Cynthia Rilant has some incredible books that I get nostalgic for a time in my childhood. The time when all my relatives came to celebrate a holiday, it was fun. Mostly.
We did not have cool summer reunions as the family does in this book. What I did like was celebrating the holidays with a huge, scrumptious meal. The stories were funny or interesting. I learned that my grandfather came from Russia and had to fight in the Japanese- Russian war. He was nine years old. He did not like to discuss this period of time in his life, but that meant I could ask other relatives to see if he told them anything about this time.
I learned that Big Mama, my great grandmother, crashed into the window of a car dealership. When the policeman came, she said
" Young man I was here in this town before you were born. This is a two way street. You better not write me a ticket." My uncle had to secretly pay the ticket without Big Mama's knowledge.
I loved the pictures of the relatives eating together, playing music together, and sleeping together. I always feel nostalgic, because so many of my relatives are deceased now. I remember the good times when we were together.
There were plenty of times when heated discussions occurred. When one relative was not speaking to another relative, but I refuse to remember the unhappy times.