A Full Thanksgiving

When I told friends and co-workers there would be 20 people at our Thanksgiving table this year, many of them grimaced or said, “Good luck.”
My reaction was the complete opposite.
I believe the more people at a holiday gathering, the better. Especially Thanksgiving.
For starters, it was comforting to know 18 other people wanted to come to my wife, Mary, and my house on the fourth Thursday of November.
The crowd at our table ranged from my 95-year-old grandmother to our 2-year-old grandniece.
It included nine members of Mary’s family as well as both our daughters, my son-in-law, my youngest daughter’s boyfriend and our grandson. The boyfriend’s parents and a friend of mine for the past 25 years also graced our home.
Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks. A time to reflect on our good fortune.
Having family and friends who live close by is one of the many things I am grateful for this season.
The holiday meal and the good spirit that comes with it is a task Baby Boomers can take on now that they are moving into the roles of matriarch and patriarch of their families.
The family circle in our society has crumbled. Divorce is shattering one of our culture’s foundations. Only 52 percent of marriages today make it to their 15th anniversary. Only 63 percent of children in the United States grow up with both biological parents. That’s the lowest rate in the Western world.
Baby Boomers have done their part to spread this social calamity. Our generation’s divorce rate hovers at 33 percent, twice as high as our parents’ generation.
It’s time to make amends and time to take the lead.
Strengthening the family can be one of our generation’s shining achievements. We can pick up the fragments of our households and carefully put them back together.
There are a number of ways to accomplish this goal.
First, if you can, live near your relatives, especially if you are fortunate enough to have family members still alive who are older than you. If you have grown children, try to live in the same region as them. Raising a family is tough these days and young adults, especially those with kids, need all the help they can get.
My family has had this blessing. My two daughters grew up surrounded by aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins who loved them. It does take a village to raise a child.
Now, I can watch my grandson experience the same full childhood. He too is surrounded by family members who praise and hug him. My grandniece is getting the same treatment.
It was in full view on that fourth Thursday of November at a full and happy Thanksgiving table.