I love spending holidays with my husband’s family. They live nearby and so we’re able to share almost every Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween, etc with them.
Because my family is so spread out, we spend far fewer holidays together. I was raised in California. My parents and one of my sisters still live in my hometown. I live in Dallas and my other sister lives in Houston. We’re all busy, and working, and have several kids, and groan at the expense of air travel. It’s difficult to get all of us to the same place at the same time, and thus, it was especially wonderful that we were ALL together for Thanksgiving this year.
The last time my side of the family gathered for Thanksgiving, seven years ago, the grandchildren looked liked this:
Now, they look like this:
Here’s a shot of my parents and my sisters and me:
The above family of five has grown to a family of eighteen:
Yep, this is the best group shot we managed. The little girl on the top right was crying (when you’re five there are lots of reasons to cry) and, as you can see, some of us did better at pretending not to hear the crying than others.
For our Thanksgiving celebration, we hit all the traditional notes.
My brothers in law carved the turkey…
We cooked the dishes Thanksgiving is known for….
We had an adult table and a kid table, because sometimes it’s good to let the little people be little and the adults eat off something finer than paper plates….
We were already full but consumed dessert anyway. The highlight was the apple pie that my mom makes the same way that her mom made it.
Oh, and we had napping men in front of football games. Because really, what Thanksgiving would be complete or legit without this scene…
Last but not least, we had a few obligatory dogs padding around hoping for Thanksgiving scraps…
Thanksgiving is certainly enhanced by the food we look forward to eating just once a year. But I was reminded on this rare Thanksgiving when I was surrounded by my family, that Thanksgiving is made best and richest and fullest by people. Today, my heart feels full. Sometimes the effort and money involved to see far-flung family is effort and money very well spent.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. -Psalm 100
Where did you spend Thanksgiving this year? What moment of the day will stand out in your memory?
Becky Wade
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I spent Thanksgiving at my younger sister’s house. We all take turns hosting a holiday. The best part was when my two sisters and I tried taking a nice photo and not being able to get it quite right (probably because webegan to wrestle). Yes adult women. Unbeknownst to us my niece captured it all. Afterwards we went through the photos and laughed so hard that I literally choked. Ah…good times.
Cynthia, it’s the things that don’t go “perfectly” that are always the most memorable the biggest source of laughter, aren’t they? How cool that you have two sisters, too. 🙂
Becky, I very much enjoyed reading and looking at your Family photos at Thanksgiving.
As you most probably realise ,Aussies don’t generally keep Thanksgiving as you do in the States. It is not a tradition here but of course we do have a Harvest Thanksgiving Church Service, where we bring ” goodies ” and they are Blessed during the Service and then given to the appropriate organisations to distribute to the needy.
Your Thanksgiving dinner looked fabulous and reminded me of our Christmas dinner, with turkey and all the trimmings.(not too far away now) and I’m panicking because we are in chaos with our kitchen renos..Where’s our friend Jody when we need her?Lol. Anyway,it will be a treat when our kitchen is completed and the first thing I’m going to cook is a pavlova, in addition to the traditional plum pudding for Christmas.:)
I was looking at a FB photo this evening, of my younger daughter’s friends and one of the girls could easily pass as a sibling to you and your sisters. I was amazed at the likeness…perhaps I should send it to you.Lol . I was quite delighted when I accessed the Blog and found your Family photos. You all look so happy and I am sure your Mum and Dad were overjoyed to have you all together to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Thank you so much for sharing your happy time with us.:)
During the year that my husband and I lived in Australia, we were lucky to try pavlova a few times. Delicious! And not something I think I’ve ever had here in the states.
Good luck with your kitchen renovation, Rosie! I’ve survived a few of those myself. It was always a huge headache during the reno itself. But I was always very glad with the final result.
Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving. My family will all be together at Christmas. I am so anxious for us all to be together.
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas with your family, Pat! I can well understand why you’re looking forward to having all your family together.
SO wonderful that you could all be together, Becky. And what a gorgeous family! Loved seeing the photos. Enjoy the rest of your time together!
Thank you, Deb!
It was a great Thanksgiving as our daughter fixed a good part of the meal. It wasn’t so much work for me. Soon she will be taking over . But as long as I can I will continue to make some pies for the occasion.
I did try a new recipe of crock pot dressing. It turned out very well and was a big hit.
Blessings
Shirley
If I had to choose just one part of the Thanksgiving meal to continue making, it would probably be pies, Shirley! Desserts are the most fun to bake (and eat).
This will be the year forever known as the one with the turkeyless meal!! After several hours we figured out that our roaster was not working. We were all hungry so we loaded up our plates with wonderful Thanksgiving sides, put that bird in the oven, and ate a lunch minus the turkey. It was done in time for grazing on leftovers though!
You will never forget this Thanksgiving , will you?
Too funny, Melissa! When things don’t go right, the holiday sticks out in our memory much more and gives everyone something to laugh about in future years. 🙂
Our turkey this year was on the verge of being undercooked. Or maybe it was exactly as moist as it’s supposed to be when cooked perfectly and we just couldn’t tell because we’re all so used to eating very dry and overcooked turkey.
Haha, Becky!
We did laugh about it!
Our other “tradition” is the “Thanksgiving Shirt.” My husband wore the shirt for the first time in 1986. It has been worn every year since – 29 times! He had to pass it on to our son about 4 years ago, but it’s still so fun when the Thanksgiving Shirt comes out. (It’s just a nice plaid shirt – no turkey design or anything!)
LOL Becky! I’m so glad you were able to sample the pavs ,during your time here. Maybe you could make one and start a new trend in the States as an alternative to your pumpkin pies:) I’m sure they’ll disappear like “hot cakes”..in other words….they’re yummy!
I make mine hard like a meringue because I prefer that to the soft centre, which of course is the true pavlova. Topped with grated chocolate, strawberries, kiwi fruit (or any other fruit to your liking) and cream! Yummeee!
I’m late but such great pictures! Family is everything.