November and December come, and my pace of life seems to increase at a high rate. Maybe that's why I'm blogging about it in January... Of course Thanksgiving is my favorite. My Psalms for today said, "
Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High." And also, "Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me." Somehow God sustains me through the craziness although I'm worn out by Christmas!
We usually celebrate with our students on Thanksgiving day by having a fall party. We usually grill hot dogs and then fill in with other fall activities. The day starts with a big shopping trip; having the truck for a day is difficult, but it always seems to work out for the Thanksgiving party.
It's always nice to find large marshmallows at the right time. We didn't have time for them at this party, but we'll get to them!
We try to have different games each year. This year I played "The Best" game from this website:
http://www.theidearoom.net/2012/11/the-best-a-thanksgiving-game.html and a left and right circle game from
here.
Our carport fills up quickly. We invited Kaimook and Prink as well to help us with games. I always get excited and forget to really let our helpers help. Next year I think Adam and his helpers will lead the games. The kids will enjoy it more than having me, the old lady, do it. :)
The hot dogs were great this year! We didn't have busted chocolate ones which is a good departure from our regular tradition..
If I remember correctly we had about twenty people including the four from our house. Every year I say that every year I sit around and worry that nobody's going to show up. Maybe someday I'll learn...
After we finished with Thanksgiving with our students at home and with the teachers at school, it was time to get ready for our more traditional meal. The refrigerator was absolutely stuffed with all of the goodies waiting to be mixed up and baked.
This year we were able to used Rusty's phone and our new DSLR to take the "family" photo. We all like checking the finished product on the phone in case we need to take another one.
Yep, we needed another one. Adam had a bright glow on his face in the previous ones. Pawn knows this one's going to be good.
We had a spread that included Pawn's special recipe grilled meat, confetti corn, green bean casserole, layered salad, hot rolls, sweet potato casserole, and chicken and dressing.
And then there's dessert! We had cream cheese pecan and pumpkin pies. The pumpkin was special for Adam using the recipe he recommended. They were both good!
As soon as we're eating leftovers, we're moving on to Christmas. We start watching Christmas movies, and we let the kids decorate the Christmas tree the following Monday.
It takes all of five minutes to get the tree finished with so many hands helping. We get the lights and tinsel on before the kids show up, and they do the rest.
I think everyone enjoys pitching in. For some this is now a yearly tradition, and for some it was a completely new experience.
It's almost done...
And then it was time for the real important stuff--pictures! Parents were posing with their kids, and I'm sure the pictures were plastered all over Facebook. It's a good time and less hurried before the real craziness kicks in!
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