Thanksgiving 2011

A new house with a huge family room meant that we got to host Thanksgiving this year!

We had Mom and Dad Steele, Mom and Dad Walker, and Peter, Mary and Grafton.

On Wednesday, Rebekah, Emma, Annie and Ethan made the turkey placecards- you can tell which ones Annie made!  they turned out really cute- and the kids had a good time with them. While we were doing that, Tim, Price and Josh drove down to Levan, got on four wheelers, and went up in the mountains to find us a Christmas tree!  Tim says it was much, much easier than the years when we did it in Manila with 3 or 4 tiny kids.  I remember, in particular, trudging through thigh-deep snow in the forest, carrying Price and Josh, while Rebekah sat on Tim's shoulders with her frozen feet inside the collar of his shirt.  Good memories, but not very fun at the time!  This year, the boys found a great tree. Tim and his Dad sat on the four-wheelers while Price and Josh crossed a ravine, cut down the tree, and lugged it back.  Teenage boys are the best!

Here is our Thanksgiving table- Rebekah was the decorator.  She had lots more planned, but I had to veto the extras at the last minute, since we were running out of room for food.  Sorry, Rebekah!  It looked great.

Tim's Dad carving the turkey.

Grandma Walker with Eliza.

The whole crew- seen from my end of the table...

and from Tim's end.

The after-dinner relaxing and holding-of-the-babies.

For future reference, here's what we had:

Turkey (cooked in an oven bag)

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Sweet potatoes (the really bad for you kind)

Mom Walker's famous dressing (yum)

Orange rolls (by Mom Steele)

Cranberry Jello Salad (by Mary)

Vegetable Platter (by Mom Walker)
Stewed Apples (from our trees!)

and then there were the pies... which I sadly did not take a picture of...

Apple

Blackberry Cream Cheese (which wasn't that great, but made awesome pie shakes the next day!)

Lemon Meringue

Banana Cream

Pumpkin Maple

Chocolate 

Pecan (those last three were by Peter and Mary)

Pumpkin Flan (by Mom Steele)

Everything was amazing- although I did overdose on pie.

I love Thanksgiving- and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to express thanks and recognize my blessings right before the Christmas season.

I am so blessed.