Thanksgiving

I have come to accept that Thanksgiving and the week leading up to Thanksgiving will never be just about Thanksgiving.  I will always be planning and preparing for two birthdays AND Thanksgiving.  So let the development of our non-traditional traditions of the holiday season commence!

Jason had his turn in the salad bowl Mark and I received as a wedding present.  We started this tradition when Ian was a baby, not knowing that he would have seven younger siblings following along behind him.  When we received the bowl, we laughed at how huge it was. (Who eats that much salad? It's so big we can put the baby in the bowl! Hey, let's put the baby in the bowl and take a picture!) Now that our family is so huge, we use it as ONE of our popcorn bowls as well as a photography prop.

The Assembly Line

We are pretty nontraditional, in case you haven't noticed (haha).  Mark cooks all the food from scratch and I'm pretty sure this was the best Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing yet!  I did spend a few minutes searching for cool recipes on Pinterest, but my contribution was opening cans of processed things.  After we read the Junie B Jones Thanksgiving book a few years ago, we've enjoyed adding "exploding biscuits" and "cranberry sauce in the shape of a can" to our menu.  Instead of putting all the food in serving dishes and bringing it to the table, we serve straight to plates, restaurant style.  This is just how a large family FUNctions with more small people than helpful people. (But I did do more than just open cans. Jason wakes up for the day around 5:00 AM, so I made four pies while waiting for the rest of the family to wake up)

With the middle kids helping, I quickly threw together a simple Thanksgiving table.  My plan was to teach the girls how to properly set a table (we never eat at our dining room table in the dining room since we converted it to a school six years ago) but they already knew how! "We learned it from watching Signing Time! over and over with Lula."  So not only can the set the table, they can sign all the pieces.  I actually made a table covering (a scrap of fall-colored fabric-so shabby chic!) and a centerpiece (Pinterest inspired!) from old dusty champagne glasses turned over into candle holders! We pulled out the special fish silverware and drank our Sprite/cranberry juice out of mason jars.  It wasn't quite Country Living Magazine, but close.

This year we are not only reminded of how thankful we are for our blessings, but how we take our blessings for granted.  As we head into a holiday season where our values are challenged by our culture, I pray that we continue to stay focused and cheerful on why we have chosen to live the life in our own, special nontraditional way.