"Thanksgiving's not the same..."

I heard this from my mom the other day. A bit frazzled and grey because her life, as well as her immediate family's, has changed in the past 5 years. Not tragically....where your immediate assumptions are life's worst case scenarios, but rather like any family may endure in the midst of a generational blip. My sister got married, I moved to LA, and my mother and father split up. She'd crystal-balled a future where our tradition, which was well preserved the past 20 years, would continue on. Yet time adds its own ingredients, and we as individuals toss some in as well. Grandparents leave us in natural progression. We usher in new faces as nieces, nephews and in-laws. My mother had to cook for a whole other family in her new life and she didn't have many people to look forward to seeing. Who was she even cooking for, and would they appreciate it, or would she be happy to plate them? I think this is like anything in life, adjustments take time. My sister doesn't have kids yet, I'm not married nor do I know if I'll be in LA forever, my uncles lack the capacity to mail out an invitation, not to mention organize a holiday; so we'll have to wait it out. Possibly grandchildren will be born, spurring an attack on the newly knighted grandparents and a craving for turkey, stuffing, and yams with marshmallows, or dare we say, new experiences may foster warm enough memories that in time, they become the new tradition. One never knows, but really, you should be open to some change in your life, especially if it's out of your control. Hey, if anything, sometimes you need less impressive instances to understand how perfect others might have been and how you won't forget to appreciate those that come again.