Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving was nearly PERFECT this year.   But it wasn't without its' stresses beforehand.

When the power was finally restored the previous week, we discovered quickly that the oven no longer worked.  Matt, because he is a brilliant and handy man, diagnosed the problem and ordered the part- but it took a while to get to us.  So I was without an oven for two weeks and HOSTING Thanksgiving!

I worked out a game plan: turkey in the roaster oven. (I made one a few days prior too, just to be warmed up.)  Pies baked at neighbors.  No rolls, after all.

The part came the night before and Matt installed it on Thanksgiving morning and I quickly mixed up the dough and got some rolls baking.  WE HAD ROLLS!  

Oh my, was I grateful for a working oven that day.

Speaking of rolls...

this year with the invites, I passed out rolls of paper instructing people to fill them out with things they were grateful for.  Our family is a mixed political bag and with the election so close, I wanted to be sure Thanksgiving had the proper focus.  God. Gratitude.  Gifts.

(It worked like a charm.  It happened to be my favorite part of the day.)

If you believed these nearly identical turkeys belonged to the same maker, you'd be wrong.  The blue eyed turkey belongs to Moses and its' friend belongs to Ineke.

I made those little mushrooms from dried clementine halves and cinnamon sticks.  They were the cutest little ornaments, ifidosaysomyself.  And made such a cute little garland until I could give them out as Christmas gifts.

The waiting and watching is the hardest part...

Those little 'crackers' each held a chocolate truffle and a DAD JOKE to be read aloud, along with funny little punny pins I picked out for each person.  

John, Holly, David, CC provided some entertainment by reciting Psalm 100 which then inspired us all to SING it.

Here are the "Thanksgiving Rolls" all hung.  

Originally, the plan was for everyone to read through the lists and guess which list belonged to whom.  But it actually was not hard to determine the author so there was no real winner.

But it was so, so wonderful hearing from each person what things they were thankful for.  It helps you to get to know one another more deeply.  And it was often hilarious too.  

Corynn and Kemuel read the lists aloud so no one could cheat by recognizing handwriting.

And of course... we sang Happy Birthday to our sweet Thanksgiving baby... Adele' is a gift that was written on my list that day and on my heart always.  

The snow was falling, it was beautiful outside.  The weather was cool enough to be refreshing but not freezing cold. Snowball fights ensued after dinner.  And everyone gave me five minutes to get a Christmas card photo snapped.  (Pardon the muckboots.)

Corynn and Kemuel were able to spend part of the day with us, which was a real blessing.  I remember those early marriage days when you don't want to disappoint anyone and EVERYONE wants you!  It is hard to stretch yourself to please everyone... so I tried not to put any pressure on them at all to come.  But not only did they come for dinner, but they returned that evening for cold leftovers and a movie snuggle.

Truly, the best Thanksgiving ever.

Christmasing

It was late on Christmas Eve when the stockings were finally filled and the presents were all wrapped.  I always like seeing the stockings all lined up on the couch.  The rest of the house was a wreck and the kitchen would NOT be fun to come down to in the morning, with so much cleaning up to do, but the living room looked quite nice, anyway, and I was too tired to care about anything but my bed.

Three presents each, plus a secret sibling gift makes for a fully loaded tree!

The next morning, I woke up at 4:30 and came downstairs to find that the boys had already come in from doing the morning milking for Papa and were washing up the equipment and that Corynn had cleaned the whole kitchen for me until it was sparkling.

Angels, they are.  Absolute ANGELS.

A wonderful surprise that made for a very tired milkman later in the day...

Bible comes before presents... because we are cruel like that.

Red and Green with my girl.

I made all the food up a day before because on Christmas Day, I want to have as much time having fun and relaxing as everyone else.  

Morning strata:

The rest of the day munchings... and the last of the fancy cheeses and crackers for a good long while.

And lasagna for supper with individual bottles of Ginger beer.

Turns out ginger beer is pretty wicked stuff.  Not one of us made it through our bottle.  

(I absent-mindedly assumed it was birch beer when I bought it.)

A million meringues.  I love them so.

                                                                     Present opening... 

Matt is overwhelmed by books on his shelf that he hasn't read yet and often is so beat at the end of the day he just wants something light hearted to read for the few moments he has before crashing and picks up one of the kids' Calvin and Hobbes books.

So I got him his very own.

It is SO hard to remember which books Corynn needs to complete a series, I upped the ante and got Corynn a whole series for Christmas instead of just one book.

Her face tells me it was worth it.

This is Andrew's excited face and he was excited about.. MUCK boots.

(So is Papa, who no longer needs to share.)

The kids always draw names for a secret sibling gift and Ineke got Corynn a mug with tea in it.  I love watching little children give presents to bigger ones.  I also love watching big children react with grace and kindness.  

Andrew got Moses a ball... and the crowd erupted in applause.  

(This happened many times throughout the day...because Moses loves applause and we love watching him get so excited about it.)

I think Moses favorite gift was the crazy, bumpy ball that accidentally turned on at the conveyer belt in Walmart and it started knocking groceries off left and right.  It eventually stopped after an embarassingly long time just in time to accidentally be turned on again by the cashier, who about had a heart attack when it starting bumping all over her.

Ineke now gets to have lightshows every night in bed.

                                                                        More meringues!  

We hosted the Cantrell Christmas the following week, though some of our family couldn't make it.

Moses, looking all spiffy in his new Christmas duds...

(A friend from church made this adorable outfit for him because I loaned her a similar outfit of Moses' to make a pattern from... let that be a lesson to you- ALWAYS loan outfits to talented seamstresses!)

                                                                  Waiting for company...

INLCUDING my younger brother Cameron, who was able to come home for the holidays! 

The annual Christmas snowflake...which not only must be MADE every year, but also photographed.

My mom and Mister Moses.

And look at that!  MORE meringues!  ;-)

In my next post I will share some of the handmade Christmas gifts that happened *by the skin of my teeth and a borrowed sewing machine!* and then, seeing how it is already well into January, I guess it will be time to turn my attention to the New Year that is before us.

Happy 2021 everyone!