BIG family

My turkey day usually consists of my oversized family gathering around a group of undersized tables and staying in a much to small home. thanksgiving is the only holiday that our family has a near consesus on trying all things possible to see each other. there may be other holidays that a few people spring up for christmas, or travel down for Easter, but generally thanksgiving is the day EVERYONE tries to come. this tahnksgiving i ate with, in total, 28 family members. this occured in two different houses, and in total around 5 different dinner tables, not counting the plates that were taken to the couch or just held standing in the kitchen. this year was a bit of a break on rooming, seeing as there was only 10 people in a 3 bedroom house. this is because my family traveled up to Michigan where most of my family members live. this years dinners were also eaten on seperate days, one mianly consisting of my mothers side, the other of my fathers. this is usually not the case though.
4 years ago (and this is my strangest experience) we had members of my mothers and fathers family, from Detroit, Wyanndotte, River Rouge, Chicago, Birmingham, Guntersville, and the Florida Keys all come to my simple 4 bedroom 2 bath house. the dinner (which also featured 3 people from church, 1 of whom passed on the next day of a terminal illness, or my mothers cooking, we werent sure which) featured over 35 people eating in my house at the same time! the heat of cooking all day leading up to the dinner made staying in the house unbearable for most, and the main dinner table was so full of food that people could barely manage to fit their plates and ended up just walking around it to reach everything. that night, 28 people stayed the night at my house. to accomodate, there were 3 blowup mattresses, 2 cots, and a pop- up camper set in our driveway. although it may seem strange, this was one of my most fun thanksgiving memories, because when you have a large family spread all over the country, its nice to get everyone together for some good food and football.