Competitive Conversations

Some families compete with each other by playing flag football, others play board games, my family, we are competitive conversationalists.

The last few years have been a little quiet at my aunt's house as one of the families had been spending the meal with their other grandfather. This year, they came back to Clifton Park and brought him with them. Even though we were down 3 people as my cousin's family (they have a 2 year old) opted to stay down in North Carolina, the house was still booming with noise from the 13 adults who were milling around.

I'm thinking that it is the Italian part that causes each and everyone of us to use what many people consider shouting as a natural method of communication about every day events. From interacting with friends, it would appear that most find it necessary to be in the same room to have a conversation. Not us. There is no reason someone in kitchen cannot ask someone in the living room their opinion on a matter. Additionally, if two people are in the living room talking about their day and a third person walks by with something on their mind, there is no reason to wait for a pause, that person can jump right in. The better topic, or louder voice, will win out.

Minus the brief moment after grace where everyone ate, not a minute went by where at least 6 of the 13 were talking. Being able to not only follow multiple conversations, but also participate, AND eat your share of shrimp cocktail (with extra horseradish in the sauce) is an art form. I dare anyone to try and survive one of our functions.

Please note, that this is not limited to just Thanksgiving. Our family will also get together on Black Friday for dinner and pick up two more members of the clan. It is a toss up whether we go to my uncle's house or a local restaurant, going out together is definitely more entertaining as we tend to overwhelm the waitstaff. We all talk a lot, eat a lot and drink a lot. The third only causing the first to get louder...