Last Look: Thanksgiving 2010

Our Thanksgiving celebration this year was wonderful.  Amazingly, it was a bright sunny day in spite of below freezing temperatures.  We were blessed to have three other families join us for the great feast and it went well.  The children (21 in all) played well together and the adults (8 of us) enjoyed great conversation.  The fact that they stayed late into the evening was a good sign that everyone enjoyed themselves.  A successful day like this goes down as the last item on my gratitude list for November 2010.  In typing that, I can’t help but feel like the month began just a week ago!  The season is speeding by.


To accommodate the large group we set up three eating areas.  We used my kitchen table (above), the dining room, and we opened up my husband’s office for a third table just off the kitchen (below).  It worked out perfectly.  My teen-aged nieces and nephews had the honor of listening to my two year old chatter non-stop about anything she could think of.


The dining room was largely overtaken by the girls, with one little brother grabbing the last chair.


My sweet two year old with her gumdrop turkey.


I didn’t get a good picture of all the adults eating because I was busy talking with them, so this picture of several of them serving their food will have to suffice.


A delicious meal, served buffet style.


What a great  bunch!


My girls loved helping me set the tables, and I couldn’t have done it without them.


For the after-dinner entertainment we had the basement set up with the double shot, ping pong and a bucket full of balls to play with.  The upstairs toy room was also available, and we plugged in our Wii for the first time in several months.  The men congregated in the office for conversation and the women visited at the kitchen table.  There was a wonderful feeling in my home, and it felt good.

An unexpected visit from my sister and her husband also brought these awesome cake pop turkeys.  I can hardly believe her creativity.  I love them!  I might also say that because she used a spice cake (I think, am I right Kris?) they were the first cake pops I’ve ever eaten that tasted good and weren’t so sweet that I felt sick to my stomach.  Don’t you love them?  What a treat!


The night got longer, the guests slowly left, a feeling of cozy quiet settled over the house.  We sat in our family room to play and talk with our children while they ate turkey on rolls for a late-night snack.  After having a full house for so many hours the feeling of just the ten of us gathered in one room was precious.


And then, as fast as it came, it was past.    I’m already looking forward to next year.
I love Thanksgiving.

Hopeful Homemaker And a post script for myself, my 2010 gratitude list for the record.

• 2010 Gratitude List
• ———————-
• sunrise
• color
• fallen leaves
• baby hugs
• children laughing
• truth
• forgiveness
• tree-lined streets
• fresh baked bread
• memory
• friendship
• light
• promises kept
• creativity
• God’s handiwork
• eyes to see
• pumpkins
• my sewing machine
• baby clothes
• history
• good books
• blue skies
• families
• parchment paper
• polka dots
• my baby’s passa
• texture
• pattern
• candles
• kind words
• ribbon
• answers to prayer
• birthday parties
• my baby’s smell
• cell phones
• sleep
• a new week
• art
• sleeping children
• learning something new
• ———————–