i think i am going to explode. my eyes, mouth, fork and spoon were bigger than my stomach at our annual family Christmas dinner last week. "were" is the operative word here, as i believe my stomach just caught up to all of them. i come from a big family, and we didn't have alot to eat when we were young. don't get me wrong, we got enough to eat...just enough, but until i was the second oldest and toughest in the house, i never got seconds.
so, when we get together now, i believe we overcompensate for that on holidays. each sibling brings at least two or three dishes to pass, usually something they were denied as a child\. i'm not blaming my parents, that's just the way it was. i gained 33 pounds in boot camp in 13 weeks. midnight chow was my friend.
getting together for the holidays gives me a fix. i need to see everyone eating and talking and laughing together, older ones at the big table, younger ones at the card tables circling around. that is one thing i will never tire of. it is what we are made of. we are a family, through and through. you mess with one of us, it won't be long before you have a dozen of us breathing down your neck. i try try to instill this in my children every chance i get, this unbridled loyalty. it comes from the heart, and it always feels right.
i truly believe it all started with the eight of us sitting down to eat together each and every night as we grew up.
don't you think it's time to get back to the table?
