Thanksgiving 2018

So here we are at Thanksgiving once more, and this was another one of those occasions where both sets of grandparents could come to spend the holiday with us.  You can see the table setting here - Madison made the name tags for everyone, and Mommy has been spending days preparing this one meal.  It's one of those things we always talk about, where so much time is invested in preparing this ginormous feast, and that's what it is, a fest.  And yet it doesn't take that long to actually eat the food itself.  This year, we took a few moments to just sit and look around and savor not only the food, but each other's company.  Looking around the table, hearing ordinary conversations, seeing smiles and listening to laughter... these are the things we are thankful for.  Of course, there's more to be thankful for, as the list goes on and on.

But today is about family getting together, and that is what we were able to do.  How blessed we are that everyone gets along so well, and with all this talk about bickering and topics not to bring up at the table, we never really need to worry about that.  Madison has the best grandparents in the world, the kindest and warmest souls we know.  And we know a lot of people.  You can see the piano girls in the picture above:  on Thanksgiving, perhaps this will be a new tradition, sitting around the piano and playing for everyone.  Both Nana and Madison are learning to play, and there were a few sheets of music there to play and learn from.  While that was going on, Mommy was preparing food in the kitchen, but don't worry, she had help:

The smell of Thanksgiving is glorious, isn't it?  It fills the house, upstairs and downstairs, a distinct smell of roasting turkey and other food items as well.  Mommy is famous for her butternut squash soup, as well as the sweet potato casserole.  This year, she made dressing (or "stuffing," as we still call it), in two different styles - one a more English way of preparing it.  Also on the menu for today were rolls, corn, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and of course the main course:  turkey!

Inspired by Medieval Times, Madison had herself a big turkey leg.  She went for that right away, while the rest of us were going for the slices of turkey off the top.  Mommy was showing us all how to properly cut the turkey, and meanwhile Madison wasn't interested in that part.  Nope.  She was going for the turkey leg, ripping it off.  I think she would have eaten it with her hands like at Medieval Times if it weren't for the knife and fork in front of her!

It was nice today.  We were watching the parade this morning together on the big television, and it was in fact the coldest Thanksgiving Day Parade on record.  There was a serious wind threat to the balloons today, one that would ground them all, but fortunately, the winds were such that the balloon handlers were able to make it work.  They just had to move them along lower to the ground.  

One note though:  CBS footage of the parade is pretty awful.  They spend way too much time promoting themselves and their own television programming, while NBC seems to spend more time actually looking at the parade itself, which is the reason we're watching in the first place, right?  

Anyway, as that was going on, Daddy was putting the finishing touches on the last tree, including the topper.  Mommy was cooking as that was going on, periodically pulling out the turkey to baste, and getting the rest of us to help put the table settings in place, preparing for the big moment. 

It came and went, just as so many have before, and so many will in the future.  How wonderful that so many families are doing the same thing at the same time, all together, all giving thanks, and all spending time together on this sacred day.  We've been reading a Thanksgiving-themed devotional at night, and many of us do "thankful" exercises, writing out things they're thankful for each day and so on.  But one thing is universal about today:  we all can't help but think of things we're thankful for.  There's a lot to be thankful for.

Dinner was nice, as was dessert, of course.  There were pecan pies, pumpkin pies and apple pies.  We picked up egg nog flavored ice cream, and peppermint flavored ice cream as well.  But there were other dessert items as well, too many, really.  But these will carry on for a few weeks, so that's okay.  Leftovers are just fine with Daddy.  We had tea and coffee, and extended conversations, and then Madison brought out her game of UNO, and made it a mandatory thing for the day that we all play the game a few rounds.  That was fun, again, and this is how traditions start:  Thanksgiving and UNO.  In fact, Ye-Ye and Nana were having a Thanksgiving Meal with the cousins last night, and they were playing UNO as well.  

Anyway, soon Ye-Ye and Nana were on their way home for the evening, and just like that, another Thanksgiving was over.  Or, somewhat over.  The meal part is a big part of it, but the day is about time together, and Nana and Ba-Ba were with us on the couch again, watching the newest Christmas movie, "The Christmas Chronicles," which was actually pretty good.

Madison was in bed not long after that - we read more from our Thanksgiving devotional, and also the adventures of Peter and the Starcatchers.  Meanwhile, the grandparents were watching another movie downstairs with us, "The Man Who Invented Christmas."  Which is another great movie, if you haven't seen it yet. 

Here's Nana on the couch, just before watching the movie.  She's adopted this porg as her pet lately.  Madison let her hold the porg throughout the movie, and it was too cute.  This might be a great Christmas present in a few weeks!

Happy Thanksgiving!