Thanksgiving

This year Ronnie’s parents (Ronnie and Sue) were able to come out for Thanksgiving. It was really nice having so many extra helping hands. The two previous years it’s been just Ronnie and I getting everything ready. Two days before Thanksgiving Grandma, Lana, and myself went shopping for last minute Thanksgiving things while Grandpa got to work on my to do list. Yes, I always seem to have a to do list for him full of things that Ronnie and I are afraid to tackle by ourselves or things that for some reason we just haven’t gotten around to.

The day before was supposed to be relaxing with all the shopping done. Grandpa and Lana went outside to look for things to make our Thanksgiving sign. I thought Lana would really like to help me make it and she did. I made some pies and tried to figure out my game plan for T day. Grandma entertained Lana by doing whatever Lana wanted to do. Kyle came home from school early; he just had a half day. Then the kids and Grandpa went to the park. Sue and I decorated a little while they were gone. Soon it was time for Lana’s nap and Grandpa really wore her out, she was asleep in no time. Later that evening I had thought of a few things I needed from the store, so Ronnie and I left to go get them. Well, shopping the night before Thanksgiving was not a good idea. The Sam’s Club right next to me had sold out of the glass goblets I wanted so we ended up going across town to get them. Then while we were over there we stopped at another store for a few more last minute things, and we could not find any turkey gravy. Then three stops later we finally found it and we were walking out of the store and remembered we needed ice, so back into the store we go. Finally two hours later we return home and I put in a roast and we all started to set up the tables for the big day. Luckily for us while we were out we went ahead and bought another pumpkin pie so before we went to bed we had some pie to celebrate our victorious shopping adventure and still had a pristine pie for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving morning I woke up to the smell of roast in the air. We checked the turkeys to make sure they were fully defrosted and they were for once. They guys were busy peeling carrots and potatoes and then Sue would wash them off and I would cut them, it was all a team effort. I kept Sue busy cleaning up after me, I swear as soon as I was finished dirtying up a bowl it was clean. It was great not having a huge pile of dishes to deal with after cooking everything. Ronnie and his Dad got the turkeys all ready to go. My Dad came over to watch the frying of the turkeys. The whole turkey process got started around 10:00am. Our Thanksgiving fest was ready to go at 12:00pm, right on time. Everyone arrived and we all ate until we were miserable. Then we perused the black Friday ads and planned out what stores we wanted to go to. After that we played Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games on the Wii. That was our futile attempt to work off our Thanksgiving dinner. We had 12 people total for Thanksgiving dinner and 10 pies…you do the math but I think it’s going take more than playing a video game to work off that damage. Not that all the pies have been eaten but I now can have at least one piece of pie a day, I think I need to throw the leftover pies out on trash day just to get them out of our house. Next year there will be a pie limit.

Later that day we went to the Magical Forest at Opportunity Village to walk around and get in the Christmas spirit. It wasn’t very crowded at all which is why we try to always go on Thanksgiving and also would doesn’t need to walk around after stuffing yourself. The kid’s faces are always so peaceful looking with the soft glow from Christmas lights lighting them up. As we were walking around someone told us that Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf were in front of us. It really was them and they had been in front of us the whole time and we didn’t know it until we were halfway through the forest. They were there with their kids and it was nice to see that no one really bothered them too much. It must be hard to go out and do things as a family when everyone knows you and wants to get pictures with you and so forth. Kyle and Lana took their annual train ride with Grandpa and then we headed home. We all went to bed with the black Friday Ads dancing in our heads.