Division essay

With Halloween behind us, the holidays are quickly approaching. It will be Christmas before we know it! Before Christmas, of course, is Thanksgiving. I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner for fifteen Turners for the past ten years, and have discovered that there are three main parts to this holiday.

Thanksgiving would not be complete without family. In my case, the eleven other Turners that show up for dinner at my house. There is Ralph, Paula, and their two kids, Abby and Andrew. Abby and Andrew don't talk much, but everyone else more than makes up for their silence. Next is Edwina, our deceased great-aunt's sister-in-law. Every Thanksgiving someone drives from Bangor to Bucksport to pick her up, and then takes her home again. She will spend a lot of her visit complaining about how lonely she is, and how she never gets any visitors. When she is finished with that she will proceed to tell us many stories about her cat. Then we have Gram and Gramps T. They are very religious, so we can't have any alcohol at our family gatherings. Everyone has to watch what they say - Gram T. even thinks that "fart" is a swear word. Anthony and Carolyn have two kids, Morgan, 9, and Michael, 11. These two kids are wild - running around, screaming, antagonizing the cat, spanking my two kids, and pretty much bouncing off the walls. Then of course, there is myself, Paul, and our two boys, PJ and Jerry, who ask us every five minutes before people start showing up "When are they coming? Are they almost here? When are they gonna get here?"

Another important part of Thanksgiving is, of course, the food. I do most of the cooking, which includes a twenty pound turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, peas, sweet potatoes, gravy, stuffing, squash, and turnip. Gram T. brings homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, strawberry pie, and apple pie. Carolyn brings pumpkin bread and salad. Paula brings homemade pecan pie and pearl onions. After the blessing, we dig in and barely make a dent in all the food, but that's ok - we all have containers for leftovers. Everything gets divvied up equally, and Edwina always goes home with a turkey leg.

The last very important part of Thanksgiving is the newspaper with the sales flyers for the next day. While dinner settles we excitedly look over the big day after Thanksgiving sales. I make my list for each store and map out our route for the next day. We figure out who is going to stand in line at Circuit City, who's going to Walmart first, and who is going to nab the deals at Target. If we plan things right, we can get out of one store just before the next one is opening.

Our Thanksgivings may be hectic and noisy, but they are always special. The food, the laughter, and the bargain hunting help make wonderful memories each and every year. As our family grows, Thanksgivings will get noisier and crazier. I can't wait!