Best intentions for family photos that is……
I was sure to pick up batteries for my digital camera last week before the families, my family, started arriving for the week. Needless to say I have 7 pictures, none of them on my camera but all on my cell phone from the last two days of festivities.
Loud would be the best way to describe Thanksgiving. Rather, screechy, barky, multiple conversations, sounds of football, sounds of tv, sounds of the dishwasher all co-mingling and trying to out do one another for the top spot. Well the dishwasher never got any louder, it just never stopped running.
Complete over-eating would also describe the day. Since everyone was already there I thought I would start by making breakfast since you know, dinner was late afternoon and all. I made bacon (which I wanted the drippings for later in the day for my brussels sprouts) but besides bacon we just started to put out snacks/hors dourves instead.
Clearly enough food to not even bother with dinner. Taylor made pistachio and goat cheese filled dates that were yummy and I had picked up more than a pound of smoked salmon at the butcher on Wednesday after work. Along with the usual crudité, cheese and crackers, devilled eggs, chips and salsa we really grazed all day prior to “dinner”.
There is actually no picture of the bird or Thanksgiving dinner, by the time Arthur made the second batch of gravy we dished up and ate it all up. The gravy story is the second funniest of the day. Wanting to be a part of the cooking party and contribute he was all for making the gravy. The first batch he used my basting stock that cooked all day with the giblets, butter, fresh sage and celery and onions. He kept adding more and more and more flour to thicken it up. Was surprised at how well it was incorporating but it wasn’t thickening so he kept adding more. He said to Della, that is four right. She she tasted it and said, nope, thats powdered sugar. Gravy made with at least a cup of powdered sugar, probably more. He tried his best by adding spices and salt but it was still sweet so we tossed it and he started over. Giving him a hard time all along, well cause its fun.
There is so much going on in these photos it’s really hard to see it all. Osten and Char wrestling, Arther on his computer, Della on her computer, my nephews in the same picture (rare photo). One of my favorite things about my family is the just existing in the same space is so comfortable. My nephew reading a book while another plays a game nearby. Rarely less than 4 laptops going at the same time. Someone usually on the fooseball table. Dogs in and out (and in and out and in and out and round and round) multiple conversations between everyone even while on the computers. Various people cooking, various people cleaning. Card games, checkers, video games, and always, always good food, far to much of it.
All of my pictures of Riblet are blurry. She just moves way to fast to get a clear shot. But here she is checking out what was being put on the table.
Here is Missy scooting under Arthurs hand for a petting.
Here Missy has folded. I think Lilianna won this game. You would think I picked up those cards but no, they lived there on the floor for a few hours.
So I thought I would bury the funniest story of the day down here after all of these innocent family cell phone pictures. The funniest story involves my six-year-old nephew Osten, a room full of family except two people, a silver bullet vibrator and the complete and total embarrassment of my best friend Mary. It is a story that will live on for-ever in our family. Forever! We are all in the living room, including Mary sitting on Mercy’s lap, next to Tureaza on the couch. Osten walks up and opens his hand and asks “whats this mommy”. Tureaza asks him where did you get that, to which he answers in the bed upstairs. Mary reaches over, says I’ll take that and puts it in her back pocket. No one ever answers the kid. Mary completely red-faced says it was the slats of the upper bunk. She had put it up there months ago, forgot it when she moved out, and will never ever live it down. In only a manner that my baby sister can manage she say “come on Osten, let’s go wash your hands.”
Ok so maybe that wasn’t the complete and total embarrassment of Mary, but putting it here on my blog will be. (Oh I told her I was going to, even though some of her friends read my blog and her mother) Mary wants it to be known that 1) the batteries were dead and the kid did not actually turn it on. 2) That it was clean and an insert for something else so never actually used.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope yours was as fabulous as mine.
