Thanksgiving

Wednesday night the party started! The kids came down from Idaho and we had R&J over for dinner. They brought orange chicken from WinCo, and it was excellent! We played Phase 10 and passed around babies.

Conspiring Buddies

R's expert mom skills paying off with a fussy Riley

We were happy when we heard the family would be coming up from Arizona! But the realization that we would be responsible for the Thanksgiving dinner slowly sunk in, which was accompanied by the feeling of impending doom. I am no cook by any stretch of the imagination, and the thought of poisoning the family with salmonella wasn't comforting. By the time Thursday came around, I had coworkers and friends praying that my family would make it through this experience alive.

...and they did!

Only one person got sick, and it sounds like he had more of a cold.
That's the story and I am sticking to it!

In fact, the food was really, really good! Rachel made half of the dinner, and I made the other half. Admittedly, C and I used cans and pre-prepared crusts to make the cooking as simple as possible. Rather than the hurry and bustle expected from Thanksgiving preparations, we had a slow morning and afternoon, slowly getting everything ready so that the food was still warm when my family got into town. The morning was punctuated every once and awhile with updates of which cities the family was going through while M watched the extended edition of LOTR as Riley fell in and out of naps. Finally, the turkey came out of the oven, the family was half an hour away, and we were on our way to R&Js!

R&Js place isn't that big, but it is cute and they did a great job fitting in a table and having enough room besides to sit after dinner to talk. Against all my expectations, the food was WONDERFUL! I was amazed at how good everything ended up, and I will admit, it has fueled my culinary curiosity. I think I have a block against cooking because I don't like how it takes time and I don't want to expect too much out of my food-lower expectations creates more satisfaction, you know? But if this good of food was that easy... it might be worth trying out more...

Rs amazing rolls

We had some fun additions to our celebrations this year-cousin K and brother-in-law N. I kept forgetting that they usually didn't have Thanksgiving dinner with us, because they blended in so well! It was great having them.

It was particularly heart-warming to see the grandbabies with their grandparents once again. It is so fun that the grandparents on both sides are so excited to see their grandchildren and make such an effort to be a part of their lives. Momma M. is so good with babies, and so when she went out into the frigid air in an attempt to calm Riley, we knew it wasn't an act of unkindness. Rather an innocent lapse of thought on Utah vs Arizona weather. However strange the gesture, it worked! Riley's gasping for air in the freezing cold got her to stop crying! So, that is one method to stop a fussy baby! ;) It didn't take them long to come back inside. :)

That night I found myself enlivened by the constant laughter and cozied up to the wonderful feeling of familiarity. It is amazing how we had been apart for weeks and still once we all get together, it is like we never left. I kept gaining satisfaction by looking around and seeing all the conversations and smiles as everyone interacted. I love family and the holidays!