We shared our Thanksgiving, as has been our tradition since 2004, with two families who were also sent to Detroit, away from family and friends. At first, we rotated houses from year to year. Our families have multiplied so quickly, though, that we are now the official hosts as our home has a bit more space for everyone to move around. (We began with six adults and two children in 2004; now, we have six adults and eight children! Oh my!)
We try to keep it easy on everyone by divying up the dishes among the three families. I'm quite content being responsible for the turkey, rolls and mashed potatoes. After all, that's just about all I eat! Again this year, I brined the turkey overnight. The result is delicious. I have had nothing but good luck since I started brining our turkeys. We also made our first attempt at frying a turkey as well. It turned out well, though the cost of the peanut oil certainly makes it an expensive bird.
Our friends arrived around 4 p.m., and the kids enjoyed making snowmen while we did the final food prep. The kids watched "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" while we tried to eat. Next year, I think we'll be ready to have the kids join us for dinner. But with so many young ones, we wouldn't stand a chance of eating if the kids sat with us. Besides, most of the kids won't eat when we're together because they're too excited to play.
After the kids ate dinner, we took the kids downstairs to play and run off some energy. After dessert and a little chitchat, everyone headed home. No doubt, the kids were exhausted as they went right to sleep and didn't wake until after 8! (With the exception of Kelsey, who didn't sleep well at all. She's fighting a little cold.)
This update is coming nearly a week late because Kelsey passed along her cold to me and just about everyone else in the house. I'll be happy when we're healthy again. Still, we enjoyed our long weekend, filling it with holiday movies, Christmas decorating, ornament-making, and lots of play time.
Kelsey and I wait for the others to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. The littlest ones -- Kelsey, Jackson and Jake -- did eat with us as they are easily confined in a high chair. The feast was delicious.
The only way to convince the kids to pose for a picture was to give them cookies. Group photos were not in the cards that night.
We gave it one more shot for a group photo, this time with the adults. Brendan acted as the photographer. Maybe next year we'll have better luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment