Our Thanksgiving 2009

Early morning found the Mann girls up and about, tidying the house and preparing breakfast, which was pita bread split into two circles, buttered, toasted, and peanutbuttered. After we were all done eating, everyone except mama and I left for the "Turkey Bowl". This is a church gathering where we attempt to play softball. I say attempt because my family at least is not especially skilled at it. (seeing that the only real chance we have to play is once a year on Thanksgiving. :))

At home, after I got off the computer, mama and I started doing the last minute things to prepare for our company... getting tablecloths, platters, etc... I was just getting started on the dishes when I heard a loud knocking at the door. I was somewhat shocked, not knowing who would be coming this early. I went to the door (wiping my hands on the way) and opened it, to find my cousin Victoria standing there!! I was very happy, to say the least. After we had all hugged each other and said Hi and so on, I went back to finish the dishes. :)

After I was done, Victoria and Michaela and I looked at Josiah's legos and stuff in my hope chest. We had fun talking together and laughing about various things. It is so nice to have cousins! :)

Our moms then reminded us that we needed to help get ready for everyone to come, which we did. I also showered, and when I came out, the rest of my family was getting home. It then got much louder and busier, with every one running around doing things and showing our cousins various things. We cleaned up our yard, got the tables set up and scrubbed, helped with food, and so on.

Uncle Richie was the next person to show up. He was pretty excited about all the food. :) After he came, our friends the U. Family came. They have six children and are like cousins to us. The noise, of course, increased, but we didn't mind. They brought lots of yummy, interesting looking foods. By this time, everything was smelling really good. Once everything was brought in, the girls sat on the couch inside, talking and playing a game, and the boys played light sabers outside. (see, boys and girls really are different.)

The reason we did not begin eating was because our Grandma, in keeping with tradition, had not yet arrived. She came, with Grandpa, an hour late. As is usual. We must keep up the tradition, you know. :) We were all quite hungry by this time, having eaten an early and light breakfast, and it now being about two o 'clock in the afternoon.

We had turkey, salmon, roast, ham (and Auntie Kim's ham sauce!) stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, ratatouille, carrots and turnips, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, corn, peas and pearl onions, medieval salad, fruit and rolls. We also had apple cider, eggnog, and water to drink.

We all got our plates filled, and the children (under 20 :)) went outside to eat. I went back in to get a drink, and when I came back out, I got a small bug in my eye, which stayed in there the rest of the day, as it went beyond my reach when I attempted to get it out. Sad. Oh well, it didn't hurt much.

We ate and talked, mainly about strange things. Which, if you haven't noticed, is what tends to happen when you are with family and people you know extremely well.

After we were done eating, we played "Apples to Apples" for awhile, visited, and did random other things until it was time to head over to our other Aunt and Uncle's house for dessert. We had several kinds of pie, cookies, and more.

They had a football game on, and Josiah, Michaela and I had fun commenting on it. (I think people that actually like and watch football might have been slightly disturbed at our comments...) We took some pictures of us all mashed on their couch (I got a good spot, on papa's leg. :)) and then left.

The U. family came back to our house (they didn't go to our Aunt and Uncle's) and we talked and played card games with them. After they left, we set up the air mattress, and started talking with our cousins about plans for the next day. Which happened to include hot chocolate. And we didn't have enough hot chocolate. So, we asked if we could go to Walmart, as I can drive and am more prone to agree to drive to Walmart at elven at night than our moms.

They said we could go, so we went. On the way, we listened to "The Fox" by the Desert Skies band. We really like that song. Well, Josiah does. Anyway. We went to Walmart, picked out our hot chocolate (we got the most for the least money) and the various other things we were told to get, and headed home. We got a few rather odd looks, which is not really unusual for us. But I do think we looked a bit odd. Seven of us, most of the girls wearing dresses, going around talking and getting random things.

We came home, brought out our stuff, and started talking more. In the kitchen, us children went around and said what we were thankful for. We then remembered that we hadn't read "Old Man Rabbit's Thanksgiving Dinner" (Which is a tradition for us) so of course we had to read that before we went to bed. I was appointed by Josiah to read, since papa was in bed. I finished at 12:03. At which point, we said good night and went to bed. We talked surprisingly little.

And that, my friends, is how both the day and this tale end. Hope you (Andrea, since you asked for a post about Thanksgiving) (Okay and everyone else, too) enjoyed my extremely long post. Now you really know how our Thanksgiving was. :)