THANKSGIVING 2012

After all the preparations and anticipation of the week, Thanksgiving Thursday (as it inevitably does) finally arrived right on schedule.  Laurent and I were the only ones who went to church, as the rest of the crew was doing some final sprucing up of the house and yard.  We enjoyed a simple mass and wonderful Thanksgiving homily from Fr. Matt Henry.  Then it was home, via QT for a bag of ice, to greet the Grands and the cousins – it was pandemonium when we walked in the door! 🙂

From year to year, I never know for sure how many will show up on my doorstep for dinner, so it’s good we were prepared with looooooootsa turkey and ham and especially TATERS, precious!!  This year we were blessed with the Heidmann East crew of 6, plus Grandma and Grandpa, plus Jeff, plus Chris, plus our 7, for a mere 17.  It was fun for everyone to gather round the Hobart and watch it whip 30+ pounds of potatoes, with added butter, cream  cheese, and roasted garlic.  There was so much food, with all the hors d’ouvres, side dishes, main dishes, and desserts, that we completely forgot to bring out the 3 cakes and a pie and veggie tray that Chris brought.  😀

Although the food is always amazing, it is the family fun to which we look forward with greatest anticipation.  There are the traditions – signing your name to the wall of fame is one that started back in the old house with the blackboard doors, and continues now with our whiteboard.  There is always horseplay with canned whipping cream…. and this year we added the drive-by Scrabble game, with the board on a side table, where everybody could just walk up and try to make a word at their leisure; and there was some good fun with piano duets as well.  More memories in the bank for the year 2012.

Photos look best on full screen, which option appears when you hover over “thumbnail” in the bottom left corner of the gallery.

We have all been recalling what it was like one year ago today, on Black Friday of 2011, when the entire family, including Oma, went Black Friday Shopping for the first time EVER.  I think there might literally have been 1,000,000 people on Bell Road all at the same time.  We only did it because we needed to buy beds AND bedding for the ENTIRE HOUSE!!  It was once-in-a-lifetime adventure, which I hope never to repeat. 🙂

And then of course, there is the fact that today is the day we ought rightly to be marching around the house with the traditional Christmas tree parade while rocking out to Mannheim Steamroller.  But, as you may recall, Paul broke our tree last year.  That’s ok though… we will find some lights to put up and be festive nonetheless.  After Christmas we will find something on the cheap! 🙂