Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we drove 2.5 hours to Chad's parents' house in Hagerman. We had been fighting a cold bug that most of us had graduated from, except for Daniel who was in the middle of his 3rd day of fever and had a cough. (Joseph was the only other one to have a fever and it wasn't real reliable, so I was surprised Daniel still had his.) Chad and Nathan never got sick. The last time we had a family gathering like this, we had sick kids so we cancelled. This time, it was too close to Thanksgiving, we were bringing the plates and rolls, and we would have been without a dinner of our own - so we decided to risk it (plus, it wasn't a throw-up germ). Since then, I've heard of at least two different families that have been sick and it was probably from us. I feel really bad about that and I apologize to them. It's so hard to know what to do sometimes.

In addition to plentiful germs, the food was also plentiful (and better for the body). Here is Rebekah, doing her best to avoid the nasty, healthy food and only pick out the "treats." Chad is trying to influence her for good.


There were 31 people in attendance, aged about 6 months to about 568 months. ;) For that many people (and months) you need a really long table.

It's impossible to get such a long table in one camera shot and still see who is at the table. So took two shots.

The food was really yummy (at least what I ate) and more than filling. Many thanks to Peter and Kelly and anyone else who brought over the whole platter so I could keep eating without burning any unnecessary calories.

After dinner, some of us slumped around and questioned our eating habits. Nathan and Rebekah tried to make me feel guilty by working Grandma's elliptical machine together. When you're the size of Nathan and Rebekah, it's not something you can do by yourself!

Other children burned off their feasts by jumping on the trampoline. Leah and Nathan (again with the guilt, Nathan?) and their cousins had fun getting a natural high. ;)
I have not jumped on a trampoline since I was 23. I think I will be able to say that for the rest of my life.

After the feasting over turkey was over and cleared up, and a couple of hours had passed, it was pie time. Chad's family has a pie palooza every Thanksgiving. I don't know what their record is, but this year was a record for me. Check out all those pies. You can try to count, but you'll come up short because they aren't all in the picture. There were 31 pies (it might be 32). Our family of 8 only brought 2. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered if we didn't show up! ;)

Sarah really like the chocolate pie that Grandma fed her. When Chad was dressing Sarah that morning, I was thinking her shirt was a little underwhelming when it came to a holiday outfit. But when this happened, I was glad for a shirt that would welcome a few more dribbles!

Sarah has a little cousin that is about 4 months older than she is. They don't see each other too often, so it's pretty much like meeting a stranger each time. But they seemed to be hitting it off nicely this time!

In Chad's family, a gathering is never complete without at least one game. (I played a game of Phase 10 earlier in the day that lasted at least an hour and a half and never got off Phase 3. They teased me for throwing the cards after each round, but REALLY!)

We have "Our Book of Thanks" that we started last year. We have everyone write what they are thankful for and we put in a picture of the whole group that was there. Here is Rebekah writing her thanks.

Here is the picture for the book. There are 8 siblings in Chad's family; five of the siblings made it this time. Santa needs to bring me a better camera if I am going to be expected to take nice pictures of a group this big ever again!

We drove back home that night. We left about an hour later than I said I wanted to (as I knew we would) and got back home a little before midnight. It never fails that when we drive in the dark, certain people in this family have serious meltdowns about 50 minutes from home. Tradition was honored and I was so glad to not be a Black Friday devotee.

The kids enjoyed playing with cousins that they don't get to see very often and it was nice to be part of a family celebration (instead of by ourselves). We must have left the rest of our germs behind because Daniel's fever finally passed and no one else got sick. Now we live in fear of the flu bug that is going around the schools and community right now.