Thanksgiving thoughts

We got all the Christmas decorations up on the day before Thanksgiving. I love this time of year, and can't wait to put the decorations up and feel the excitement of the holidays! The Simmons kids were at our house, so they helped decorate the tree.
Then we had the Simmons over on Thanksgiving. We consider them our Missouri family! After a morning of playing football, Ryan got the turkey cooking. I have a slight issue with touching raw meat, as in I don't do it unless completely forced. I made homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole. The Simmons brought over pumpkin pies, cheesecake pies, homemade rolls with jam, and green beans with bacon and nuts. I absolutely love Thanksgiving dinner, and look forward to it all year!

Ryan had a little too much fun with the turkey. First he made it dance . . .

. . .and then he pulled some wrestling moves on it. In this picture he is doing a "Full Nelson" on the poor bird.

Ryan had one of his great ideas the day before Thanksgiving (can you hear the sarcasm?). He decided that if we were having company over to eat, we needed a new kitchen table, even though we also have a dining room table. Granted, our table was in seriously bad condition. We only had 4 operating chairs, and two of the "operating" chairs looked like this one below. I would often joke about being afraid one of our children would jump off the table for fun, and I would come back in the kitchen to find them speared on one of the chairs. But I was kind of attached to our White Trash Table. Rest in pieces. So, most of Thanksgiving afternoon was spent getting the new table and chairs put in place. I like that the new table is square and can fit 8 people. Poor Brenda. We invite her over for dinner, and she ends up cleaning for us.

Voila . . .the new table.

I just had to take a picture of my plate, so I can spend the rest of the year salivating over all the deliciousness that we created.

Ryan's first couple plates of food. He takes his eating very seriously!

And finally, a poem Brevan wrote for me:

Thank you, dear Mother, for a

House and clothes

And daily food; to recite from a

Nice song you

Know and

Sing. I am thankful for you

Giving me life, being born

In a loving home, with

Vibrant walls. You spent days

In the basement, making it look

Nice for our wonderful guests. Dear Mother, you make me

Grateful for you.

Sweet boy. He sure did get his Father's gift of B.S. Case in point, this short essay he wrote in school. His flowery words helped him win a contest.

What Thanksgiving is Really About by Brevan Ellefsen

I am thankful for a lot of things, including my dear Mother, who works day and night laboring to keep our house and family clean and healthy, while my loving Dad goes to work to earn the money for the very clothes I'm wearing. But the thing I am most thankful of all is to be a free American in the land of eternal freedom, where I can go to a school of my own choosing, live where I want to, and worship in peace in a place so grand, so magnificent, that people give their own time and even sometimes their life up to protect us from anyone who dares enter this sanctum of peace, hope and freedom. Now that is truly remarkable, and for that, I am truly thankful. So join me this holiday season, and feel blessed for where you live and where you stand, America.

I told him he did a great job, and his answer was, "I didn't really think about it much. They made me write it, so it only took me three minutes."

Any 11-year-old who can fit the word "sanctum" into a short essay is pretty dang awesome.