Holiday Short Stories

Thanksgiving 2018

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I was too busy to post this yesterday, but here's my Holiday Short story for Thanksgiving this year. Yeahhhhh.... It went a *little* tragic on me. SORRYYYYYYY. 

Rayver and his family got together every year for Thanksgiving and had many wonderful traditions. Well, when Rayver was younger, he always thought they were boring and repetitive, but now that he was 19, he was starting to see the importance of it all. Typically in the afternoon, everyone would work together to rake leaves and then they'd play games with the younger kids of the family jumping and bouncing in them. Sometimes, the adults would rate the kids' jumps in a pretend competition, making the children believe they were in the Olympics. When Ravyer was seven and eight, he was always so competitive that it sometimes ruined the fun for everyone. Now he was content to watch and laugh with everyone.

Then the family would head out onto the back deck overlooking Ravyer's parents' ranch. The entire morning, since four am, of course, had been spent doing chores. Even Rayver helped out since he was visiting from college. After that, the ranch hands all took over, to give his parents time to ready themselves for the day. Now that the chores and leaf-jumping was done, it was time to start dinner. Ravyer's mom and her two sisters stayed inside and did all the "inside cooking," as Ravyer called it; the turkey, homemade mashed potatoes, casseroles, salads, green beans, corn, apple and pumpkin pie... The list never ended. Meanwhile, Ravyer's dad and his dad, Ravyer's paternal grandfather, along with Ravyer's sister and brother, would all stay on the outside deck and grill burgers and hotdogs. Rayver's older sister, 24, would be out on the deck with them taking all sorts of pictures for her photography class. His younger sister, age 16, would be videotaping them, going back-and-forth to try to capture the entire family on video.

Every year they would pray and sit around the dining room table and eat as a family. No cell phones, just visiting, talking, catching up. They'd take turns filling each other in one what had happened lately. Rayver's father, Raymond, had just acquired several more acres were he planned to add in more stables for other horses. His mother, Veronica (that was where his name had come from; the Ray from Raymond and the Ver from Veronica) had taken on a few more students for riding lessons. Veronica's two older sisters, Patricia and Nikki, were both pregnant at the same time, so that was a huge deal. It was Nikki's first; she and her husband had just gotten married five months ago. Pat, on the other hand, was currently on her fourth child. She was a stay-at-home mom who also was a hobby-writer on the side while her husband, Dan, worked in construction as a foreman. Nikki and her husband, Josh, both worked full time. Josh was a psychologist and Nikki was a doctor. She was worried the baby would take time away from her work.

Rayver's older sister, Sarah, had been hired as an intern, so she needed new material every week and her boss was quite impressed with her work. His younger sister, Lucy, couldn't stop gushing over her new boyfriend and how one of her teachers had recommended her video footage to a summer camp that gave college credit.

Meanwhile, Raymond's side of the family had quite a few stories of their own. Ravyer's grandfather, Howard, and Raymond's younger brother and sister, Danna and Greg, had just gotten back from vacation in Nashville. Apparently, several people were still interested in Howard's albums (he had been a singer back when he was younger).

Rayver grabbed some of the plates as the family scattered. Most of them went in to the living room to watch football while the kids went to go play. He, instead, helped his mom start washing the dishes.

"You don't have to do this. Go spend time with your uncles," Veronica said.

Ravyer shook his head. "No, it's alright, Mom. Let me help you."

Raymond joined them and patted his son on the back. "So, Ravyer, have you joined up with the team yet?"

Ravyer shot him a look as he filled the sink with water. "Dad, I don't think I'm gonna join football. They have some other programs I'm kind of interested in."