Along With a Good Booger

We love this family.

We've known them a decade (math Bee and I recently figured and still can't believe) and have made many the memory with them over the last 10 years.

But our holidays, I have to say, are some of the best. Some years, our time is made hodge-podge - as life events are prone to do - but we always seem to spend at least one or two together.
We pick the hour, the place, and decide who'll bring what. We've dressed in fancy duds, jeans, and even our jammies. But there's one component always present and never varying...
laughter.

With this family, we laugh and laugh and laugh. And then laugh some more. How could you not? They are quirky and loud. They are silly and true. They are huggers and kissers and, yes (now and again) criers.
They are family.
And we are the better for it.

One of our traditions is a Thanksgiving night of games and dessert. We drink warm coffee and tea and eat to our heart's delight -and our stomach's chagrin.
(Yes, we are thankful for gluttony...we don't lie about it.)
We circle the table, pick a game, and end up becoming the raucous commercial Hasbro wishes it had made.

Somewhere along the way, the leftovers get pulled, and we stand around in the kitchen recalling memories, old and new, as we chomp on cold turkey, rewarmed rolls, and remnants of Char's pumpkin pie.

This year, one of our game-time selections was Would You Rather? Not a favorite of mine, as it turns out, but it had this challenge category that proved hysterical. We played in teams of two, and there came a time when Jason and Char (son-in-law and mother-in-law, for those who don't know them) took a challenge to identify people by touching only their faces while blindfolded.

Easy, you might say.
Not so much.

Here's the hilarious outcome Craig caught on film. Take a gander...but put it to a soundtrack of uproarious laughter, bend-over-double giggles, and wipes of heavy tears as we all delighted in poor Jason's woes.

Here he is trying to identify Morgan (his daughter) and Bee (his wife). Of course, we resorted to all methods of trickery including stooping, puffing cheeks, and changing order.
We really are cruel people.

Jason took it all in stride, as his usual way.
And then there came this strange shot:
we think Jason became a pastor whilst we were rolling on the floor in a reverie of chuckles.
So funny.

Grace and Morgan's challenge was to hold their tongues for two turns of play - harder than you might think, between the dry lips and drooled chin.

And Jason and Mama Char got stuck with yet another doozie: holding spoons in their mouths for a couple revolutions of turn.
Say, come to think of it, they sure did get the short end of this game's stick!

Jason's best little buddy, Judd, just couldn't stay away. So he was delighted when his tall friend drew his hand on a piece of paper...proving that the smallest gestures provide the biggest dividends on the heart.

(I love the giant hands covering the little ones).

I'll finish with a shot so totally reflective of this family and our love for them because it reminds me of the best part of real relationship; namely, that being who you are isn't work. Or even planned.
It's simply welcomed. And, when it arrives, it's embraced.
Until love overflows.

Along with a good booger.