Thanksgiving Preflection

     Thanksgiving in my family is a very hectic event.  The day has always started out the same; I wake up, usually late, and help my Nana cook yams, basically I just peel them, help my mom make a carmel-pecan pie, and do whatever else they need me to do.  Then I just get ready to go to dinner.
     All of my aunts and uncles get together.  Along with my cousins and grandparents.  I can remember I've only ever had Thanksgiving at three different houses.  Up until I was in high school Thanksgiving was always held at my Great-Grandparents house. Being in the large family that I'm in my Great-Grandparents house just got to cramped with all the people that started to come.  My freshman year of high school we had Thanksgiving dinner at house, which is vastly bigger than my grandparents.  I actually really like having dinner at my house because it just makes things easier for me.  We only hosted the dinner a couple of years before we started going to my aunt and uncle's house.  The house is tiny and filled wall to wall of my family members.  
     I don't look forward to much of Thanksgiving given this but every year I have the time of my life.  My cousin and I usually leave for a bit, while dinner is still being cooked, and go to one of my friend's house down the street.  When we get back dinner is being served.  We always have a grace said, usually by one of my uncles, and then my Aunt Julie, who has Downs Syndrome, says her own.  She rambles on and on, repeating things, giving thanks for every single family member at the table by name, and just keeps on talking until someone, usually my mother, my cousin Leslie, or myself, shouts "AMEN!" 
      Dinner seriously goes in about 10 minutes, my family are very fast eaters. We don't talk.  Then we all sit around the table talking about different things, my cousins and I gossiping, my nana and my aunts deciding the day that we're going to make tamales for Christmas eve, my uncles arguing over whatever football game is on.  
     My family doesn't celebrate any distinct traditions but Thanksgiving goes exactly the same every year, and I have no new expectations for this year.  I like spending time with my family and having a day where we are all together in the same place at the same time for once.