Thanksgiving Day

As I wrote my sister:

"We had 22 people, 14 of which were children under the age of 9!* running around. It was chaotic, noisy, hectic, and a BLAST! Turkey & gravy, whole-wheat and white rolls from scratch (mmmmm, SO glad I have leftovers!), cranberry chutney, roasted vegetables (zucchini, eggplant, peppers, sweet potato), "sweet" potatoes (banana and honey mixed in with mashed sweet potatoes baked in oven covered with marshmallows), two green salads, lost of soda, home-made peppermint ice cream, pecan pie, and home made pumpkin and apple pies. Mmmm, my tummy is STILL stuffed."

I was especially thankful for the prayer Travis offered. In it he said that he was thankful for the jobs we had to provide for our families, thankful for friends and family, and thankful for the atonement that allows us to repent and be happy.

There are too many things to numerate all I'm thankful for, but the top 2 are: God and Family (even crazy "extended" family!). Good friends, like those we had over for dinner, fall into that "family" category.

The People: The most important part of Thanksgiving, we loved having our friends over: Arick's, Lyman's, & Richardson's.

The "Little" Kid's table:
Thaddeus, Piper, Miranda, Veronica

The rest of the "Little" Kid's table:
Lydia, Paul, Xena

They look thrilled, don't they?
They just received news they couldn't sit at the "adult" table.
Funny, I remember feeling that way on Thanksgiving, too...

Alexandra (Ali) wouldn't even look at the camera, and none of the girls would smile.
So, they got some encouragement from Chris (Miranda's sunbeam teacher and Ali's and Bijoux's dad).

I think they were dying from hunger!
The whole group of table-sitting kids

Nikki with Odessa, the only child who actually joined the adult table.
Julia (not pictured) sat in a high chair and Ace was passed from arms to arms.

The Food: I was responsible for the turkey, rolls, and chutney (YUM! Got the recipe from Buffy, my sister-in-law and it's become a mandatory part of my Thanksgiving dinner). I also chipped in a pumpkin pie. Arick's brought the ice cream and roasted vegetables. Richardson's brought "sweet" potatoes pumpkin and pecan pie, pumpkin-chocolate-chip cookies, salad and dressings, soda. Lyman's brought artichoke dip, salad, apple pie.

My dinner plate. Yummmmm.

This was how my turkey turned out before I carved it onto a platter.
It was so tender and well-done that the meat literally fell off the bone!
Made slicing a bit difficult, but the taste was amazing.
Oh, I cooked it in an oven bag for turkeys..

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a day that was memorable, enjoyable, and fulfilling- both physically and in every other aspect.


*8 adults
2 9-year-olds
1 6-year-old
2 5-year-olds
3 4-year-olds
2 2-year-olds
2 1-year-olds
1 10-month-old
1 2-month-old
= 14 kids! And yes, we had a seat for everybody at our tables (well, the infant had a car-seat ;) )