Thanksgiving 2011

Trying to catch up with blogging seems pretty pointless, so I'll just pick up with what is current.

This year for Thanksgiving we got together with two other (large) families for dinner. Our friends, the Howells, hosted so I was able to enjoy a completely stress-free holiday. On Wednesday I made blueberry cranberry pie, chocolate peanut butter pie, chocolate cheesecake, pumpkin cream pie, and cranberry bars. On Thanksgiving morning, Lincoln, Kennedy, and Julia went to Madison to run in the Berbee Derby 5K. I was signed up to race in the 10K, but I have been having some knee issues so I decided not to run. While they ran, I put the turkey in the oven and started on some side dishes. I made roasted root veggies, green bean casserole, and spicy teriyaki mushrooms. Renie assembled candy turkeys. I had thought this would be a great project to keep the three younger kids busy while I was working in the kitchen, but it ended up being Renie's project alone. The boys put about one candy on one turkey and then were done and just wanted to eat the pieces. Renie, however, sat there and assembled 20 turkeys, with a little help from me.



A little before 3:30 we packed up all the food and went to the Howells. Kym had a great system set up with all the food buffet style on the kitchen table and plenty of tables and seating in the basement for the 16 kids and 6 adults in attendance. We had so much delicious food! Kym and Jeff had cooked a turkey in their dutch oven and it was fantastic! They also cooked a ham, a huge pot of mashed potatoes, apple pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, sweet potatoes, and stuffing. Jen was a trooper and despite having surgery on her foot the DAY BEFORE, she brought piles of rolls.

(I forgot to take any pictures. Luckily Kennedy thought of it, so she took a bunch. Unfortunately the camera was on a setting that led to lots of blurry pictures, but at least you get an idea.)


After dinner and dessert, we spent the evening playing games and laughing with great friends. And I schooled everybody in Perpetual Commotion. It had to be done.



We took the kids home at about 11:30 and put them to bed, then I picked up Jen and we went to Walmart to do some shopping. I am not a Black Friday shopper. It's just not my thing. But Jen loves to do it and wanted someone to come along and push her around in her wheelchair, in case there wasn't a motorized one available. I figured it would be fun and I could look for a few things for the kids. As it turned out, we were able to procure a motorized wheelchair so we were good to go. We split up to search out the deals we wanted and then met back up at the checkout less than an hour later. So that was the extent of my black Friday shopping: 45 minutes between midnight and 1 am.

And so, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Time sure does fly.

Thanksgiving 2010

Remember Thanksgiving? Well, in my blog-slackery I never posted anything about it. So I thought, Hey! I'm gonna go ahead and still blog about it.

This year it was just us here for Thanksgiving. My cousin Karen, and her family, went to NY over Thanksgiving to attend Karen's sister's wedding. Knowing it would just be us took a lot of the stress off the occasion. I knew that even if it took until Friday for the turkey to cook, it wasn't a big deal, we would just eat on Friday. Because of this approach, the days leading up to Thanksgiving were pretty laid back as well.

Kennedy, Lincoln, and I got up early on Thanksgiving, bundled up, put on our running shoes, and drove to Madison to participate in our first Thanksgiving Day run. Kennedy and Lincoln had signed up to run the 5K (Kennedy's first race ever), and I signed up for the 10K, my first 10K ever. My stomach was in knots the whole way there. I had done no hill training and a few days before the race I had heard that there were a few hills near the end of the course. This really worried me. My goal was to run the entire thing, but I began to have some serious doubts on the drive over.

The spirit of a race is lots of fun, and I found myself anxious to just get started. The 10K started first, thankfully, and we were soon jogging over the start line. I determined early on that I wouldn't worry about people passing me, which was good because I was passed by thousands of runners. I am known for being a slow runner, but they just kept passing and passing like I was standing still. I wondered what on earth my time was looking like, but was pleasantly surprised when I passed the first mile marker and found that although I was slow, it was my best time. And I just plugged away at it. 2 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles. Each mile marker revealed that I was maintaining my personal best pace. Around this point, however, I began to be concerned that I would finish the race in dead last. I determined that if I died trying, I would keep from being passed by the last runner. Mile 5 is where the hills began. Challenging, but not a deal breaker. I was still running. Mile 6 seemed to be all hill. The last, big hill seemed to go on forever. I was neck in neck with an old lady that come hell or high water I was NOT going to finish behind! I dug deep, proud of the fact that back in the stragglers, the back of the entire race, I was the only one, in my view, who did not walk at some point on the hills. At the top of the last, big, hill, the finish line was in sight and I had left the old lady behind. I dug a little deeper, pushed a little harder, passed another lady I had been leap-frogging the whole time, and finished my first 10K without walking. It was a personal victory, despite finishing last in my age group. Kennedy and Lincoln were waiting at the finish line to cheer me on and take some pictures of me. (Those pictures are on our other camera still. Someday I'll transfer them. Maybe.) We grabbed some goodies at the food tent and munched them and sucked down water on the way to the car. Kennedy was frozen through and through and said she would never do a winter race again. I think she would have been OK if she hadn't had to wait for me. We headed home, grabbed some hot cocoa on the way, and cranked up the heat in the car. I seriously never thought I'd be able to run a 10K, but now I'm wondering if a half-marathon might be in my future.


We spent the rest of the day cooking, watching the Thanksgiving Day parade, and eating.



It was quiet, easy, relaxing, and fun. Except I was exhausted by the end of the day. Running in the morning and then spending a lot of time on your feet in the kitchen and then eating turkey will really take it out of you! Lincoln built the kids a fort in the living room. I think they actually slept in it that night too.


I am thankful for my beautiful children and amazing husband. I'm thankful for my health that allows me to do all of this. I'm thankful for my husband's job that provides our food and home and the comforts we enjoy there. And I'm thankful for my husband and friends who encouraged my to go for the 10K and never doubted I could do it.