A Family Dinner: Better than Fiction

Ready for dinner?  If you're joining my extended family for Thanksgiving or New Year's Eve, you're in for a real treat.  Chances are there will be turkey, tender and cooked to perfection by my mom, or the world's best meatloaf expertly created by my sister Charity.  Homegrown mashed potatoes and green beans will grace the table.  

Grandma will bring her classic 7-layer salad.  Uncle Rick will bring a delicious corn casserole, and, perhaps, Aunt Sandy will bring fruit salad.  My youngest sister will have a beautiful array of pies: apple, raisin, pecan, and/or Santiago Chocolate.  Her hands know how to work wonders with pie crusts, and with a dollop of ice cream, these will be the best desserts you've ever tasted.  Be sure to save room!


Everyone knows to show up on time.  It's a Carson tradition not to keep the cook waiting.  If anyone is late, there's talk of excommunication, but with a meal like this, who would want to be late?

"Dad, will you say the blessing?" my papa asks.  Grandpa leads us all in a prayer of thanksgiving.  The food is passed around the table.  

"Pass me a bun please" someone asks.  It's not exactly a safe request among Green Bay Packer fans unless you're a wide receiver.  If you're lucky, the pass will be underhand.

Once everyone is served, conversation begins.  It's a family trait to be opinionated and strong in our beliefs.  The only "problem?"  Everyone has different beliefs!  

Around the table is seated the whole political spectrum: Republicans, Democrats, non-conventionalists, and people who don't vote at all because they think the whole system is a mess.   Political discussions are lively, but in the end everyone agrees to disagree--or at least agrees that the country has problems that need to be fixed.  "I still love you anyway," Uncle Harley tells a member of the opposing political camp.

There's conversation about doctor appointments, Y2K (when we stocked up on paper towels and cat food) and other past new years, old friends, and the relatives who couldn't be here. Nine generations after the family's immigration from Scotland in the 1700s, Carson aunts, uncles, and cousins are scattered throughout the states.  What would a full family get-together look like?  Chances are I'll never know.  Besides the Carsons throughout the states, we have in-laws and relatives in and/or from Thailand, the Philippines, and New Zealand, not to speak of our unknown distant cousins in Europe.  

My dad mentions he's been watching Gomer Pyle, USMC lately and learning all about the Marines. Sergeant Carter once told his men, "My grandmother can march better than that!"  "Well bless her heart!" Gomer replied.  Laughter ensues as everyone harks back to the tv show, and pretty soon a discussion starts on military barracks and base housing.  

A photo from Korea during the war.

Grandpa was a sergeant in the Marines who fought bravely in the Chosin Reservoir in Korea.  Uncle Rick is a retired Chief Petty Officer in the Navy who served during the Vietnam War--and on vessels including the USS Enterprise.  My mom was an Army sergeant who worked in a hospital laboratory in Germany during the Gulf War.   For some reason they don't think Gomer Pyle, USMC is very accurate.  

After dinner everyone settles back to look at old photos.  Perhaps they're our grandparents' slides from the '60s and '70s portrayed on a screen with a projector, or maybe a slide show on Uncle Rick's computer.  We see everyone much younger, my dad's great fishing catches as a boy, beehive hairdos, camping trips, a retirement party at John Deere (where many family members have worked), and trains.

How do you like these gas prices?  

  And this car?!  Pretty sweet, eh?

Of course, the present does not go un-photographed.  Uncle Rick and cousin Keith are dedicated photographers who always bring their gear (and plenty of helpful pointers for beginners like myself), and my youngest sister and I snap some photos as well.  What is a family reunion without the constant clicking of camera shutters? 

Papa tells about a project he's been working on for a local cemetery, a little pyramid that tops a gazebo.  He is an expert welder and metal fabricator, but the customer has wanted it remade according to different specifications several times so that it looks just right.  Have the neighbors in the cemetery been complaining?  

The Neighbors.

Uncle Rick tells him that the project is more important than he might suspect: "People are dying to get in there!"  To keep the cemetery popular, everything has to be just right.  Soon everyone is engrossed in discussing the neatest cemeteries around.  Apparently I'm not the only one who finds photographing graveyards exciting.

Everyone is asked to give a message, song, and/or words of encouragement for the coming year.  Uncle Rick plays a couple songs on the piano and says the old photos of family were his contribution.  Our friend Aileen, a retired school teacher who now works in AWANA child evangelism, shares a good message on how important it is to know God for ourselves.  Grandma shares how the Lord has miraculously seen her through over the years.  

My siblings and I pull out our guitars and other instruments and sing a couple songs, "Pray the Clouds Away" and "The Eyes of Man."  Mama says dinner was her contribution.  Papa sings an old Johnny Cash song, "He'll Understand and Say Well Done."  My brother plays "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" on the piano, and Charity plays "O Sole Mio/Down From His Glory."  

Cousin Keith shared that we have to live one day at a time; we're not guaranteed our tomorrows.

Grandpa told us about how the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years.  Then Joshua became the leader.  The days of indecision were over, and at God's command they stopped wandering in that wilderness and entered into the Promised Land.  

We played a late game of dominoes, and munched on plenty of brain food to keep us awake.  Grandpa won our yearly match, and everyone headed home.

This year I want to follow Grandpa's advice and leave behind the wildernesses of indecision. It's time to claim the promises of God as we march toward the Promised Land.

What are your words of wisdom for 2015?
Did you stock up for Y2K? 
What was your most memorable New Year?