Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We started our day with the chickens being released from the coop to their breakfast, the boys heading next door to tend the pups, and me frantically trying to find bags to wrap all the gifts that I knew I needed to wrap, but hadn't quite finished the process of wrapping :)

Once the van was loaded (with the bike rack stowed in the back), I realized how smelly the old van truly is--however, it is the only one with a hitch and we had bicycles to collect--eventually you adjust to the stench ;) I had a stack of books that I thought I might read on the way over, but I mostly just read those in the grocery store parking lot, before we left town. We needed to return a redbox movie and fill the tank with gas. Stopping by Starbucks for a minute didn't hurt either!

The rest of our trip continued the Adventures in Odyssey discs that we'd started on our previous trip, but didn't finish. We like to listen to them as a family before just handing them over to the kids. Mostly, they are great. But sometimes the family dynamics--fighting siblings, peer pressure stuff, and even stereotype characters can be a bit much. There's always a lesson, but the misbehaviors represented certainly don't need to be burned into the kids' brains (because the episodes they do listen to, they listen to over and over and over again!). On these final discs we thought, "Eh--we can donate them to the church." We are sharing the stories, ha!

Anyway, we eventually arrived at my parents' house. It didn't take long for us to find--the baby!! He was circled with arms of love throughout the livelong day! Our meal was festive on possibly the cutest woodland creature tablecloths I've ever seen (love me a hedgehog motif :) There were two turkeys--both very yummy! Lots of bread (score!) and all kinds of side dishes to enjoy.

My sister was the self-appointed cruise director of the event. "Okay, now that the plates are cleared, let's hit the desserts. You--birthday kid--sit here. You--other birthday kid--I'm going to dump a pile of donuts on the table in front of you; that's right just smile and get ready for us to sing." Lol! She was cracking me up. Later, when we were running late in leaving, Buck said, "I wish your sister would have stuck around. Maybe we would have gotten out of here on time if she were moving things along." Ha! Good times, good times.

We celebrated all kinds of birthday fun--spanning two months and four decades (but I'm not naming names). I made my sister a coloring book, with crayons, of our family throughout the past year. She outdid me by far, and made me a cluckin' awesome sign for our chicken barn ;) Rise and shine mother cluckers! Funny that that one didn't make the cut. (I know that sounds so inappropriate, but we were laughing so hard we about fell over :) Kids: don't repeat this out loud, it's very close to a swear word--got it!?




It's all fun and games until a teenager drops a bottle of vitamins in the pumpkin pie ;) At least it was for a good cause; he was hunting birthday candles for the birthday people. It's okay; we used our imaginations for the unfound candles, and the perfect central bull's-eye made for a unique decoration in a store bought pie ;)




This little dollie was more excited about the horsie wrapped in her cute, handmade seal scarf than the scarf itself (but I'll let you in on a little secret--I totally expected that was how it would be! :) While her gifts trended toward equine, ours trended toward poultry. Brennen received a COMPLETELY OBNOXIOUS, but really funny chicken game. The kids love making the egg pop out and then smashing it open to see if the chick inside is scrambled or hatched. But oh, the noise of it . . .




Grandpa Barry delivered on a longtime promise to my nephew and cooked a duck! The kids were crazy about it--seriously, so much flavor! It was like a dessert though, because dad said he pushed all the right buttons with the duck in the oven . . . except start. So, it came out significantly after the meal had concluded. Oh man, foiled by the buttons! :)

Getting a chance to hold the baby was not an easy feat! Buck waited patiently until the end of our visit--he endured a ginger ale deposit in his boot (I don't know if he thought it was as funny as I did, but it was a perfect shot by my niece--completely on accident--but she sure kept from spilling on grandma's carpet in the most creative way ;)--and finally, with football on the screen, he and baby M got a little uncle/nephew time.



Earlier, we all shared our thankfuls around the dinner table--again, Cruise Director J made sure that things were done in a snappy, timely fashion ;) (hee hee, gotta tease you a little :) She chose the order of thanksgiving, starting with her surprised-looking hubby, ha! Gabby composed a thankful poem for our family's contribution . . . maybe I can include it here . . .

Gabby’s Family Thanksgiving Poem 2017

Family’s one thing Graysen’s thankful for,

Gimli our hamster is one thing more,

He also loves wings,

And books about things,

And animals to him aren’t a chore.

Brennen is thankful for Friends every day,

He’s thankful for food in every way.

He knows Jesus rules,

And that family is cool,

He loves having fun and to play!

Reading is what Gabby’s thankful for,

And writing with pencils is never a bore!

Friendship is rad,

Music makes her glad,

She knows that great colors are outside her door.

Caelan’s thankful for the bright happy sun,

For fluffy pets that are always so fun,

Joy and peace of the Lord, beauty of the world,

Plus hands to make and feet to run!

Mom is thankful for her healthy kids,

Seven chickens, and the comfy house where we live,

Her handsome and hardworking husband,

Warm slippers, really yummy Chai—and

People who do what the Lord bids. 

Dad is very thankful for his lovely wife,

And for his fun-loving kids who add variety to his life.

 He enjoys family dinners,

A warm house in cold winters,

And again for his awesome, funny wife!

In addition to the words they shared at our meal (including a shout out to the super awesome husbands and wife God has provided to, we, their children) my parents were thankful that God blessed them with an unexpected investment from generations ago, which allowed them to suddenly pay off their mortgage. What an amazing gift!!! We were cheering and clapping as dad lit the living room on fire ;) The kids found out later and were like, "What?! How did we miss THAT?!" :)



And the day concluded with me at home, just chilling, in my new chicken boots :) Happy Thanksgiving to near and to far, we love our family and friends!