Hi neighbors. It's turkey time! We can enjoy several days of anticipation, one day of pigging out, and enjoy (not so much) weeks of left-overs.

Yes, it is again Thanksgiving. Family time, parade time, food time and ball game time as well.

How many of you attend large reunions of your extended families?

Sometimes it's difficult to get everyone together for a simple evening dinner, much less a large feast. Balancing schedules, days off, air flights, driving times, etc. can make it seem almost impossible to get the entire family together around the table one day a year.

In my family, it seems when the matriarch of any generation passes on, the family holiday reunions die off as well. I remember all my aunts and uncles and of course, cousins, getting together at my grandmother's house for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day and July fourth.

Everybody knew each year that these days were for "Granny" and we all went to her house to help her celebrate.

In hindsight she probably would have been more content with all of us taking her out to eat, but maybe not.

All the women made their "special" dish. All the men made their boasts about their work and their comments on politics.

We kids, of course, had our own agendas. In nice weather we usually went to the barn yard to throw corn cobs at each other or to the brooder house to play with the chicks, the activity depending on the time of year and the appropriate holiday.

Other activities involved cracking black walnuts, picking mulberries, or daring each other to hide out in the hay bales to try to catch raccoons fighting that night. Many a brave cousin has high-tailed it back to the house after dark when the "coons" started a fight in the pasture. If you've never heard two male coons fighting, it sounds like a pair of grizzly bears battling a pack of wolverines.

In the tiny farmhouse kitchen, all the aunts would be cooking. Granny had a wood-burning cook stove. It always seemed like a genie's magic lantern to me. Out of the fire and the smoke and the light would suddenly appear the greatest pies, cakes and biscuits.

Amid all the confusion, Granny walked slowly and effectively. She would deftly move hot pots from one side of the stove to the other, finding the "hot" spots and the "warming" spots with the ease of years of practice.

Her stove had two warming ovens on the top so as food finished cooking on the stove top, it was transferred to serving bowls and moved into the warming ovens.

I wasn't often privy to the men‚s conversations; but I know from experience, they should have been listening to the women and talking less among themselves.

Women in a family, particularly sisters and sisters-in-law, tell each other everything about their spouses and their children. At least my family did.

As a pre-teen, I found out more about my uncles‚ bills and incomes in just the time it took to mash the potatoes, than I'd ever want to know. Hearing which cousins were making straight "A's" in school and which ones were fighting regularly on the playground, only took the few minutes required to set the table.

Discussing the latest fashions, recipes and gossip took most of the cooking time.

I'll let you guys in on something. If you get the piece of pie with the burnt crust -- it isn't an accident. If you bother to look up, you'll see every woman in the room has her eyes on you. You have been judged during the stirring of the gravy, my friend, and something in your last year's performance has been found lacking.

Don't bother to try to find someone to tell you what exactly you've done wrong. The women will close ranks and you'll never find out.

But don't worry about it too much. Your punishment has been dealt out and all the women of the family accept that as payment in full. Eat your burnt crust -- every bite! -- and pay your penance. By the end of the meal you will have been forgiven.

The juiciest gossip was saved to share while washing the dishes. Since we younger kids were sent out of the room so the aunts could talk freely, we‚d go into the front room with Granny and color or put puzzles together.

Granny sat in her rocker, feet propped up, enjoying the peace and quiet of the front room almost as much as the noise coming from the kitchen. I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!