Highlights of Thankgiving

I know I am writing this a little late, but I wanted to post some of the highlights of our Thanksgiving. This was a fun year for us because we had Jeannie come for one week, then a few days later, Derek's brother Alan came.

Aside from the fact that November is one of my favorite months of the year, I find myself quite posessive of the Thanksgiving holiday. I think it is because the day after Halloween they have Christmas up in the stores. It is all so commercial and here is one of the most heartfelt, non-commercial holidays of the year and it seems to be lost in the cracks. I guess I really like it's meaning. The act of giving thanks. This year I thought a lot about the "giving" part. I got an idea from a childhood friend and thought that I would try it out with my kids. This month I created two bare trees on poster paper and hung them on the wall. On the bottom of one it says, “thanks”. On the bottom of the other it says, “giving.” Each night we have been writing down (on leaves I cut out) some of the things that we are grateful for and pasting them on the “thanks” tree. Then we write down on leaves things that we have done during the day where we have served on the “giving” tree.

It is no surprise I have much more than one leaf worth to give thanks for. But what has pulled us the most from our comfort zone is the giving tree. At first, we really had a tough time thinking of things to write down on our leaves. Then, as the days wore on, service towards one another became much easier, more fun, and exciting to declare at the end of the day! Here are my trees. They are a bit bare since we started this half way through the month, but I can't WAIT for next year! (Thank you Chocolate on my Cranium!)

Here is my sweet friend Jeannie. She's in the middle of switching residencies and I told her I needed her close, so she came to MO to interview! We did all sorts of fun things while she was here. She really knows how to dive in and be part of our family.

I made her a Thanksgiving dinner while she was here since she is so far from family and wouldn't be here on the real day. For the Turkey, I bought a Butterball Turkey breast. It was already marinated and turned out delicious! Derek took this picture. Can you tell he had apple pie on his mind?

Here is Jeannie and Colin. All three of my kids just love her!

We did these Thanksgiving wreaths with the kids.

We went to the State Park after Stake Conference to have a picnic lunch. Here are some pictures I / Jeannie took of the kids.

Uncle Alan came for the actual holiday of Thanksgiving. He gave up his beautiful Sunshine State of CA to visit. We took him, or should I say, he took us to Bonkers for some serious fun.

Derek pulled out his "swords" for some guy fun on the front lawn. I seriously never in a million years would have imagined myself allowing this kind of thing in my home, but boys are boys and BOY to they have a lot of fun with these things!

After the first day here, Alan asked us if he could dig in our dirt. This is Derek's true love, so it didn't take much arm twisting for the two of them to conjure up a good project and go to work. They headed off to Home Depot about 1:30pm to pick up some flagstone. By sundown they had built us a nice sitting corner with a firepit in the middle. We'll have hostas come up in the spring and it will fill in nicely with greenery around it. I'll post a picture in the summer.

Even without the greenery, it looks FABULOUS! We've decided to call it the brother's corner. Thank you Uncle Alan!

We also took Alan to the park. Here's Tanner on the slide.

Colin in the stroller.

Lexie on the seahorse.

For our Turkey day, we got together with a couple of wonderful families in our ward. We love them and pretty much consider them family, so it seemed right to spend some time that day with them. We all have kids about the same ages. When we get together, we pretty much don't see our kids until it is time to go and and then we have to peel them apart and promise them we'll come back and play again. Of course we do!

I baked a 21 pound bird. Grandpa Ellingson taught me to cook it breast side down. I brine it the day before, then put a whole stick of butter in the bottom of the pan and stuff it with fruits and veggies. The meat is tender and juicy. Just how we like it!

This year I made my first peach pie. I owe most of my sucess to my mother-in-law who canned me 21 quarts of peaches from her back yard this summer. You just can't beat a home-grown peach! Especially one that's been cooked with love!

My reciepe came from two different recipes combined and, of course, altered! Here's the goods:

Emily Ellingson's Peach Pie

2 qts canned peaches, drained

1 T lemon juice

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Double crust for 9 inch pie.

Toss peaches with lemon juice. Mix remaining ingredients and toss with peaches.
Place one crust in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Top with lattice strips of pie crust.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until crust is golden. Allow pie to cool before slicing.

Yeah, I'll be making this one again. It was delicious!

We were sad to see Alan go, and he was pretty sure he doesn't want kids anytime in the near future, but he did promise to come back next year! I'm sure we can find him some good Missouri clay to dig in!

To top off my Thanksgiving with dear family and friends, I recieved a wonderful surprise at my door from my parents! Thanks mom and dad! Fresh flowers are my favorite!