Thanksgiving Rememberences

Every Thanksgiving that I can remember involved going to my grandmother's and then my mother's house(the same house) for dinner. I watched my grandfather at the head of the table, while I was at the far end (the children's table) and waited to move up. I moved a little as there were more cousins younger than me, and then my uncle took over the head of the table after my grandfathers death. The goal was always to get further up the table where the good conversation was held. I had gotten maybe almost half way when I had a child of my own. Since she was little it was decided by the "makers of the name tags" that I needed to sit near her to help her, and therefore I lost all the progess I had made and was back at the children's table. After three more kids and no movement up at all I finally ended up eating at the children's end and then moving my chair after I had eaten.
The other constant at Thanksgiving were the after dinner movies. The old movies started when my mother was dating and of course they were silent but it was always fun to see everyone when they were much younger and still had hair. The few good memories of my father I have are in those movies when he is waving at the camera and smiling. The movie projecter would come out right after dinner usually run by my brother, David and people would start ordering what film they wanted to see. Eventually the women would end up in the kitchen with dishes and the men would end up upstairs in the living room with cigarettes and cigars and the kids would continue to watch the old movies of their grandparents, parents, and of themselves. It was what we expected every Thanksgiving and it was a family tradition. I give thanks for all those Thanksgivings and all the people that were there and no longer are with us. Happy Thanksgiving, Mom, Bobsie, David, Hock, Gigi, Dad, Bampa and Aunt Ada.