Giving Thanks

I hosted Thanksgiving again this year.  There are more pictures and more stories but what I don't have is a ton of time.  I haven't edited a picture on a computer since I sent my Christmas cards off.  Which was before Thanksgiving.  That said.

We had my extended in-law family come stay with us.  The house was filled to bursting with kids and uncles and aunts and grammy's and granddad.  There was laughter and chaos and mess and it was everything a holiday is supposed to be.  I spent most of the time (it felt) in the kitchen.  Which was expected.  I had meals planned and all of my planning went ... well to plan.  The meals seemed well-received and they were even guinea pigs for a few of them, as I'm not normally in the habit of feeding 25+ people.  So we had a casserole one night, and an egg bake Thanksgiving morning, traditional thanksgiving meal (with a turkey throw down between me and Lew - he won.  Hands down.  His smoked turkey tasted better - no one will admit this because they don't want to hurt my feelings.  But it's true.  My bird was juicy and delicious, but his smoked flavor really shown through.  I can say this here - because he may or may not have time to read this - EOY and all).

Anyway.

Where was I?

Oh yes.  Friday I did pancakes, bacon and eggs.  Lunch was leftovers.  Dinner was turkey tortilla soup.  Which was really easy and a big hit - every bite of that got eaten.  Saturday morning folks were on their own so Lew went and got donuts.  The exodus began Saturday afternoon as one of our ilk is a preacher.  And that was that.  We did have help with our Christmas decorations on Saturday and that's always nice.  I love that perk.

I enjoy hosting events at my house.  It's why I have this house.  There's room for a lot of people even if it doesn't feel like it all the time and I enjoy the souls in attendance.  The house is always too quiet after everyone leaves.

I am thankful for many things.  And I try to be thankful for them all the time.  It's not always easy to be mindful in this way, to be present, to not get sucked into the minutia of laundry, dishes, diapers, etc.  I live a blessed life; with manageable issues.  I am thankful for many things.