Thanksgiving survival

It seems Thanksgiving is a time when our family gets together every other year, for the kids and then of course, everyone else, to get sick. We had such fun but some of the parents had to take time out to be with their kids and then themselves to take care of the "sickies". Just doesn't seem fair. It got me to thinking about when our kids were young and what all happened.

First, we didn't have to travel for several hours or many hours to get to "Grandma's house". We lived within 8 miles of both Grandparent's homes. Yes, I can see our lives where much simpler than our children and their families are now. One daughter and her hubby and kids live over 17 hours from here. Another daughter, hubby and kids live five hours from here. The next daughter, hubby and kids live about an hour from here. Yes, our lives were much "easier" for sure.

Just so everyone knows I/We really appreciate the sacrifices these families made to come for the holiday. It was fun listening to the girls chat back and forth to each other and to watch the cousins playing and chatting with one another.

Glen and I have the opportunity to visit with our children and their families usually once or twice a year but the siblings don't. They do talk on the phone a lot to each other but to be together face to face is such a rare occasion.

To catch everyone up on the dinner in our garage, it turned out great. The food tasted good, I can say that because I didn't fix it all. The tables turned out looking pretty good and it wasn't even cold. Great Grandma got to sit right in front of the heater to be sure she didn't get cold. For the rest of us, it was very pleasant.

Life today is so much different than when I was a child or our children were young. We lived close to family so we were able to attend many different celebrations. We got to see our siblings and families often. I really appreciate the effort that went into preparing for the holiday both food wise and travel wise. Thank you to our children, their spouses and grandchildren. Remember you are all loved and to Nicole we missed you so much. I guess this is what we have to expect will happen more often as our grandchildren grow older and test their wings getting ready to leave their nests.

Thanksgiving

Where has all of the time gone, it is almost Thanksgiving and I am so excited. We are going to have most of our children and their families here. One daughter, Pam, won't be able to make it and I am sad for that as she hasn't been here when everyone has been since Kristie got married. This year I understand one granddaughter won't be able to come, Nicole, and that makes me so sad to think she is so grown up that now she has a job and can't be off. We shall surely miss her. We get the opportunity to visit with our children individually but to have four families of them together is such a treat. Wow, how exciting they are willing to make this trip - some very far away to come here.

This year all of the girls are taking so much on to fix for our dinner, I'm just not used to having so much help. Wow is this exciting! We've had years when they would each bring something but this is the first time so much of the meal is being handled by our girls. Thank you, I so appreciate you all stepping in and doing so much. It seems like my body just doesn't want to work like it has in the past.

Can you imagine this we are eating in our garage? Yep, that's right and I'm excited about that. We are borrowing tables and chairs from a friend that does weddings so the tables are large and we can sit eight to a table. We will probably have around 20-22. I've got decorations all figured out, along with table cloths etc. Our garage is all carpeted and we have an electric heater that we can put out there if it's especially cold.

Our daughters have come up with games and such for the little ones to play with to keep them happy and we hope they can go outside for a bit to run some of their energy off.

I love listening to our daughters talk and laugh about this and that. This is such a joy to have this many of our posterity here that we hardly can contain ourselves. Oh and we'll also have a friend of Kristie and Jared and my Mom and brother coming. Glen hasn't invited his brother so he may come also. I love having so many here, I subscribe to the thought - no one should be alone on this day. Why it's a day to give thanks for family and friends alike.

Thank you Lord for the many blessings you have given to Glen and I, for our family and the joy they bring into our lives.