The Unspoken Rules of the Thanksgiving Table

Julia and Julia is playing in the background (the ladies won that battle), the dog is snoring, the men are talking cars, and Mimi is watching videos about cats with a sweet smile on her face. This year is Aaron's side of the family's turn with Thanksgiving. Although I have eaten at a variety of Thanksgiving tables throughout the course of my young life, I have discovered there is a list of unspoken rules that occur at these tables, no matter what location or who surrounds it. Here is the condensed version:

1. Stories that have been told 100 times will be told a 101th time.

2. The Thanksgiving meal will never start on time.

3. Something will be spilled or broken (usually by yours, truly).

4. A comment will be made on how Thanksgiving has snuck up on them.

5. Someone else will comment on how everyone's head is in their electronic devices

6. It takes a lot of convincing to get the men away from the football game once dinner is finally ready.

7. A forgotten dish will be remembered once everyone is finally in their place at the table, causing the person positioned closest to the kitchen to retrieve it, along with 10 other forgotten items.

8."I will never eat like that again," will be uttered.

9. Turkey will sedate the consumer.

10. No one is happy with the Cowboys.

Of course, there are traditions that belong to different branches of family, but these universal rules of the Thanksgiving table are as comfortable as a thousand blankets.