Thanksgiving 2009...

I'm tired...but it's a happy kind of tired. My mom's family(the Vanderwalls)came from near and far to share Thanksgiving Day with us. My uncles live in Seattle. My aunt lives in Portland. There are teens in these families from these metropolitan areas, and, bless their hearts, they love to come spend the holiday with us in Hicksville! (insert sigh of grateful wonderment here) This year, we were blessed to also have cousins(or should I say "cud'ns") Kris & Krissy from Alabama, Zach & Cori and heart-stealing sons from Montana, and Sam & Kasi, newlyweds from Salem,OR... The family grows!! For the first time in 3 years, Jess was home for the holiday...(insert happy mom sigh). All in all, 37 people with good attitudes crowded into our home, finding seating in some unusual areas of the house. Everyone contributed to the menu, and we feasted and visited all day long...laughing, playing games, enjoying having 3 little boys to entertain us...It was quite wonderful.

I made one pretty turkey...

...and one pretty ugly turkey! But they both tasted delicious (whew!).

Tables were everywhere! The study...

The white carpeted living room...(I'm happy to report no spills -- though, ironically, this is where the teen boys chose to sit. :D)

The entry, the family room, and -- oh yeah -- the dining room too...

Visiting...

Visiting... and the remains of the buffet...

This is just a small portion of the buffet line...It went all around the kitchen!

People everywhere...

Erin came up with a great group game where each person had to share their favorites on a few topics.

Hmmm...I think Grandpa is saying Grandma is one of his favorites...We knew that!!! :D

Lots of laughter...

Let the games begin!! We had some diehard "Nerts" (??is that the name of the game) fans...serious gaming going on here. They even hired Linda to keep score (They needed a neutral party, you know).

Conrad and Josiah create with Lego in Jess' former room. It was such fun to have younger kids around again, and these boys are really great kids!

Their little brother Brenden (3) taught Caitlin (25) how to box on the Wii...

Then he decided he needed more of a challenge and took on Nate (14, but man-sized!)

Boys of all ages enjoyed the Wii...

PDQ played in the study...(you must be Pretty Darn Quick for this game!)

The day ended with a couple of rounds of Apples to Apples. Daisie lies exhausted after spending the entire afternoon making new friends, and getting attention from 37 people...heaven!

It was indeed a little slice of heaven to spend the day with people we see once a year, or even less often, but whom all love each other dearly. I've said it before...I'll say it again...FAMILY -- it's a good thing!