First, we want to wish a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KYLIE!!! Since we missed it, you just need to keep celebrating.:)
And now for the rest of us...Happy Early Thanksgiving! Are you ready? Will you be the cook? Or the taste tester?
Is your family getting together for the day?
My family splits the holidays so that we gather together on Thanksgiving one year and Christmas the next. Whichever holiday we spend together, that’s when we exchange gifts.
This year, we are also doing “The Drumstick Dash”. 
%5B4%5D.jpg "favedancers (2)")
We’ve all signed up to bring assorted fattening foods with little nutritional value to share. I’m hoping that 5K walk will burn off at least a few of those calories. One of my favorite activities is the white elephant gift exchange. Everyone brings a gag gift or a gift that doesn’t cost much and we take turns opening them and trying to trade the ones we don’t like for something we like better… such as peanut m&ms. Seems like somebody always brings a fart machine. Even if I end up with the fart machine (from my husband who won it last year), I’ll have a smile on my face. It’s a precious time to be able to get together…
What will you and your family do during the Thanksgiving holiday? I’m all ears! I’d love to hear!
xo,
Leanne
23 comments:
This year, we're living within an hour of 2 of our kids (the other one's in Northern Ireland), so it'll be the first "easy" Thanksgiving. I'll be heading down the mountain early in the day to help our son (a good cook) with the dinner, and should enjoy our grandson as well. Daughter #2 will join us, and we'll enjoy all our family traditional dishes. I'm looking forward to it.
Terry
Terry's Place
Romance with a Twist--of Mystery
Leanne, bless your heart-- I love that photo of your mom and dad dancing. From it you can see what kind of guy he was and we could sure use more dads like him! God Bless.
And as to Thanksgiving-- the Florida family will all be together and this year we're all searching for new recipes that tame the sugar-and-fat beastie. And we're getting a little bored with the usual, so we expect a little variation. Even so, the Pool Boy will make his fabulous mashed potatoes and I'll make Rachael Ray's "stuffin' muffins" and for sure there will be pumpkin pie!
Lots to be thankful for this year!
Oh, Leanne. What a sweet and precious photograph of your mom and dad. So glad you have such a happy memory moment to turn to when you think of him.
We'll go to my sis's this year as we do every year (then everyone comes to our house for Easter) It's a big food fest and happy gathering where the younger cousins can get reacquainted and the older ones (that would be my set) laugh a lot and tease each other. We are very thankful to have a family that loves each other and enjoys each other's company. Turkey will absolutely be on the menu as my nephew operates a turkey farm! Yum Yum
And happy belated b'day, Kylie!
I love the idea of the drumstick dash! I hope to find some way to give back this Thanksgiving. We do not have a lot of family so it will be just Al, myself and our college son home for the holiday.
Terry, I'm so happy for you that you get to see some of your sweeties more easily this year. I know you will enjoy that grandchild! And wow, your son cooks? You did something right!:) Happy Thanksgiving! xo
Betina, thanks for your nice comments on my dad. Yes, he was wonderful.:) And how great that you can AGREE to change up the menu! We are entrenched and I would be thrilled to make some changes! Yes, Betina, we all have a lot to be thankful for.<3
Cindy, that's one of my fave pics of my parents!:) I got one of him dancing with three of the grandkids too. How cool is that.:) Sounds like you have a fun day planned. Aren't we blessed to be able to get together with family?
Sheila, although I love my larger family, I also love a more "peaceful" holiday too.lol A couple of times it's just been my husband and me and his parents. Add in some football and it's a nice day! If you're looking for a way to give this Thanksgiving, I keep hearing that shelters and rescue missions need shoes especially for children. You have a good heart.<3
Sounds like a totally fun Thanksgiving with your crew. Love the pic of your mom! Here, it will be quiet, but lovely, I'm sure.
Love that you do the run/walk in honor of your father! Hope you have a nice day for it.
