When November 1 arrived the tension exploded. First it buzzed through email with a friendly and cheerful invitation to go to Big Sister’s place for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Big Sis had been having the family over since the passing of Mom and Dad.  It was her God-given birth-right to cook a turkey dinner with white potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, green beans and corn—all dishes served in order to keep the family together.  Toward the end of the last decade, Sis noticed she was getting old, so it became necessary to have the whole meal catered. She kept this a secret so none of her brothers knew, but one of the more sinister sisters-in-law touched the oven last Thanksgiving Day and realized it was not even warm.

Details of who would attend or not, what issues they were facing and doubts about attending popped and banged through social media. Excuses given: Long automobile trips, bad weather, crowded airports. Some of the teens did an online satirical dance routine imitating Uncle Joe after a few too many beers. One teen did a stand-up comedy on UToo of Aunt Ellie and the funny way she dressed. Fortunately not everyone in the family was aware of these extracurricular activities.

But a family gathering is important. These people, who had little to do with each other and rarely communicated except to respond favorably to memes on social media, all felt the sense of obligation.

And so it went, every year in November, the great gathering of The Family did occur. Typical activities included all the men of the family sitting and watching the football game, talking only about sports. As technology advanced the blessed e-phone allowed those who did not want to attend to gaze into their devices and read endless emails about “black Friday” discounts.  Even though this family had been schooled in religious belief, no one ever suggested a prayer at the dinner table. No one even mentioned what they felt thankful for and with the election just over, there was plenty to NOT BE THANKFUL for.

Two years after a pandemic, with a war in Europe, the stock market bouncing up and down like a tennis ball and media headlines about inflation and economic disaster in the future, all of this brought anguish, anxiety and fear to the forefront of everyone’s mind. For some family members the disasters were already raining down on them.  Mental illness, financial loss due to gambling, and divorce were just a few of the disasters befalling them. 

The fortunate outcome was that they all gathered, “one last time,” as Big Sis called it—she spoke softly because her one last lung was about to shut down.  Since no one owned a gun—because they were all in favor of gun-control, they held their heads high, ate the meal in silence and drove home afterward.  It was agreed that they would not do Christmas together. What was the point? All they did these days was hand gift cards to each other and eat way too much candy.