Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Mereta this year. Normally we spend Thanksgiving in Water Valley with my dad's side of the family. It has been a long standing tradition that we load up and head to the ranch in Water Valley every Thanksgiving. When I was a kid all the guys would go out way early in the morning and hunt until lunch and then go out again that evening. In between hunts we'd eat and watch the Cowboys. It was on this ranch years ago that I shot my first deer. My dad and his brothers grew up hunting on this same ranch with their dad. There are a lot of good Thanksgiving memories and some pretty good stories that have come from our Thanksgivings together at the ranch.

My dad's mom was the oldest living member of that side of the family and she seemed to hold everyone and thing together. So as long as she was living we followed tradition and went to the ranch. However, my grandmother (Dad's mom) died a few months ago. All of her kids have kids and grand kids of their own now. They, like us, like to spend the holidays with their children and grandchildren. So this year we decided to start our own tradition and have Thanksgiving at my parents home in Mereta. My grandmother on my mom's side came over, my brother came in from College Station, my sister and her husband and daughter came in from Granbury, and Ronnie and I came up from Sonora. It was nice to spend the day at "home" with just my immediate family, eating, watching the Aggies play, playing football, watching Lily (my niece) ride a horse for the first time, enjoying being home with my family, and being thankful for all the blessings we have received and continue to receive.