Thanksgiving Friday

Getting together with our four kids (three of whom work different shifts), their spouses, our five grands plus Bob and I is wonderful. They are all married, three with inlaws living in the area - and that makes for a logistics problem for every holiday. This year two (and their families) spent yesterday - Thanksgiving Day - with their inlaws, one (and her husband) came over for dinner here and one (and his family) is spending tomorrow, Saturday, with his inlaws. Today was ours.

Alexis was waiting at the window looking for the first arrival.

We had the most delicious food. The turkey was moist, the smashed potatoes, green salad and green bean casserole were barely enough and hand-made chocolates and a from scratch bundt cake were wonderful.

We are truly blessed. We are not without problems but the fact that the whole bunch of us like to be with each other and are each other's friends is truly priceless.

Although reading the ads yesterday was enticing, Bob and I didn't get any shopping done today. I woke up at 4 a.m. - I know, just in time to get the 'good' deals - but I was very tired. I finally was able to get back to sleep at 7 and slept until 10. We were able to relax and get everything gathered to be able to get to Aaron and Tami's by 1 p.m.

Their house is comfortable - there is space for everyone to spread out. They got new cupboards this year and it was wonderful to work in their new kitchen. As the rest arrived all the women were talking about watching the FOOD Network's Thanksgiving preparation programs yesterday. It does make it seem do-able when you can watch someone do it. It is just too bad they aren't on before the day you are supposed to be cooking.

The day was quite pleasant. We ended with some of us playing games (my new thrill - to be able to play games again) others played with the kids or sat and talked. Bob got in and got dishes cleaned up, much to everyone's appreciation. By the time 7 p.m. rolled around we were ready to leave - a very pleasant day added to our memories.