A wonderful pre-Thanksgiving

We always celebrate Thanksgiving on the Sunday before with my family, and we had a great time today.  We gathered at 2:00 so we could bring the kids to the grocery store to shp for the food shelf.  Guppy, Poppy, Tonya, Jay and I brought the Roses, Sam and Maddie, and Beatrice and Gus to Rainbow to shop for kids who don't have enough money to get all the yummy kinds of foods our kids take for granted.  Let's just say - the kids were more interested in playing with each other, taking junk food and throwing in the cart, and getting in the way of other shoppers than meditating on how we were helping some families that run into this food on their next food shelf visit.

Oh well.  I thought it was a great idea.  As time goes on the kids will hopefully get into the concept more.

Dinner was fabulous.  Turkey, of course, and mashed potatoes (our contribution!) and stuffing, and wild rice and mushrooms, and corn casserole, and green bean casserole, and bread, and cranberry sauce.  It was all so good, and I only sort of stuffed myself.  We had cherry pie, pumpkin pie and french silk pie for dessert.

And, the kids were good.  They sat at their kid table for the most part, and let the grownups eat.  Baby Kate sat in a high chair and ate sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and cranberry jelly.  She was SO GOOD!  She had a long nap and a good dinner, and Rose #3 played peek-a-boo with her all evening.

The funniest part of the evening was a joke Uncle Andy told while I was recounting the usual fascinatiing topic:  where did the Roses sleep last night?  I was telling about how Rose #3 came into our bed and was turning over and over like a rotisserie chicken.  And how H put her into the hall and locked the door, and how she cried for a couple of minutes, and then stopped crying.  Then, a second later, a small knock came on the door.  Uncle Andy said, "Land Shark."  Maybe it is a sign of how stressed out I am, or how much I needed a laugh, but I just laughed my head off.

We are so thankful for our family and all the good food we are blessed with.