Happy Thanksgiving

Here is the table we (Megan and I) set on Wednesday evening. We had 15 people for the Thanksgiving feast. My nieces and nephew stayed overnight with my parents Wednesday night. Just one last trip to the grocery store and we were set. Thursday morning I got up about 6:30 and made some muffins for breakfast (don't think that's too big a deal, because it's a package that you just add milk and bake them - easy but yummy!). Then I stuffed and seasoned the turkey and put it in the oven.

Oma, Opa, six kids, Jon and I went to church at 9:30. It's always a nice Mass. I think it's better than normal because it's not a holy day of obligation. People go just because they want to be there.

My aunt and uncle arrived about 11:00. They come out almost every year for Thanksgiving and stay for the whole weekend. They are a lot of fun. Karli helped me peel potatoes and Nate peeled the cucumbers. My brother and sister-in-law arrived after running in the Turkey Trot. Jon's cousin, Frankie, joined us, too.

Everything for the meal came together beautifully and we all ate WAY too much (as usual).

My cousin Selvan and his wife Sue joined us Friday for the weekend also. Friday and Saturday the guys took part in the annual St. Sausage Day weekend. They started preparing the venison, pork and seasonings about 10:00 Friday morning. By 7:30 all five of them were in the bag and most were already out for the count. Saturday they finished packaging the sausage.

Sunday morning we finished up the visiting with a breakfast of sausage (obviously) and eggs before the guests hit the road. It is always fun to have visitors.

After breakfast we all headed up to the barn to get the Christmas decorations out. Jon and I weren't really looking forward to the task, but decided we'd better get it started. It went very smoothly. It's great that the kids are getting big enough to help a lot. Jon took tree decorations out of the box, I untangled the little ornament hangers, and the kids hung up all of the ornaments. The tree turned out really nice.
(I took two pictures because I wasn't sure you could see both the lights and the ornaments.)

Having the kids do the tree made it easier for Jon and me to set out all of the little knick-knacks around the house. The kids each have a little tree in their rooms and a tiny nativity set. We have my mom's handpainted nativity set in the living room and another set that was given to me as a gift on display on the piano.

So many trinkets in our decorations box have memories and meanings. It really reminds me how thankful I am for good friends, great family and wonderful health in my life.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend as much as I did.