Tenth Annual KidPak Office Thanksgiving

Anniversaries seem to be hitting a lot lately, so here's another one, our tenth annual KidPak Office Thanksgiving.  I organize this one each year, getting everyone to bring a little something to something like a Thanksgiving pot luck.  

This year we had to spread it out some.  This picture was taken pretty early, but you can see we're all spread out regardless, and yes, wearing masks.  Off in our own little groups we were taking them off to eat, of course.

Here's Shobie and her family after collecting their food, ready to dig in.  The event starts out like it usually does, with all of us lining up the food on long tables, everyone bringing a different dish.  I send out the emails when the overall list gets updated, that way everyone can see what is being brought so they can contribute something that isn't already on the list.  

Camille brought her dressing, and a special friend too.  We had to limit it a bit more this year, only inviting staff and their families.  The idea was to limit the amount of people due to the current situation in the world, keep to the social distancing, and wear those masks.  I hate everything about that last sentence.  Despite all that, we had a great time, and there were so many great things to eat, including Eel Sliders!

I am not making that up!  Darrin Quick brought eel to the meal, and yes, we know that rhymes.  We were actually thinking of starting up a Eel Food Truck called "Eels on Wheels."  Anyway, the joke was that we need to write down in the email what everyone is bringing so that everyone that comes doesn't bring eel.  I mentioned "eel" because I've often noted at these events that eel was an item on the menu at the very first Thanksgiving.  That being said, eel was brought today, and these were "Eel Sliders."  They were small sandwiches with eel, pickles and cheese.  And they weren't bad, actually!  A few of us had them, and it wasn't too bad!

The "Cheeli," however, wasn't that great.  It was like ordinary chili, but there was eel in it too.  Firstly, the texture of eel in chili just wasn't working.  Secondly, the taste of eel amidst the chili wasn't great either.  But at least I tried it out.  Here's another thing we tried:

Madison wanted to bring an item for the pot luck, so she mentioned bringing "Invisible Macaroni and Cheese," which you can see above!

The food was delicious today!  Mom made the sweet potato casserole, which is just perfection.  And of course there was turkey as well, which was so good.  Madison took all the pictures you see on this blog, not only of the food, but being somewhat of a photojournalist, taking pictures of the people there.

I love the fact that they're holding drinks here, and can't drink them because they're wearing masks.  Anyway, this is Isaac and Josie, who brought brownies.  Below are the Quicks and Cindi Barrett, who have been coming to this event for many years. 

The Quick family is not staff, but they're practically that way, given all the volunteering they've done over the year.  Darrin there at the end of the table is the one who brings the odd food, but the family also brings "world famous cheesy noodles" as well.

Madison took a lot of pictures today, some of them by request from me.  I don't usually have time at these events to do that, so it was nice to get these for posterity.  

Ah, and there's Kate, Pastor Lance, Laurie and Madeline.  It was just so great to see everyone there, a nice time for all of us to just stop for a while and enjoy each other's company.  

Madison took a lot of posed shots of family members, and then some candids like this one here below.

Social distancing in action!  They just happened to be this far apart when talking with one another.  you can see some of the chairs we set up too.  

Ah, more of our guests.  Mariah, Bailee, and Diana came this afternoon, brining delicious food items - some apple pie, macaroni and cheese, and pirogies!  That was Diana's contribution, a Northeastern dish that was actually pretty good. Madison enjoyed those!

Ah, another picture from Madison.  She took plenty of pictures of this little guy!  Camille was watching over him today, and he got to enjoy some delicious food too!

It was a nice time together, and as it tends to do each year, it carries on a bit with conversation.  No games this year, but simply getting together with friends and family is nice.  Nana was with us, as was Madison, obviously.  Sometimes there is school, and she can't come to this event due to scheduling.  But it worked out this year.

Tonight we watched "A Christmas Story Live" for the first time since we actually saw it live.  I purchased it earlier, and we needed a longer thing to watch tonight, and that fit the bill.  It's a great production, lots of fun, the "Major Award" song being a definite highlight.  We've completely immersed ourselves in this particular story of the years - can you believe it was only last year we saw the play in Dahlonega.  And of course we even have a board game themed to the movie.  The one thing we don't have is a leg lamp.  Maybe next Christmas!

We said our prayers tonight, and were asleep rather quickly, dreaming of spectacular hip shots.  But beforehand, of course there was time spent in our book, where Nicholas St. North has been ready to battle Pitch.  The book has been interesting, and will set up our watching of "Rise of the Guardians" soon enough.

It was a good day, the Tenth Annual KidPak Office Party.  Here's a link to the first one we did, along with a video that shows just how long ago ten years really is.  Madison looks so tiny, and now look at her!