Wow! What a Thanksgiving We Had!!

Wow!  What a Thanksgiving we had!! 

Although I pride myself on not being superstitious, the fact that we were going to have 13 for dinner sort of sat in the back of my head.  I even counted our delightful 3 year old great granddaughter as an adult (after all she would be seated at the table with us), but still 13.  My niece and her husband were coming up from Los Angeles and called to let us know when they left Glendale, CA.  Everyone else was here when they arrived, but behind them came a Volkswagen.  We all drive Suburu’s or Honda’s, and who was this Volkswagen?  Much to our delightful surprise our daughter and son-in-law from Tucson, AZ, had driven to our niece’s house Wednesday, and on up Thursday morning.  Not only were we thrilled to see them, but it made 15 for dinner!  It was the first time in years that all four of our daughters were here at the same time. 

I had prepared and stuffed the turkey, and all else was sort of pot-luck, except the mashed potatoes and gravy.  Our two great granddaughters, one 10 and one 3, were to make the mashed potatoes, so of course the 3 year old had to stand on a three-step stool to get her high enough to reach the sink so she could help peel the potatoes.  Their mom cut up the potatoes, added the water and salt and put the potatoes on the stove.  A son-in-law helped drain the water out later, but from then on the 10 year old mashed them by hand, added the right amount of milk and butter, and they couldn’t have been better.   

The only small catastrophe came early on when our friend pulled on the end of our ancient oak table to pull it out for the leaf, and the lip under the edge came off in his hands.  The poor fellow had the most horrified look on his face, but we assured him it was glued on in the first place, so could be re-glued with not much of a problem.  We all got around the table with enough room.  The other guests did not come in for dinner.  That was the 8 dogs, one cat, and two parrots that came with the group.  The cat and 3 dogs are ours – the rest were visiting.   

We repeated the whole thing on Saturday with a birthday party for one of our daughters.  Two from Thanksgiving weren’t here, but my nephew and his wife came and brought some terrific apples from their place further up the canyon.  We are still noshing on them.  We had the 8 dogs, 1 cat and 2 parrots.  Everyone left for home after the party, though we got some pictures.  There was much laughing at both parties, good conversations although we avoided the topic of politics and the election when one much loved son-in-law who is quite conservative was around.  It’s amazing how fast one can switch topics! 

All in all, a great party time, and we had much to be grateful for.  Most of the family is basically healthy (colds and stuff don’t count), gainfully employed or in school, or both.