I'm Thankful for . . . Thanksgiving

I must conclude the thankful season with one final post about our fabulous holiday. My family (with the exception of one brother and his wife who had to work) gathered at my parents' home for the Thanksgiving celebration.

One great grandma. Two grandparents. Six siblings. Six fabulous in-laws. Nineteen children under the age of ten. One bun in the oven. Thirteen dogs (my sister has Bullmastiff puppies for sale). Seven horses. Five cows. One cat.

The women (and a kid or two) prepared the meal. I quite enjoyed an abundance of girl-time hanging out in the kitchen with my awesome sisters, sisters-in-law, mom and grandma. Our menu was quite traditional but very delicious:

Turkey (My mom was in charge of the meat, potatoes and gravy.)

Glazed Ham

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Awesome Sausage, Apple and Cranberry Stuffing (My contribution which turned out even better than usual this year--I added extra butter--shhh.)

Yam Casserole (My other addition--no leftovers--must quadruple next year.)

Creamed Corn (I'm not a big corn fan but I tried my sister A's creamed corn this year and was converted)

Green Bean Casserole (since I hate green beans--ya, not a vegetable girl, Utah Dad insists that my sister-in-law M make this every Thanksgiving. He loves it.) 

Macaroni and Cheese (my sister-in-law A prepares this southern dish which is traditionally served at her own family Thanksgivings. We're so glad to have her and the macaroni and cheese in the family.)

Pom Pom's Raspberry Jell-o  (my sister K recreated our step-grandma's famous and delicious jell-o concoction. It's the only thing Neal ate.)

Rolls (my sister-in-law K went home to her house to bake the rolls. I'm pretty sure she also took a nap.)

While we cooked the men took care of the babies. Not a bad deal, obviously. The other kids were left to themselves which was not entirely good--imagine 15 kids left alone in the basement. I don't need to say more.

Notice that one brother is just tending a stuffed animal (albeit a precious stuffed animal) and there is another brother (just his jeans make it into the picture) that does not have a child on his lap. Where were his kids? Being naughty with some of mine one of mine--guess which one.

  

 Since it was so frigid outside, the kids had to bundle up warm to go out with Grandpa to feed the cows and horses. It was too cold for me, so there are no pictures of the kids outside. I have such cute nephews.

 Lilly didn't get to bring her piggy to Grandma's house. Fortunately, Grandma had a bull. Lilly believed it was a piggy even though Thomas repeatedly pointed out to her that it had horns and was actually a bull. Since Lilly was sick and especially whiny all weekend, I was thankful for the bull and for a patient Grandma who was willing to play with her.

Our holiday continued on Friday with our traditional "Pie Party" with my dad's brother and sister and their families. Instead of hosting the get-together at their home this year, my parents reserved their church building. We met there in the afternoon (the women barely made it back in time--who knew there were so many places to shop in my home town?) for bread bowls filled with a variety of delicious soups and every kind of pie you can imagine. I am talking about a lot of pie--cream pies, pumpkin pies, berry pies, chocolate pies, apple pies, pudding pies. Mmmm-mmmm.

One year my aunt had recently moved back to Utah with her family. Jokingly, I told her that we had a "pie-per-person policy" for the pie party. She took me seriously. I did feel a little guilty when each of her twelve children arrived that night carrying a pie.

The "pie-per-person policy" is a joke. But just barely.

I love that my family has this additional tradition. It was so much fun to visit with cousins and aunts and uncles that I usually only get to see on Facebook and their blogs, even if I had two whiny girls hanging on to me the entire time.

Do you have any other traditions besides the Thanksgiving meal? Did you make something especially yummy for your Thanksgiving meal? I hope you all had a fabulous weekend.