Missing family =(

Here it is the day after Thanksgiving. Larry and I had a very pleasant time with around 250 (!) other cruisers at a really yummy dinner.  The Club Cruceros provided turkey and gravy and cruisers brought individual side dishes. Marina Palmira where we are docked graciously provided tables with white linen cloths and we had a glorious if breezy day to enjoy.  As you can imagine there was a huge variety of stuffing, sweet potatoes, casseroles, salads and breads not to mention an enormous table covered with every sweet one could wish for including, I'm guessing, 15 to 20 pumpkin pies. As a volunteer I had been assigned to "man" the dessert table and was happy to preview if not taste test all of the goodies. Fortunately friends "saved us" a place and we had a most enjoyable afternoon. And like good Americans everywhere, yes, we over ate!
But despite the nice get together I was a bit lonely. We are a blended family and like others we have gone separate ways and also lost family members over the years; yet throughout these years we developed and then amended traditions.  Recently it has been my pleasure to be cook's assistant (o.k., dishwasher/dryer) to our daughter's mother-in-law as she expertly cooks an enormous holiday dinner for whatever family is available to come.  Besides the wonderful side dishes and  desserts she makes a very special macaroni and cheese dish for the vegetarians in the family.  It's so good that the carnivores always dip into it as well. Thanks S, I missed you this year!

Family gathering in Florida

Although our adult children and grandchildren are spread out (Philadelphia, the Cotswolds in  England, and the Raleigh area of N. Carolina) we have in the past spent holidays with some if not all of them.  I missed seeing them this year. We talked to a few of them, but it's not the same.  

2006

I'm happy to be in La Paz, but that doesn't diminish the pull on my heart strings. I miss the smiles, the hugs, the MIMI!'s, the smells of holiday cooking (yes, even the vegetarian misses the smell of turkey cooking) and the laughter.
Maybe next year....