I think we're going to my brothers for Thanksgiving. Seems like he's taken on that day, since I do Xmas and my mother does Easter. One year he picked up a complete Thanksgiving dinner from Byerlys, all made up and ready to go. I kind of liked that. No slaving over the stove, just toss the tins when you're done. And it tasted great! Then we have our annual SceneIt (DVD game about movie trivia) tournament and that's always fun too.
Leanne, I'm so totally in love with your father now. I love it that he could make your mother laugh after how many years of marriage??
As for me, I will gather her with as many of my family as I can sugar-bribe into coming.
Have a great Dash.
Christine, thank you for visiting and posting! What a nice surprise! Not all of our holidays are this rowdy. I've learned to enjoy the smaller ones too. With the quieter ones, I might get a NAP!!:) Enjoy your sweeties.
Michele, I hope it's not freezing either... well, it will probably start out freezing, but I hope it warms up! And YES to picking up a complete Tgiving dinner!!! We have done that before and added some dishes. Much more sensible and that way people aren't in the kitchen allllll day long. Love that you play a game. Adds to the fun, don't you think?
Lois, they were married for ummm almost 60 years. They were very playful with each other. When they were first married, they tossed uncooked biscuits at each other.:) In their later years, she would hide in the bathtub when he came home from golf and called for her. Then, of course, she said "Boo!" when he came into the bathroom. Thanks for your nice comments and good luck with all your cooking!
What nice, rewarding thing to do for Thanksgiving, Leanne! We usually have a big meal at my house, so it'll be a small crew here this year. A couple years ago, we had a mini-reunion for my side and had, something like 25. It was crazy.
We're still in the traditional mode - turkey, dressing, extremely fattening mashed potatoes made ahead of time with sour cream, cream cheese and butter, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole. Pumpkin pie.
My keyboard's getting wet with drool!
I had a great birthday, thanks :) We ran down to Des Moines after work and dropped off a sheetrock jack for one son LOL and went out to eat with four of the kids. It was fun.
Our Thanksgiving is in flux :) Trying to work around in-law schedules, boyfriend's family schedules, etc. makes it challenging. Because I have four boys and they never get too old for sports the day after Thanksgiving is Stud Bowl. They don their HS jerseys, invite all their friends and play a game of supposedly touch football. We tailgate watching them and then troop back to my place where I have hot chocolate and a couple kinds of soup waiting for them.
Helen, the walk should be interesting.:) I reread the ingredients in your mashed potatoes and blinked -- sour cream, cream cheese and butter? Geez, couldn't you add some bacon?lol JUST kidding! HAVE FUN!:)
Kylie... dropped off a sheetrock jack to celebrate your birthday?lolol I'm glad you had dinner with hubby and some of your kids. And OH MY on the STUD BOWL! That's got to be fun to watch!:)
Our family seems to have gotten to big for us all to get together for Thanksgiving (my niece has 7 kids lol). So now I cook for my two daughters, one son-in-law and a boyfriend and my husband. It seems though that it's just as much work for 6 as 20 (almost). I still want to make all the same dishes and I have trouble making a little of anything. At least there are more leftovers this way lol.
Leanne, Thanksgiving brings such memories for me. It was Mama's favorite holiday--she always said so, anyway--and she died on Thanksgiving at the end of her bout with cancer. Her candle burns especially bright in our house that day with her china and silverware on the table, her recipes--well, mostly--and all the stories I can squeeze in for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This year will be no exception except for one thing--a newly painted dining room! My dear daughter did it for us as my birthday gift. Exactly the kind of gift Mama would have loved.
Catslady, I think six people is great. You can play games with that many people. Maybe they could bring a dish?:) Maybe the guys could clean up? I'm evil, aren't I? Enjoy your day AND the leftovers! xo
Oh Kathleen, your post brought tears to my eyes. If my mother had passed on Thanksgiving, I would be a basket case on that day. I love it that you continue to share her with the young ones.<3 One thing that comforts me about my daddy is that he's really inside all of us -- we have his DNA!:) Bless you and yours on this special day. xo
Mmmm. Bacon. Now you got me going! lol
Post a Comment