I just got back from spending Thanksgiving week with family in Iowa. Had a nice time. My cousins hosted the Thanksgiving meal and we had 11 of us...

Usually, I host Thankgiving here. My cousin Maria and her family comes. She lives in Philly and I live in Maryland, about three hours apart. We are the only family east of the Mississippi River. Everyone else is primarily in the midwest (with some in Texas and California). However, Maria's family keeps growing and growing and growing. They now have four small children under the age of eight. With each child, hosting Thanksgiving gets less and less enjoyable. All four are very active and my condo is very small. I am exhausted after hours of cleaning, cooking, and cleaning again, along with running after small kids that are like catching greased pigs squirting around the house getting into things... Too much now that she has four small ones.

So, I think this year spending it in Iowa with my parents and family worked out in more ways than one and I'll probably continue the tradition. I'll spend Christmas at Maria's where it is almost as much work helping with cooking and kids, but if they knock something over, like a TV, it is hers, LOL. I'll invite them here in the Spring when it is warm enough to play in our large city park and we can go out for Pizza after. Much easier to handle with them rough housing outside and not having to cook for them (each kid likes something different to eat -- very picky and she caters to it making different food for each of them at meals).
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

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