Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is flying straight at us. This year's Thanksgiving was off the hook. All of my immediate family met up at Nana Howard's in Gum Branch, Georgia. Sixteen of us stayed at Nana's house for four days.

One of the highlights of Thanksgiving has become "Howard bowl." This year was the sixth edition of this backyard football game. The teams are rarely completely fair, but with all of the sibling rivalry (3 generations) involved in the game, neither team acknowledges any disparity.

This year was the largest game yet (11 people). We introduced to spouses to the game and actually played with flags. My brother also had official T-shirts printed up. The final score found my team the loser by one touchdown, but this is not all of the story.

The Howard Bowl witnessed it's first major injury. Courtney, my sister and best cover defender, severely sprained her ankle and preliminary X-rays look like she may have torn the tendons. If all of this was not bad enough, she did it on the second play of the game. We had to go the entire game without our shutdown cornerback. If you ask me, the fact that we only lost by one is a testament to our team.

I walk away from the game with an even greater appreciation for Courtney. While watching on the sidelines, she would periodically wipe away tears. With her ankle immediate swollen well past the size of a softball, Papaw asks if she is crying from the pain. She looked at him and said, "no, just disappointed I can't play." When I heard that my heart lept with joy. What a competitor!

If I only found out one thing this year, it is that even though it is just a backyard game, the Howard Bowl has found significance in our family tradition.