Chelan

Ricky & I slept in til like 10am while the lil ones got up and Braylon took of the important job of making the two of them breakfast (pouring milk & cereal)….and did a smashing job of it. We hung around, got ready for the day and I gathered up the pumpkin pie dessert I’d made and the cranberries, so we could make homemade cranberry sauce later. It’s easy -&  fun to watch them pop in the boiling sugar-water and turn into sauce.

We headed to my parents’ about noon and did some finishing touches on the lunch, including making that cranberry sauce. Adding grated orange rind gave it more of a zing! My mom had made the green bean & sweet potato casserole, dark meat, and had gravy and rolls. Charity & her family came about an hour later with skin-on mashed potatoes, white turkey all sliced up (pre-cooked from Costco), chai-cider, a big platter of veggies, cheeses, Ritz and ranch…oh, and the cutest little chocolate pilgrim-hat cookies. Angel & Braylon ran around the house & garage with their cousins Jamae and Gabby as the football game played on half-mute.

We gathered around the kitchen in a big circle and held hands and my dad prayed, and all the while the children were squinting their eyes & peeking at each other and gigglin’ when a grown-up caught them. Cranberry-apple juice with mulled citrus spices simmered on the stove-top while the evening went on, filling the air with a fresh, delightful scent.

Right after lunch, we escaped the sand-man by agreeing to Charity’s suggestion to play the game, Apples to Apples, followed by two movies, “Toy Story 3” and “Elf”. Some of us did fall to the temptation of dozing off under a cozy blanket on the sofa for a spell, while others (Charity, Schearon and Rick) played Spades. The kiddos decided to do up-side-down faces by drawing eyes & a nose on their chin – which was pretty entertaining when they covered the other half of their face up and started talking 🙂 – I remember doing that w/my sister as kids, and laughing to tears!

Before we went back home, we wrote on paper leaves a few things we were thankful for…which Charity added to her “Gratitude Garland” she’d started in 2008. It was interesting to read over some of them since ’08. I wondered, “That’s weird; I didn’t know you did this every year. I’ve never seen it.” And it dawned on me that we’d been in Texas during Thanksgiving of ’08 & ’09.

Braylon was thankful for TV, Angel had me write “Mommy, Gigi, chocolate, ice cream, broccoli and corn”, I wrote that I was thankful to not have to try & figure out a way to travel 2100 miles (to come home & hug my parents), that God made me an instrument this year in fighting child abuse, and that He gave me an extremely talented, ‘perfect-for-me’ husband. Rick wrote of his great health and a general showering of favor on us this year.

The day was fun, relaxing, warm and full of good thoughts.  Everyone’s Thanksgiving looks different, but I’m sure in many ways, similar. This is how ours looked this year, of 2010.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful no matter how it is spent, as long as family and love resounds, and that we remember to reflect on all of the Lord’s gifts he’s given to us. He is such a good God, isn’t He?