Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania

Jeff and I traveled to Johnsonburg, PA this year to visit my grandfather for Thanksgiving along with everyone else in my family. Growing up, we would spend two weeks of every summer there, in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, visiting family and riding my grandfather’s three-wheelers in the woods. I always think I grew up in a small town then I visit where my parents grew up. Huntington is a big city by comparison but that’s part of what makes the area so great. Plus, I don’t think we’d been back as a family since I went away to college so I’m really glad my mom motivated us all to make the trip for my grandfather’s 80^th birthday. Actually, he turns 80 in December but since everyone was in town, we had a big birthday party for him the Friday after Thanksgiving.

In the DiIulio family tradition, my grandfather’s brother Franc played polkas and waltzes on his accordion. I can remember many summer evenings sitting around a fire listening to Franc play his accordion. Plus, my grandfather’s loves it and it’s great to see him so happy. I always feel a sense history in my mom’s family when we visit Johnsonburg. After a flood washed away their house, my great-grandparents settled on top of a huge hill when my grandfather was young. All four brother’s and one sister raised their families next door to the house they grew up in. There is such a great chronicle of DiIulio pictures: my grandfather and his brothers when they were young men meeting their wives and starting families, then pictures of my mom and her cousins as children, then grandchildren – all in these five houses on top of the hill. It makes me understand why my grandfather won’t leave his house, even though my mom would love nothing more than for him to come live with her.

I heard the best story about my grandfather at the party. My grandfather has a habit of keeping a loaded shotgun by the window in his bathroom to shoot deer eating out of his garden (it is rural PA). Rob, my great-uncle Jim's son, saw a deer in my grandfather's garden one evening, shot it and left it there for Uncle Louie. A few days later, my grandfather told Rob a great story. Franc and I drank a case of beer in the basement. The next day I found a dead deer in the garden. You wouldn't believe it, I can't hit the damn things sober and I don't even remember killing it.

My aunt Lisa (Dad's sister) and cousin Christine. They went black Friday shopping with my mom, Jeff and I at 5:00 AM. We had to drive 50 minutes to get to a town with stores worth getting up that early to shop in.

We visited Jeff's friend from college Nate in State College. He is getting is PhD in French from Penn State.

My mom's dogs will do anything for a treat although I don't think my dad got a treat for his pose.