What a wonderful Thanksgiving!! There were twelve of us for dinner this year, my oldest son and his wife, my daughter and her fiance and his son, my youngest son and his girlfriend, my brother and his two children and my husband and me. Not a big group by some standards, but about all this little house could hold. Dinner was excellent. Desserts were over the top wonderful. Conversations were spirited with the usual teasing and joking. It is so wonderful to look down the table and see how very blessed I am with such a wonderful group beside me. I look at my children interacting together and can only pray that they stay close forever. So much love in the room. What a wonderful day.

Very bittersweet to realize that my siblings are so divided that there are not even phone calls exchanged to wish each other a Happy Thanksgiving. What happens that splits families to the point where they can no longer even get together at holiday time? Why can some families remain united and work through disagreements without building walls between each other? Were we not taught respect for each other while growing up? Were we not encouraged to work out our differences or were we encouraged to keep everything inside and let it fester and grow until there was no path back to common ground? I do not know the answers, but I do know that my heart is heavy and pray for healing for our family. This Christmas one sister has invited everyone to her home for a family gathering. I am very hopeful. After all, isn't Christmas a magical time of reconciliation?