Happy Thanksgiving

The Java Finch Feast from the series, The Fantastical Feasts, by Claire Rosen

By Micaela Bahn

Our table kept growing longer and longer, its surface laden with an ever-growing number of platters that new little birds came pecking at. My grandparents always joked that to accommodate a table long enough for the holidays, they would have to build an extension onto their dining room. This, as it turns out, is exactly what happened. I have spent every Thanksgiving squeezed around a 25-foot table, bumping elbows with two dozen family members. It is a dream-like banquet of childish revelry, awkward personal questions, wine, and gratitude for family — both biological and chosen. The table sits quiet this November, but the wood remains, rubbed warm and smooth, and I am indebted to that memory. There is always next year.