Thanksgiving

Well, we spent our first Thanksgiving at home without extended family this year. Our friend from church, Ed, did come to share our 22 lb turkey with us. It was a nice, quiet sort of holiday without any rushing around. Except for the rushing to the Mall on Friday morning to watch Santa arrive on the big red tractor, which he did not actually do. We kept waiting and waiting with the other people outside the mall, then someone let us know he was already inside. BIG BUMMER!

And "quiet" is not exactly accurate either. Our hot water heater leaked on the Sunday morning of Thanksgiving week. So from Tuesday until the following Sunday we lived with 3 gigantic, industrial type fans and a dehumidifier to dry up the water in the carpet and the drywall. We did actually turn the fans off during Thanksgiving dinner and a couple other times.

All in all it was a good holiday with much to give Thanks to God for....like employment, fans to dry carpet, emergency funds for emergencies, good health, ability to educate our kids at home, for our children, and each other!

Post-Thanksgiving Favorite Memories of All Time

As Thanksgiving was creeping up on me, I pondered posting my favorite Thanksgiving memories. Then in the days following Thanksgiving, I was too busy eating all the left-overs to post ideas. Now, day 6 after the holiday, I have a few moments to actually write about this Thanksgiving and the Thanksgivings past.

I think my all-time favorite Thanksgiving was in 1984 or 1985 when we gathered in my Mom's hometown along with my 20 or 30 other relatives to surprise my Grandfather for his 70th birthday. I was in elementary-school at the time, so some details are fuzzy, but I remember running around the K of C Hall with my cousins, eating pancakes that were a little burned (my Daddy wasn't charge of the grill that meal I'm sure), dressing up in old Prom dresses and generally having a wonderful extended family Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving was spent at our house with Bubbles Grandparents & Horsey Great-Grandparents in attendance. Michael fried up the turkey to moist excellence, Great-Grandma Betty brought cranberry salad, Grandma Anita brought an awesome broccoli salad and I filled in the other requisite dishes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and dumplings. Our guests even graciously wore the homemade Indian headdress and Pilgrim hats the kids and I made. On Friday, we made it to the mall in time to see Santa arrive by Tractor. Then the kids sat on Santa's lap - Will's very first time to see the big guy so close up. Sophia very seriously asked, "Should I say I've been bad or good?" She didn't want to say she'd been good or even bad, but decided she would thank him in advance for the gifts he was going to bring to her!

While the guys cheered the Huskers on to victory over Colorado, I had a lesson in knitting from Bubbles Grandma. I am determined to learn how to knit pumpkin hats, but I need to start with a simple scarf to gain some actual knitting skills. Let's hope I can make some progress on it before winter is actually over.

So, that was our Thanksgiving 2008. We had a very nice visit with the grandparents.

Now, only 22 more shopping days until Christmas!