Nov. 27: A Traditional American Thanksgiving....Sort of

A Traditional Thanksgiving

     We drove the 2 hours to Jim's parents' house in Oskaloosa on Thursday morning. We had to drive 2 cars because there were 9 of us! We got there around 9 and hung out with the relatives while cooking dinner. We had a typical Thanksgiving feast of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn casserole, broccoli rice casserole, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, fruit salad, veggie plate, cold broccoli salad, cranberry salad, 3 dozen dinner rolls, apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and chocolate cream pie. There was an absolute ton of food and I have to admit that there was very little of it left over! There were 23 of us, but still!

At the boy kiddie table...

 and the girl kiddie table!

     We had our entire family (Jim, Krys, Lynney, Kayley, Jameson, Alex, Jer, Karley, & Kaydey) there, plus Jim's brother, David, and his wife Cindy, and their son, John. Jim's sister, Julie, was there with her husband Mark, daughters Sara & Amanda, Jim, Sara's husband, their kids Aubrey & Kayne, and Amanda's son, Xavier. Plus Mom & Dad. Whew! Jim's other brother, Larry and his family, did not make it out this year, since they live in California.

     What made this an atypical Thanksgiving is that we also celebrated Christmas. Once all the dishes and food were put away from dinner, we opened gifts. We celebrate Christmas now because Jim's mom and dad head to Texas for the winter, usually the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Xavier & Aubrey

Jamo & Kayley

Kaydey & Karley

Kayley & Cousin John (also 16!)

Chicago shirts from David, Cindy, and John

California shirts from Larry, Maricel, Stephen, & Jennifer

I should probably mention that we went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving on Friday afternoon. Jer wanted to do some Black Friday shopping, so Jim took the boys to Wal-Mart for a little bit while the girls went shopping at the Williamsburg outlet malls. After that, we went to my parents' house and helped them prepare the meal. We had hamballs, butternut squash, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, fruit salad, apple pie, and pumpkin pie. My brother, Dan, and his wife, Cathy, also joined us. We didn't get any pictures because my camera battery died. The new one. ARGH!!!! It refused to be charged, so we think my new camera is actually a battery sucker, because this battery is only a month old. (Remember the Starr's Cave debacle?) Anyway, many apologies for the lack of pictures of food or people. We had a lot of fun, even without the camera! :)