The "racist uncle at Thanksgiving" is such a played-out stereotype that gets trotted out this time of year. So for those of you with awesome uncles (or who are awesome uncles) I want to hear something you love about your uncle--or something great once you did as an uncle.

I'll start. My uncle Joe was a cool Lebanese dude who'd had a hard life but was incredibly gentle & generous to everyone from family to strangers. But at his memorial service, the stories from his old Mexican gangster friends were all about him fighting cops--he had a wild youth!