There are mashed potatoes, sliced ​​carrots, slices of freshly cooked turkey, bread, and cranberry sauce spread out on the table ready to be eaten. My father sits at the head of the table with my mother at the other end. I sit on the right side where there is only one chair with my two brothers sitting right in front of me just like last year, and the year before that and so on. It is always at this point that my family is the closest and most connected. Previous arguments are dissolved and everyone gets along. There are conversations about the football game on the television, the silent playing in the background, and college stories and whether or not to give in to our dog who searches for scraps on the sideline