Giving thanks for family.

This morning I was listening to a piece on On Point about the changing face of the American family, put out in time for our Thanksgiving celebrations. Apparently quite a lot of us don't think marriage is necessary anymore, and something like 41% of babies are born to unmarried parents. But, overwhelmingly among those surveyed, Americans value family above all else in their lives. I agree with this, which may seem ironic given how often I actually see my brother, my sister and her family, and my extended family (meaning my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids, etc.), but it's true. I believe that it's important for family to support each other and to care for each other. And to have fun together. Which is why I try to have fun with my family as often as we can, and which is why the theme of this post is giving thanks for family.

My sister's family, my mom, Doug, and I had an opportunity for fun last weekend, when we went to Old Sturbridge Village. This may be an annual trip, which would be fine with me. Going in the cold fall seems somehow appropriate. We all bundled up and had a great time seeing the horses and visiting the buildings and seeing the crafters at work (Like the blacksmith, who had one of the more interesting demonstrations. It seemed almost otherworldly, being in his smoky, cloudy cabin, seeing him in his period dress banging out things like kitchen spits. Made me want to learn a trade and live off the land (that is, until he said that getting burned is a daily requirement of his job, and I have to wonder what kind of health insurance OSV is providing for these workers, and then I have to wonder what kind of health insurance I'd have for myself if I were a blacksmith, working off my little plot of land behind my little house, so then I go back to being thankful for having the kind of life I lead right now.)). We also had time for some ye olden times checkers. I played Frankie in a match, in which he soundly beat me, but then he and Doug went head to head and Doug, ever-competitive, beat the pants off of poor Frankie. But Frankie's such a good sport; he held no hard feelings against Doug for that one.

Let's see, what else did we do. Not a whole lot else (this is pretty much what you do at Sturbridge Village), but it was really fun to spend time together. We posed together for a lot of photos, probably because we wanted to document us being together (we had not all been together since our trip to New Hampshire this past July). Here's one of me and my Mads, my wonderful and beautiful niece who's going to be ten this winter (and note her braces!): and here's one of my sister and her family: They have such a good family. So solid. The kids are well-behaved and well-adjusted, and my sister and my brother-in-law have a great dynamic. They actually enjoy spending time together (my sister and brother-in-law, but also the whole family). Of course, this may change once the kids hit their teen years, but I doubt it will change too much. Frankie will enjoy spending time doing things with his father, Maddy will enjoy spending time with her brother and father, and my sister will enjoy spending time with Maria and all of them. If there were a family that could survive a trip around the country in an RV, in close quarters and no television to distract them, then they'd be it. I admire them for that. I applaud them for that. I hope that Doug and I can have some kind of semblance of that (whether or not it involves children, or that many children, remains to be seen) - and maybe can join them on their roadtrip!

Anyway, so I give thanks this Thanksgiving season for family and the family institution. My actions may not speak as loudly as my feelings do on this one - so take my word for it, Family - I appreciate you and miss you when I haven't seen you for a while.

Huzzah!

I just got home from work and don't really feel like blogging, but I'd better write about our family visit to Old Sturbridge Village before my sister and the kids come up this weekend to go to the American Girl store. There was tons of good content the last time we went there, so need to get this one out of the way.

Have you ever been to OSV? We used to go semi-regularly when I was a kid and I loved it. Still love it. Wanted to get married there, but it was too expensive, and plus, OSV was going through a bit of financial hardship and I think they had stopped offering weddings at that point. They are back now, though, as back as any kind of non-profit working museum can be, and I was so glad to get back there to enjoy all the things I loved about it as a kid.

The animals are some of the things that I enjoyed most about OSV, and they didn't disappoint this time. We had quite a few specimen to observe:
(Buttercup, the cow, was in quite a mood that day. What a hoot she was! But the oxen were also rather entertaining.) So the live animals were great, but so were the not so alive animals. We saw a butchering demo (this is mutton): and the kids had a great time letting loose some energy on the fiberglass animals: The kids learned about making shoes in the early nineteenth century and Doug enjoyed thinking about becoming a farmer, owning his own little red farmhouse and having a bunch of animals to tend.When you're at Sturbridge Village, it's easy to romanticize this kind of lifestyle and time period. What we don't witness is the stink of sweaty bodies in the dead heat of summer as the women cooked before the open fire in the kitchen, or the emptying of the chamber pots into the fly-ridden outhouse. Yuck.

One of the other romanticized moments at Sturbridge is the coach ride. Here my sister's family gets a ride on the Hartford-Worcester coach service which seems like a lot of fun when you're only riding around the village green, but spending 6 or more hours on that coach from Hartford to Worcester with potentially eight other bodies stuffed in there with you... not my idea of fun. But my idea of fun is spending as much time as possible learning about our national past, and hanging out with my sister, brother-in-law and their lovely family, and both goals were achieved that day. Do you think this should be their holiday card photo? I think it's perfect.