Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and considering all the sickness we've had around here, it went pretty well.
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving Renie threw up. Again. After having the barfs a week and a half previous. I was so discouraged! It had been through everyone (but me) and I was convinced we would all be on the mend for Thanksgiving. I still had a glimmer of hope, however. I mean, how likely was it that everyone would go through the whole thing again? On Wednesday, my cousin Karen called me to see how everyone was doing and whether they should still come or not. I told her that Renie had thrown up the day before but would have a full 24 hours to recover before the holiday. She told me she would call in the morning before they came to make sure all was well.
At about 10:00 that night, Devon threw up. That's when I threw in the towel. I quit my preparations for the next day figuring it didn't matter what time things were done because it would just be us anyway. I crawled into bed and read for a while.
I got up Thanksgiving morning and put the turkey in the oven at 7:00. Around 7:30 I called Karen and broke the news to her. We talked things over a bit, trying to convince ourselves that it would be OK for them to come. In the end she said she would talk to her husband and call me back. Ten minutes later she called and said they were coming- on one condition that I had to agree to: If her kids were sick the week that Jamie was gone, I had to help take care of them.
Of course I agreed and my spirits lifted. The Thanksgiving celebration would proceed as planned.
I immediately busied myself with preparations and thanks in great part to my previous planning, organizing and preparing, things went quite smoothly. I was ready on time and the food was mostly still warm.


This year's menu:
Turkey
Cheesy mashed potatoes
Sauteed garlic and sesame seed green beans
Spicy teriyaki mushrooms
Brown bread and squash stuffing
Lavender and honey butternut squash
Gravy
Rolls
(And the Knouses' contributions)
Sweet potatoes with marshmallows
Traditional stuffing
Another turkey

Of course we had a pickle tray (homemade pickles, some really tasty ones and some that none of us were brave enough to try.)
Green and black olives
Black olives in a marinade
Jellied cranberry sauce

We had almost enough pies/cheesecakes for each of us to have our own. 13 people, 9 desserts. Oh, and a loaf of banana bread.

Jamie made a plain cheesecake, a marbled cheesecake(plain and pumpkin- delectable), two pumpkin pies, and the banana bread.

I made a chocolate peanut butter pie, apple cranberry pie, Pumpkin tart with walnut shortbread crust (with a cranberry coulis for the top which was fantastic on the marbled cheesecake, by the way), and a layered pumpkin pie.

We visited and played a game in the evening and then the Knouses headed home early, since Karen had to work the next day.

By Friday night, Karen and Orion were throwing up.
Surely they must have had it in their systems before Thursday, though. It certainly wouldn't have them sick that fast. Right? So we'll see if I have sick kids to watch next week.

I am so thankful to have family nearby to celebrate with.


For many years Karen and I have wished we lived closer to each other. What a blessing to finally have that be a reality. I'm so glad that our kids will have memories of holidays together-


and that we can do the everyday things together as well.