I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had one of the best spreads at our house that I’ve ever seen. We had a smoked turkey, baked ham, stewed beef and some great side dishes and deserts. It was the first time we had hosted the big meal in our new house and we had 16 people on hand. It was a very nice time. I sat at a table with my folks and my Aunt and Uncle. We discussed how badly our president is running the nation, and my Aunt and Uncle are convinced that Sarah Palin is our saviour. "I admire Sarah as much as ya'll do," I said. "However, I can't seriously consider her for another office after she left the state of Alaska like she did. She broke her promise to the people." I assured him that there were plenty of good Republicans left to end the madness. I suggested we all start praying now that God would annoint somebody to defeat Barack Obama in 2012. My biggest challenge was holding my tongue. We are having issues now with both my niece and nephew. My nephew is still hell bent on going to Pensacola Christian College, a “Christian” college based in Florida that both my wife and my sister in law attended. While my wife was repudiated the school and its mean-spirited form of Christianity, my sister in law is still loyal to this college. Between her and my nephew’s Christian day school, they have convinced him this is the place he should go to college. We’ve tried to tell him about the school’s many flaws: it’s harsh disciplinary system and antiquated rules, its lack of accreditation and academic mediocrity and the difficulty many of its alumni have in landing jobs. Even my Pop is onboard. He has stated his belief that this young man go elsewhere to college. Then, there’s my niece. Her boyfriend came back from Iraq earlier in the fall and they are now planning a spring marriage. She’s 18 years old and in her second year of college. My sister has begged them to wait. He’s not a bad kid, but we all think she can do better especially since he has no visible way to support himself let alone a family. Pop sat them down a few days ago. He said it was nothing personal, but our family had real concerns about their pending marriage. In true Pop style, he said they should abstain prior to marriage, get premarital counseling and find a church home. He also told the groom that despite his advanced age he would come after him if he mistreated his first-born granddaughter. Since the would-be groom is a fellow Guardsman, I had planned to pull him aside yesterday and talk to him. I was going to be nice about it, but I wanted to let him know that I didn’t believe either of them were ready for marriage, especially him. I had to shelve my plans for a speech, though. My sister asked that we not bring it up. It seems the happy couple had talked about being no-shows to avoid a confrontation. Therefore, I promised them there would not be one. I said very little to them and bit my tongue. I couldn’t be totally behaved, though. I at least had to say one thing to my nephew. We had retired upstairs after the meal to watch football. I asked him if he enjoyed the feast and the company. Of course, he said yes. I then had to slip in a reminder. “You realize that you’re going to miss the next four Thanksgivings with your family,” I said. “Your Thanksgiving will consist of a church service, a soccer game and a cafeteria-style meal on campus.” One of PCC’s bizarre rules is that it has class the day after Thanksgiving and it’s a no-cut day. Unless students live in the Pensacola area, they must spend this wonderful family holiday on campus. He just sighed and looked down. I saw I wasn’t going to get any more support so I let the subject drop. I was glad to at least have gotten a word in. My wife wasn’t pleased with me afterwards, but she understands my zeal. I just hope he’s with us next Thanksgiving. It will take a lot of the fun out of next year knowing he’s in that awful place. | 
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