Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving meal this year was delicious! As always...but it was special as well! All 46 of my husband's family (except the two in heaven) were there!

Five tables, several sets of dinnerware and silverware, and all the chairs in the house were required to make it possible for all of us to sit down together for this special dinner.

We truly have so much to be thankful for! Grandpa treated all the kids to a walk down memory lane...to when he was a kid and what thanksgiving was like for him. His family always had chicken, not turkey, for Thanksgiving. They would butcher them that morning and his mom would fry them up and they would enjoy the feast....after taking care of all the animals, of course.


We had a great time with all of our cousins. We are grateful for many, many cousins! They are our best friends!

Mmmmm.

We are grateful for many talented cooks. We had so many dishes to pick from!

This guy went back for seconds and thirds...and then kept asking when it would be time for pie.

Last year the older boys weighed themselves before and after, comparing who had eaten the most. Several pounds were gained! This year no one weighed themselves, but we saw some hungry boys devour a lot of food.

Girls too!

After the big meal we played with cousins and digested!

We caught up with everyone's comings and goings.

And hugged a few cute babies.

Sisters shared what sisters share.

Little girls played dolls.

Teenagers and Dads played video games.

And then it was finally time for pies! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. For family night earlier that week we played "The Thankful Game," a game that we made up last year and decided to continue this year. It's simple: a bean bag is tossed around randomly and the catcher has 3 seconds to name something he/she is thankful for. If he/she takes longer than 3 seconds or names something that has already been named, you're out. This year our game lasted about 15 minutes and Dad won (He has many animals that he enjoys hunting).