Hosting Thanksgiving

Celebrating and giving thanks starts way before Thanksgiving. Hopefully we try to show gratitude to God and each other every day. But during the month, we always try to focus on it. We put together a little gratitude tree during the month of November. I printed out little leaves and each day, everyone was invited to think about something they were grateful for and put it on the tree. Here are some of the memorable ones: Jesus Christ & God (several times), KFC & the 5 piece meal, my body, nice words, traditions, good smells, ancestors, dodge ball, brothers and sisters, antibiotics, a warm house, myself, water, cars to drive, fun, church, babies, snow, colors, Jazz, sleep, Wiley (Sydnie's little friend), fuzzy socks, each day, Boji & Kanon, seasons, boxes, life, pie, examples, brain, my jobs, toilet paper, myself, the thankful tree (Dave only did one, that was it...he said ditto to all the things on the tree, haa!), and the song Taste the Biscuit.

This year, Dave had to be on call during Thanksgiving, so we decided to host. We had Grandma Di & Scott, Amy & Kolby and boys, and Mark & Mayela and Amber over. I got some new drink glasses and tablecloth. Dave smoked the turkey and it was deeelicious...probably the best one I've had. So good! We also did some veggie sides, cranberry sauce, and the stuffing. Mom brought rolls (orange and dinner), Mayela made mashed potatoes and broccoli and Amy made yams, raspberry pretzel salad, and we all brought a pie or two or three. We had quite the pie spread - pumpkin, chocolate silk, cheesecake pie, roasted pineapple tart pie, banana cream, pecan and peanut butter caramel. During dinner, we had great conversations, but missed Adam and Meghan's family. After dinner, we talked and played the M&M Gratitude game. You'd go around the circle, pick an M&M to eat and whatever color you got was a specific thing you'd share that you're thankful for. It was fun. 

The next day, we headed out to Utah in the snow to enjoy a day with the Ryerses. We went to the temple, the older kids did a little Black Friday shopping, we made some leaf pictures, played games and watched football of course. Grateful we got to spend time with both families that weekend. When we are grateful, our gratitude only grows!