The Circle Game & Thanksgiving

My niece about ten years ago. 

She's the youngest of my parents' 16 grandkids.

If the picture below looks like a tight squeeze, that's because it was. It's from Thanksgiving thirteen years ago. We were lucky we all fit in the same area to eat together. At the time I had a camera that took panorama shots, so I stood on top of a bar stool and was able to fit everyone in. 

Looking back at the picture below, I now realize what a special Thanksgiving it was. At the time, it seemed like an ordinary family holiday. Three of my four siblings and their families, plus my parents and grandmother, celebrated at our house. We ate and laughed and joked and ate and played charades and ate some more.

Little did we realize that some of us would be moving away. Get-togethers like this are a rarity now. The kids grew up in a flash, went their own ways, and now the family is more scattered than ever. My grandmother has since passed away (we miss you, Grandma), the children are grown, some have married, and some are now parents themselves. My folks have five great-grandchildren and more on the way! 

And so the cycle of generations continues.

This Thanksgiving I'm reflecting on how thankful I am for my family and friends and times like this. For some reason, The Circle Game comes to mind. It's a beautiful folk song by Joni Mitchell from the '60s. The lyrics are below. 

Thanksgiving at my house in 1998

The Circle Game
 by Joni Mitchell
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Then the boy moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, when you're older, must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town
And they tell him,
Take your time, it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet just to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There will be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

What are you thankful for? Can you relate to these lines in the song, "Take your time, it won't be long now - Till you drag your feet just to slow the circles down"?