Yesterday, our family gathered at our house to have our annual Thanksgiving dinner. There were 17 of us to celebrate; unfortunately our older niece could not come, because of a bad cold and sore throat. Our meeting was a week early, because on the actual thanksgiving weekend Derek is scheduled to be in hospital for the removal of his ileostomy. So we did it this week, while Derek is still able to enjoy his food. Next week he'll be on a liquid diet, and it'll likely be some time before he can take regular food again.
We had wonderful news at our get-together as well. Our younger niece announced the she and her boyfriend are engaged to be married - no date set yet. The two of them are wonderful young people; we're all very happy for them.
We had a great family gathering; the youngest member present is 4 years old, and the oldest is 82. We believe that the children should be part of such an occasion - we hope that they'll grow up to continue the tradition.
