Thanksgiving 2012

I oddly don't remember much at all about last Thanksgiving.   I recalled that it had been at our house and that some family came, but beyond that I couldn't think of a single detail about it without looking at the blogpost I'd written about it.   After being grateful that at least it was recorded somewhere and smiling at how much a couple of my kids have grown (Emma in particular), I wondered how much of the last year I would remember without the blog.  I'm beginning to realize that my brain tends to block out stressful memories.  While last Thanksgiving wasn't necessarily stressful itself, it was at the beginning stage of worrying about Spencer and apparently got clumped into the brain block. 

Knowing that that's how my brain works makes me all the more grateful for this blog and also makes me not want to get too far behind on posting, so that the memories are not forgotten.

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  Thanksgiving weekend was the last of three dates we had listed on Spence's Make-a-Wish form as potential dates for his trip, so we held off planning anything until the very last minute just in case they surprised us at the last second.  Finally when we still hadn't heard anything a week-and-a-half beforehand, we decided that we should probably start to think about our holiday plans.  Luckily we didn't have to think too hard because right when we began to assume that we were staying put for Thanksgiving was right when my brother Pete invited us to join their family for Thanksgiving at their house. 

I should probably lie and say how disappointed I was not to host again this year, but I have to admit that I was pretty darn excited that I could make my pies and rolls and not worry about the other details of dinner.  We also may or may not have been excited to not have to stress about cleaning up beforehand.  :)

This year we brought the sweet potato rolls (me), 4 pies (apple (me), lemon meringue (me), pistachio (Cami), and Nutella cream(Emma)), and a broccoli salad (Glen).    Mika did a much better job on the turkey and ham than I ever did, somehow making them both moist and flavorful--something that has always eluded me.  I don't know who made what, but there was also stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, eggplant, and mashed potatoes....all of which was delicious too!

The 12-and-under cousins feasting at the kids' table...

The adults' turn at the table...

Cami and  Emma fought (literally) the whole time over who got to hold baby Jack Spencer....

 Ellie was more distracted playing with her cousins, but eventually had to get in on the baby action too...

Later on, the tryptophan kicked in for the young...

and the not so young...

Cami is pleased to announce that she's officially made it in life now that cousin Davin refers to her as his friend....

I believe there was also a bit of football watching that went on with the bros, but can't be sure since us ladies were too busy ignoring the kids and talking about grown-up girly things (like how loud and often our husbands snore and other such scandalous topics) . 

Later on we went home and left our Ellie behind for a cousin sleepover. 

The festivities continued the next day when Pete dropped a tired but happy Ellie back off to our house.   The girls played "Extremely Cute Pilgrims" with each other for hours....

meanwhile Davin played lacrosse with Emma...

and Bridgette won the "how-can-I-possibly-be-any-cuter?" contest when she posed with subtle head tilts and huge smiles whenever I came near her with the camera!  

Now I've got Thanksgiving all blogged, stay tuned for the Christmas posts to begin ...