I hope all of you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I've really enjoyed all of your responses to my posts over the last week. It has been refreshing to see all the positive thoughts and answers to the Thanksgiving questions. I know that sometimes it's easy to get lost in the chaos of day to day life, and I just wanted to break up the routine a little bit and get us all thinking about the wonderful things in our lives. Today's post will wrap it all up with some memories, if you'd like to share. Please tell us one of your favorite memories from the holidays as a child or from any time in your past, and why you are thankful for those memories. Maybe it's Thanksgiving or Christmas, or maybe even a birthday.

My favorite memories from childhood are of going to my grandmother's house. We have a big family with lots of cousins. Our family is very close and the times we spent together are more valuable to me than anything in the world. Laughter was an ever present component of each of those holidays, as well as a hearty meal, and everyone felt special and loved. I am thankful for these memories because they remind me that even though my relationship with food is changing, my relationship with my family will always be strong, and that's the most important thing to me.

I grew up with 60 (as in sixty) first cousins. The hub of all of our celebration was the 80 acre farm that had been in the family ever since Indiana opened up for settlement. It is near the route that Morgan's Raiders took on their way from Kentucky to Ohio to whoop some Yankees. My grandfather's grandmother (Druscilla)was a Morgan, and as the troops spread out in search of food and supplies, a group of them hid in the walnut woods on the property. Of course, the raid didn't quite go their way, and the Yankees whooped back and put John Hunt Morgan in prison.

We cousins loved to sit on the living room floor at the farmhouse and listen to the grownups tell the family stories like that. Druscilla Morgan's mother (Mary Priscilla Bryan) was a cousin of Daniel Boone's wife Rebecca Bryan. Druscilla's father and uncle both fought with Boone in defending the pioneer forts of their friends.

The farm bustled at Thanksgiving time. The uncles (Dad was the 3rd of 9 brothers and 3 sisters) would play basketball on the gravel out by the barn. They were very competitive. Dad and one of his brothers were part-time referrees for high school tournaments.

The aunts would make apple cider on the cider press out back of the farmhouse. Grandma and the aunts would make pumpkin pie from pumpkins grown at the farm. My cousins and I would argue over who got to eat the turkey legs. After the uncles were done with basketball they would come in the house and play Carrems and teach the older cousins how to play. Grandma smelled like food; Grandpa smelled like cows and cigars. At Thanksgiving, Grandpa would cut a tree from the woods and bring it in and we would decorate it with garlands made of colored popcorn and other homemade decorations.

Now it just seems like family wants to do a hit and run, and not linger for a very long visit. Everyone is too busy with their lives. I miss that close family atmosphere. I am very thankful for being exposed to a humble farm life and having a large family to love.