Thankful for Family Traditions
Jan Kabat has been having family reunions on Thanksgiving for the past 15 years. Her family members live in Austin, TX, Mill Valley, CA, Denver, CO, Columbia, MO, and the rest are local to her in Orange County. They love gathering on Thanksgiving because it is fun, more relaxing, and doesn’t require the extensive shopping that goes into the Christmas holiday.
When one of the family members moved to Austin, they decided to have the family reunion there and explore the area. Since there are 18 family members in total, Jan’s family rented a beautiful ranch. There are 12 adults, and over the past decade they have added 6 children ranging from 4 to 15 years old. Three of the girls were born in 2015. Since they all live in different places, they really enjoy getting time together.
All the family members join in on the planning of the big Thanksgiving meal, and everyone cooks their specialty dish. The family spends the day cooking, providing for an abundance of camaraderie and laughter. Since they were in Austin, they got smoked turkeys from one of the famous local barbeque joints.
In addition to the Thanksgiving celebration, they also use these family reunions to celebrate milestone birthdays. This past year they celebrated an 80th birthday and a 40th birthday. These special occasions always have a theme based on the person being celebrated. Since they were in Austin, a Texas theme was appropriate! Everyone had matching T-shirts and red handkerchiefs. A party bus was rented that took the group to many of the sights in and around the Austin area. Each stop was a surprise – a special place that included famous barbeque joints as well as a stop to take some private country line-dancing lessons! They also enjoyed a rousing round of miniature golf. These birthday celebrations are usually planned by the people in their immediate families- and they are fabulous!
Family, food, and fun are what make these reunions so special. Jan is so thankful that everyone can set aside the time each year to be together. Thank you to Jan for sharing your yearly family tradition with us, it is such a nice reminder to focus on what matters most!