Happy July 28th Hallow-Thanks-Mas!

With kids scattered to the far corners of the planet (here, here, and here two years ago, other far-flung places now) the Long-Suffering Wife and I have celebrated the last few holidays alone. The Younger Daughter is home from Shanghai for a few days before heading off to a different continent altogether (!!) and the Elder Daughter came home for a long weekend so at least four of the five of us could be together.

The Long-Suffering Wife had a fantastic idea, so tonight we pulled out the good china, cooked up turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberries, yams, apple and pumpkin pie, and broke out the wine. We had a couple of years of July 4ths, Halloweens, Thanksgivings, and Christmases to make up for, and probably a fair number of future ones as well.

It’s important to maintain family traditions, but to also be creative and flexible when circumstances change. It’s not the date on the calendar that counts, it’s being with family and making memories.

A good time was had by all!