One week from tomorrow we will gather and feast. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. A holiday based on food is an awesome idea. I would love the smells and feeling that Thanksgiving brings would last all year long.

If your family is like mine, you have some Thanksgiving traditions. When I was younger and lived in North Dakota, we would meet on the state capitol grounds every Thanksgiving morning and play a big game of football. There would be up to 20 of us on the front lawn of the capitol beating each other to a pulp in the spirit of the holiday. It was during one of these games when I broke it to my brother that I was going to be a dad and was getting married. I will never forget that game when my brother Mike and I were on opposing teams. He was QB on his team and went back to pass when I charged through the line and sacked him. As I helped him up I said "You need to get rid of the ball quicker and by the way Kyla is pregnant. I will tell you more when I sack you on the next play" and ran back to my huddle. I could hear his jaw hit the field.

I can also distinctly remember the time my wife jammed a fork into my hand for going off on her dad at the table. He had been with us for a week or so and I don't handle company well. When he mentioned I was being wasteful with something I went off on the whole "this is my house"rant with fresh blood trickles from my forking. I was wrong and hope to never cause a holiday utensil assault again.

We always have the huge bird with stuffing, cranberries that go "sloosh" when you dump em from the can, taters, corn, rolls, pies and black olives to put on your fingers and pretend you are "crazy olive finger guy". Gravy is such an important part of the meal as well. My mother in law once made a turkey so dry it actually grew when you added gravy because it was reconstituting itself. I can't wait until next Thursday to gather and create some new stories to tell for years to come.

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