Twenty-four years into our new tradition and the 17 of us have grown into 42 of us and we can’t imagine it any other way than it is now. For the younger set, it’s the only way they’ve known. With their mother’s handwritten recipes, the sisters work all day to carry on Grandmother’s legacy of loving their family with food. As they’ve gotten a little older, they’ve started giving out food assignments, but they still do the heavy lifting by making the stars of the show- the turkeys, dressing, and most of the desserts. For 24 years, they’ve cooked the most delicious feasts- just like their mother before them. What a gift they give our family every year. It will take all 8 of us in the next generation to fill their shoes when it’s our turn. 

The holidays mean the year is winding down and we start to consider what has come of it. Like me, I bet you’ve had a lot of ordinary days this year. The ones you can’t really recall because they were pretty routine and nothing special. There were likely days that left us feeling regretful or anxious or even angry. There were also days we felt like life just couldn’t get any better. And there may have been days that took our breath away with shock and sadness. We’ve worried, celebrated, cried, worked, loved, aged, hoped, rested, feared, laughed, wanted and waited. 

A lot happened as we flipped the calendar through 2025 and there will be families, like ours, who’ll come together for the holidays with a fresh void that will sit in every corner and hover over each conversation. It’ll be at the door and on the hearth and in the kitchen- everywhere they turn. Whether they saw the void coming or it took them completely by surprise, it’s there just the same and it may be most pronounced in the sentimental flurries of the holidays. Maybe your family will be one of those this year, too. I pray God will be close to you. I pray He’ll be felt at the door and on the hearth and in the kitchen- and anywhere else you feel the absence of someone you love. The Bible says God is near to the brokenhearted and those whose spirits are crushed. To give thanks with a broken heart may be the hardest thing of all, but God is so faithful and true to us even on the darkest days that are inevitable in this fallen world. I hope everyone who mourns will find Christ, our Savior, sitting near to them this holiday season. 

God bless you and yours this Thanksgiving. 

Joni 

                 Ben 11/26/74- 10/10/25

                 So loved and so very missed.