "Bend it Like Beckham," a great little movie. Everyone got along without their being any really difficult moments. It was all very enjoyable. We tried to convince them to do it again next year, but I think it'll likely be back at our place, again. But, since the first time went so well, I'm pretty sure that the will be a next, eventually, and I may be able to pass on that turkey platter yet.

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Continuing our marathon weekend of of fun-filled-family events....

On Friday we all planned to go to the sing-along "Sound of Music" at the Music Box. We did, and I don't know about the rest of them, but my grand daughters and I certainly had a good time singing and making stupid comments to the screen. It was silly and fun. We didn't have time to do the costume thing, and I was surprised that more other people didn't dress up as characters. Of the ones that did, the three who came as the "distributor caps" won the prize, and the "bowing lady" took second, third went to a very well appointed Max, he was great, but just too perfect. The audience appreciated the cleverness of the others more.

Then on Saturday, in yet another family moment, (this time sans the X and Yfe), we had an impromptu birthday gathering for Susan at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Since everyone was in town, it just seemed like a great opportunity to do this. She was pleased. The food was good, and, yet again, and it was very enjoyable.

Today we said good bye to Al and Rachel, sending them on their way back to Seattle. I will really miss them, but I'm very glad they got to come in for this event.

It was so good to be together with everyone. We had a great weekend.

While every family has it's own share of good and bad history, we generally do seem to get along pretty well. We can laugh a lot and have a lot of fun. There are no really big grudges to work around, and there certainly were no bad feelings or unhappy incidents this weekend at all. There rarely are, really. I am so grateful for that, and so thankful for the group our family has become.