Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came early this year.  Christopher and Tysen and Guy and Mikayla were going to be gone, and Eugene and Sharae were going to be with the Cleverlys, so we decided to give thanks on Sunday.  We gathered at Christopher and Tysen's house for delicious food and lively conversation.  The children ate rolls and two pieces of turkey and then played and played with cousins.  Kent and I lingered with the adults and talked as we ate.  We talked about how blessed we are, how good our lives are, and what overwhelming abundance we enjoy.  We've got it better than good.

Here's the one picture I've got of this gathering,

a photo of the food taken by Mikayla.

It was delicious.

On actual Thanksgiving, we hosted a small group of people at our house.  Mom was going to do a whole Thanksgiving at her house with Bryan and Missy, their kids, and Jeff Russell.  She wasn't going to have much help.  So I suggested that they all meet at our house as we were going to feed the missionaries and Richard Ledford.  Mom didn't think Bryan would want to come with the missionaries there, but I assured her that they would not get preachy about anything and that all could safely eat together.  Everyone was open to meeting at our house, so we gathered.  Mom came over early to help prepare food which was super, super helpful.  It was nice to have quality time with her, mostly just the two of us, talking as we worked together.  I don't get much time like that with my mom, and it was great to preparing together in the kitchen.  The children and Kent set the table with the fancy plates, silver, and stemware, and we had a lovely and delicious meal.  Bryan and Missy took off fairly quickly after dinner, but Mom and the missionaries stayed and played Mexican train.  It was so nice.  Once again, I only got pictures of food, although I did take a picture of the missionaries which I texted to their families.

Bacon wrapped sausages called chipolatas.

Sarah Westerberg makes them and they sounded delicious.

I gave them a try.

Unfortunately, I overcooked them.

We still ate all but three.

It's pretty hard to resist pork anything.

Pecan pie.

A++

The list of things I'm grateful for is long.  My life is about as good as it can get and I'm beyond fortunate.  While I don't want to eat like we do on Thanksgiving every day, I do want to have a thankful heart every day.

While I didn't take many pictures today, I discovered that Blythe took a couple of herself.  She's a funny girl!

She's wearing her pajamas in this picture, so it must be early-ish in the day.

When Blythe doesn't have to go to school, she is frequently in her pajamas until nearly lunchtime.