Cherish your holiday time to share with family

Here in America we have a holiday each month throughout the year.
I believe Super Bowl Sunday can be pegged as one since more wings are eaten on that day than most any other.
To me no holidays hold a candle to Thanksgiving and Christmas simply because those are two holidays that bring families together .Some may look forward to these holidays because of the food aspect, but family will be the top reason why people love and enjoy the holiday season.
Hold on to those times if you are lucky to have them because there might come a day when you don’t see your family unless someone passes away.
Take my family for instance. When I was younger my entire family met at one place for Christmas and one place for Thanksgiving.
My great-grandmother on my dad’s side lived in Center where we spent Christmas, and my great-grandmother on my mom’s side lived in Linden where we would gather for Thanksgiving.
As the years went by and those two grand ladies passed away things started to change.
My family from Baytown quit coming up altogether for either holiday.
A few years after many of my aunts and uncles moved to Nashville, New York and Virginia.
My mom’s side of the family met for Thanksgiving and continued to do so up until recently. 
They met on that day every year mainly because both of my grandparents were in bad health.
Just last month we buried my grandfather and I had suspicions that we wouldn’t see family again like we had in times past. 
Of course my suspicions proved correct when it was settled that we try and make it to one of the sibling’s house for the holidays.
With money issues and other things popping up left and right some may find it nearly impossible to travel to Texarkana much less New York or California.
Think about how many families are now having Thanksgiving at restaurants or how commercialism has stripped the true value of what these two holidays have come to be – family holidays.
It’s almost sad that most millennial children may never know just how irreplaceable those times can be.
Time may be flying by but for a few days a year maybe we can try to slow things down a bit during the holiday season and visit with loved ones so we can continue to make cherished memories.

Tim Emmons is sports editor of the Citizens Journal.