Thanksgiving 2008:

Giving thanks with

a grateful heart ....

Our family meets anually at Mom's church to celebrate Thanksgiving and our family. We decorate the tables and get everything set up and festive for the occasion. My aunties iron their tableclothes (a true labor of love). My tableclothes are the little table toppers and they are washed and folded and stored for next year. They are not ironed. They are kind of wrinkely and the edges are creased at random intervals. But, they add color.

I am in charge of bringing the decorations, olives and cranberry sauce. I remembered about the olives (6 cans so everybody has a chance to eat some). But I forgot that I was in charge of the cranberry sauce. I had thrown in one can from home just to be nice, but when I got there I had to beg for more. I do not like having to go to Safeway on Thanksgiving. My sister Angie came to the rescue and went home to a few more cans.
My Mom and aunties cook the turkeys, and my Uncle Frank is in charge of the mashed potatoes. Everybody else brings their own dishes to share. It is quite an impressive spread, and our family is full of good cooks, thank goodness.
Here are some cousins and an aunt playing Sorry and putting together puzzles before it is time to eat. I asked who was winning, and was told that nobody really wins at Sorry. I am kind of sorry to learn that, because that is one game I usually can win at. Oh well.


Here is my BFH visiting with Uncle Frank (mashed potato maker and retired army major ... see the veteran's day post where I didn't have his picture.) Both these guys are always happy to see each other, as they work on solving the world's problems each Thanksgiving. This year, though, it's too confusing to be definite about which plans will make things better.



Here's Rachel and Sally. They are so pretty! Thank you, Sally for washing all of those dishes. Sally and Michael were really happy to know that I am finally happy. Mike didn't really believe me at first. There have been many Thanksgivings in the past 24 years that I have known him that I wasn't very happy. Sally went and give my BFH a hug and told him thank you for making her cousin so happy. That was so nice.



Hey Uncle Chunk and birthday girl Maria! Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you, Uncle Chunk for helping us clean up, and for Maria for working so hard on making things pretty and cleaning up.



I didn't get very many pictures this year. I was busy visiting with everybody. So much news to catch up on. Nigel is getting ready to join the Navy and is trying to get Ethan to accompany him. Kari is doing so good at her work. My cousin Scott is doing great as a respiratory therapist. My brother-in-law is ready to launch a new business. Sally is redecorating her house. Things are slow for some of us in the building and construction businesses, and that is a worry. Nick got something stuck in his eye, but is feeling better. Fernando has a broken foot. Brian is still funny.



Mom has been working hard, as always. She gave us all our family calendars (more on this later) .

Overall, we have such a neat family, and I love you all!