This holiday season my wife and I visited three close kin relatives — all on the same day, for a brief bit of socializing, and a quick session of partaking of the abundance of food that my close relatives were sharing at a dinner table that Thanksgiving Day.
Our first stop was over at my big fat overweight brothers family gathering for an hour long visit, where we intermingled, laughed, ate various select foods ranging from hot sliced turkey, mashed potatoes, maple syrup lathered sweet potatoes, home-made gravy, apple and pumpkin pie, a wide selection of cookies, chocolate fudge bars, and more.
We limited our food intake at our first stop, so that our next visitation stop over at my younger brothers family residence where another large enclave of blood kin relatives had gathered, we could still eat a bit of something. That second journey to the next close kin proved to be another great inter-social affair for we only tend to see our close kin about once per year — at this time of year during the holiday season.
The second visit, at my younger brothers, we encountered another major supply of amazing home cooked hot turkey with a wide selection of much favored items, and again, we were very selective about consuming too much, for we still had one more stop visit to make that same day.
On our third and final stop visitation to my younger sisters family residence where his descendants were all gathered — another large steaming hot turkey awaited, with all the trimmings, ranging from mashed potatoes to pies and more.
Yet by the time we arrived here...my normally bottomless man-sized stomach (being an athletic well-honed fit and trim mountain climber) that could tackle immense quantities of food finally reached its culminating state — plump stuffed fullness — barely finishing it with a slice of whip topping covered spice flavored pumpkin pie. Soon, that comfy feeling of sleepy floppy plumpness had set in.
And what would a family gathering be without some of that famous home-made pumpkin pie? For I had heard one of my kin relatives explain an event leading up to this day....
As our sister was pulling that hot pumpkin pie out from the hot oven and putting it into the tray to cool, the four-legged metal wire-framed cooling tray tilted slightly and in a rush the fresh out of the oven hot pumpkin pie aimed for the kitchen floor where it promptly ended up -- upside down, crust staring up at a set of discomfited eyes that were staring forlornly back down at that now lost pumpkin pie.
"Well" ...thought one family member, "It's still viable for pumpkin goulash, yes?"
"Sadly. No," replied my little Sis, "Not when it's mixed with dog hairs."
Yet that was not even the end of the pie saga this holiday season. The first floor bound pie occurred on Wednesday. On Thursday, the morning of our planned visitation, when one of the families children were helping to set the table in preparation of the coming meal, the second pumpkin pie slipped out of their grasp while the person was walking en route to the 12-person large dining room table, and it ALSO ended up on the kitchen floor!
For one brief moment a worried thought tore through their minds...what would this holiday season family gathering be without pumpkin pie!
Yet thankfully, somewhere one of the family members did solve that momentary limiting factor that afternoon at our third close kin family gathering — and they did have pumpkin pie — straight from the grocery store and loaded with quality flavorful spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove).
But as we all know...it's not really about the pumpkin pie, is it?
No it's not! For our family gatherings at this time of holiday season, done only once late each year, in the cold winter months -- is really all about socializing once again with our immediate close blood kin family, for it's all about connections and communication with those person whom we love best, and our firm hope for a better future ahead of us.
