Family Traditions... and coming around... Again

I have never been much for family traditions or the like, not since my father passed away. It's been a few years since he "passed away", a nice way of saying he is dead, and it is still hard, I guess it always will be. But this Thanksgiving, I am in Sedona AZ with Jen and her family and our almost new baby boy... I have been here at least a half dozen times but this year is different. He has made me rethink a lot of my feelings (ha, thinking about feelings?) and I want him to grow up with traditions. I want him to grow up coming here every so often with everyone, long after Jim and Mary are gone and we carry on the tradition, and enjoy his uncles and aunts and his grandparents and his yet unborn cousins.... and knowing what family means and how to love them even though you dont always get along or they annoy you. I want him to sleep in the other room while us adults play and drink, and he starts crying and we all get up to take care of him and let him know everything is ok and that he is safe and loved. I want him to know what a big loving family is. What it means to be loved.

I want him to know family. I want him to know my family, Jen's family, our family....his family.