I have been thinking about it, and I think the best thing about Thanksgiving this year was when we were preparing for it. My girls were SO darn sweet about not wanting me to "do too much". They put on their favorite aprons and dove in! We were going to my folk's house for the big family dinner, so we only had to bring a few dishes to contribute.
We made 24 Hour Salad, 10 lbs of mashed potatoes, and Penelope made a big beautiful layered banana pudding. Chena peeled a mountain of potatoes, then whipped them up in our Kitchen Aid. Gotta love that thing. I sure do. We listened to Christmas CDs and danced around the kitchen together. I'm so lucky to have my kooky twosome.
We had lots of fun this year, even with a few changes from our normal family members who attend. My Dad was in Michigan deer hunting, a gift for his birthday, and my brother Rich was at work on the North Slope. His wife and two kids didn't come, as they went to her parents' house..so there were some people missing. My son Lex is in S Korea in the Air Force. But we had some special guests too. My sister's two young foster children were there with us, so we had some extras. We all love them and consider ourselves blessed with extra kiddos!
After dinner, the gals challenged the guys to a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. Only it wasn't too rousing, because we started trouncing them immediately, and they all acted bored to hide their pouting. My poor husband would have rather had his fingernails pulled out one by one, than play a family board game, but he was a good sport and managed not to fall asleep. Of course we won, and we girls tried not to look too smug.
The girls hung out with their cousins, while they all tried to figure out "who got who" for our annual Christmas drawing (they each draw one name, and only buy a gift for that one cousin..but its a secret..or supposed to be). Then they watched the movie "Up" in the playroom, and a few went downstairs to play fuseball.
My Mom was leaving early the next day to go join Dad in Michigan, so we were lucky enough to divide up all the leftovers, and even got a whole pie to take home!
On Black Friday I hopped out of bed early ( hopped=dragged in a loopy fashion) to pick up my sister and head to town to catch the sales. I'm real thankful for free coffee at the stores, it was the only thing that got me through the first five or six hours. Its all fun though. Can't tell you what I bought here, (shhhhh) but I was able to find some great deals!
Friday night was fireworks at our annual Christmas Comes to the Kenai parade and festivities. Everyone goes to it, so we always see tons of family and friends.
Lots of nieces, nephews, cousins and second cousins watching the display in the sky!
I call this one "The Dying Jellyfish".
3 comments:
Oh I am loving the Aprons!!!!! And sister, you have boat loads of snow... It's 5 degrees here right now, it's going to be a sunny day and we have very little snow...
So.. about that 24 hour salad????? Recipe share?
That pumpkin floral display in the window is gorgeous!
That is so neat that your girls pitch in to help. I dream about my little girls in the kitchen with me one day doing the same thing. :)
Sounds like good times as always at your family events. So fun!
Post a Comment