Tonight we celebrated Thanksgiving in grand style at my place. Now that everyone is gone and everything is cleaned up, I miss wandering into the kitchen and snacking on pieces of cold turkey and a forkful of one of the nearly ten pies we had on hand. I was talked into hosting this event because my dwelling was the most likely candidate to fit everyone into one area to eat. Jim and Jan usually host but they were unavailable this year.
Fortunately, I did not have to do any of the cooking – but I did put in my time getting the house clean and prepared. We filled the basement with tables courtesy Mom and Bob and it was a perfect fit to seat the 30 people that we had. Bev prepared the turkey to perfection and everyone else contributed a side dish. We ran out of gravy and meatballs – (I foolishly waited to grab a meatball during my second of three helpings – but alas, they were gone) but other than that there was plenty to spare. And we could have built a small fort out of pies.
Adam rests on his big cousin’s shoulder
Mom and Ashleigh, happy for the holidays
Mom digs into the good eats with a vengeance. Looks like the start of something new.
Adam briefly reconsiders his formula diet
A smattering of Thanksgiving attendees in my basement
Roll call! In attendance were Grandpa Murphy, Diana, Tom, Cathy, Lori, Shane, Brandon, Abby, Elise, Debby, Mike, Brad (not me; another one – Mike’s little boy), Mom, Bob C, Me, Ashleigh, Denise, Aaron, Adam, Bryan, Bev, Ed, Chris, Sarah, Darlene, Bob R, Brittney, Doug, Jacob, and Zac. I think that’s everyone – I listed them in order of families by status: age before beauty.
Debby borrows Abbie’s headdress and affixes it to her scalp
After-dinner reading of the Oprah Winfrey coffee table book with Grandpa, Zac, and Aaron
It was great to see Chris and Sarah. Since they are now living in Columbus, I don’t get to see them that often. Chris brought me a peace-pipe offering of his entire collection of Pink Floyd CD’s for me to borrow. I will not do anything illegal with them. That would be illegal.
Of course, seeing Lori’s family is always a treat. She and Shane travelled from Virginia for the holiday. Her girls are always adorable. This year Abby came dressed as an Indian brave. They immediately found Ashleigh’s keyboard with the sing-along microphone and regaled us with their improvised vocal selections.
Shane and Lori, fresh from Virginia
Very cute kids Abbie and little sister Elise
The Claude sisters
When the obligatory football game wasn’t on, Diana took us through a slideshow DVD of photos past and present of the Heywood family. This is the family of my Grandpa’s Mother.
Chris, Sarah, Debby, and I hung out in my spare room for a bit while Chris perused my CD collection to see if he could find something to withdraw. The pressure was too great though and he went home empty-handed. Little Brad (not me) made his entrance looking for Debby and then closed and locked the door. We were trapped in there for hours and we had to survive by eating our own fingernails.
Chris peruses my CD’s – one by one
Sarah feigns patience
Overall, it was a great night. Didn’t have to cook. Didn’t have to clean-up. Everyone took care of that for me, while I held Adam and took my traditional weekly photos of him. Oh, and Tiny was a perfect young lady for her first Thanksgiving fiesta. While Baby was hiding from the crowd, Tiny worked it. I saw her involved in many conversations throughout the night. Bring on the turkey sandwiches!
Adam is happy, despite what his eyes say
Adam snoozes on Aunt Bev
Adam is up and at’em, after his Thanksgiving nap
Adam’s overall reaction to his first Thanksgiving
Tiny has a similar reaction
More on Thanksgiving break here…
Now that the pressure is off, I choose The Crash Test Dummies’ Jingle All the Way. This completes my collection of Christmas songs sung with ridiculously deep voices. Next choices: Hanson and Cher.
Chris Tangeman
November 26th, 2006
I just got around to checking your website (Nov. 29th) and your view of the evening appeared to be the same as my family newsletter, which I wrote a couple of days ago. Amazing how we saw things the same way and gave a roll call of attendance the same way too. Wow!
Bev Tangeman
November 29th, 2006