Favorite Holidays

I had 2 holidays that I lived for when I was a kid; Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Thanksgiving took my mom 2 days to prepare for. The day before Thanksgiving she made of 4 pies, 2 pumpkin, an apple and a chocolate pie. She always made too much dough for the pies so we could make cinnamon rolls. I got to help with the cinnamon rolls. Then the morning of Thanksgiving I would wake up to smells that had to have come directly from heaven. the aroma from the pies were still there and turkey and homemade stuffing were added. Mom always made the turkey and stuffing because Grandma Guile was domestically challenged.
We'd pack up the car and get ready for the 2 hour drive to Grandma's house. I swear every time we drove the Southfield Freeway it was jammed and we had to listen to Daddy complain for the duration of the delay.
When I was little Uncle Wayne, Aunt Betty and their daughter Darlene were there. Uncle Charles, Uncle Ronnie, Grandpa Guile, Grandma Guile, Dennis, Danny, Mom, Daddy, Sandy and myself rounded out the clan. Sometimes Grandma's brother was there, but not often.
We all sat around the huge table in Grandma's kitchen. There was teasing, laughter and great food. One year the mashed potatoes were passed to me. I said, "I love Grandma's potatoes because they have lumps in them." Silence. mom had a smile on her face and changed the subject. How was I supposed to know there weren't supposed to be lumps in mashed potatoes?
We stayed for a few hours then packed up and went back home. It was a long trip, but we were still full from a great dinner and happy from the company.