Thanksgiving with Brandon Hatcher, Ody, Krystal, Rick and I, AND Suzanne & Ray's accident

This year Rick and I were invited to Brandon & Krystal's home for Thanksgiving dinner.  Krystal must have cooked all morning and half the day.  The meal was delicious and of course I over-ate especially when it came to desserts.  I love sweets and Krystal made the most delicious Watergate salad and of course I pigged out.

Ody entertained us with his antics and his cuteness.  He stayed close by and wasn't a bit of trouble.  He played quietly around us and carried the Little Golden Book that I had brought over for him.  It was The Night Before Christmas, and I'm hoping that he will allow either his daddy Brandon or his mommy Krystal to read it to him.  He amazed me when he climbed up into a chair that his daddy had been sitting in and opened up the book and began gently turning each page very carefully as if he was reading the book himself, but then Brandon walked up to Ody and said, "Son, it might be better if you turn it this way," then Brandon turned the book right side up.  Ody continued to look at the pictures uninterrupted just as before.  Ody is two and a half years old, but still very much a baby.  He's a very snuggly baby and every now and then he had to get snuggles from his daddy while his mommy was busy in the kitchen.

Brandon and Krystal had their Christmas tree up and decorated with vintage ornaments from her youth.  Ornaments she had made as a child that her mother and sister had saved, and now that they are both gone Krystal is carrying on the family tradition of putting up the Christmas tree for the Thanksgiving meal.  Krystal and Brandon's parents are gone, so holidays are hard for both of them, and for me as well.  But now that they have Ody they do their best to make holidays joyful events for Ody.  I am the only grandparent that Ody has and I am his great-grandmother.

Spending the afternoon and evening with my grandson Brandon, Krystal & Ody was lots of fun.   We told stories of things present and of course re-lived the past as well.  We laughed and had the best time, but the evening ended very abruptly when my son-in-law Ray called to tell us that him and my daughter Suzanne had been involved in an automobile accident that totaled their car.  

They got knocked around, went airborne, and were blinded by all the explosions of the airbags before they came to a safe stop.  It seems that an oncoming truck hit a large deer, sent it flying over two lanes into the path of Ray & Suzanne who ran over it.  Ray received a large scraping wound to his lower leg which was caused by one of the airbags.  He was taken to the hospital which determined that he didn't break his leg, but the doctors were more concerned about his elevated heart rate, b.p. and possible damage to his four aneurysms.  Suzanne didn't want to get checked out, but now she is frightened by airbags.  Ray's leg is all swelled and bruised and he's limping around, and Suzanne is just shook up and without a car for the moment.

I'm so thankful and blessed.  My children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are all fine and healthy.  God was watching out over Ray & Suzanne.  God is always watching out and taking good care of my family.

Hockey Pucks Anyone?

Thanksgiving pictures
that
NOBODY DARES TO SHARE!


What really goes on behind the scenes.

Brown N Serve rolls anyone???

After all was said & done and the blame was clearly placed on Jimmy for not paying closer attention to the rolls he was entrusted to watch, and all the laughing subsided, all of us wondered why didn't these rolls catch on fire? They were baking for ONE AND A HALF HOURS, but only got browner & harder than hockey pucks. We thought about hand painting them and giving them away as personalized door stops for Christmas. What do you think??? Would you like one and what color do you want yours painted?

They can also be used to drive away unwanted guests....

Happy Thanksgiving Day

Well here I am relaxing before the big stampede of people come to visit & eat on Thursday. I think I'm almost ready with just a few items left to buy that I forgot and didn't have on my list. Jimmy will go pick up the last minute items tomorrow and thank goodness some stores will still be open on Thanksgiving morning just in case there is something else we forgot. There have been times on Thanksgiving morning when Jimmy has had to run to the store to get more butter or more of something.

Tomorrow I'll spend making those things that I can make the day before, like frozen deserts, jello salads, pies, and boiling the eggs for deviled eggs. I know that I'm forgetting something but I'll remember what it is when someone calls to ask if I have made their favorite dish yet :)

I probably won't have a chance to blog tomorrow and on Thursday it's definite that I won't be on my computer, so I just want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving Day and hope that everyone will be spending their holiday with friends & loved ones and if they can't be with those they love then maybe they can just call them.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

I'm still here...

I'm still here and "no" I haven't died. At least not yet. Lots of things have happened since I last posted. Lets see if I can remember everything....hmmmm.

We had another new great-grandson, Noah James, and my computer crashed and had to be repaired. Jimmy had a birthday and is now as old as John McCain, and my 1991 jeep wrangler had its first flat tire. One of our tabby cats, Daisy, got sick and is now worth a small fortune, but thank our lucky stars she's feeling much better now. That's not everything, but that's enough.

I've spent all day today cooking and getting ready for tomorrow. I baked two large turkeys and if those grandchildren don't soon figure out what causes babies, then we'll probably need three turkeys by next year, hehehe. It's been fun though and I've had plenty of help. While I was busy in the kitchen preparing some of my favorites, Jimmy was busy cleaning the house from top to bottom, and also managed to get all of the laundry washed up. He's such a sweetheart!

Well, I better end my post for now. It's time for another two doses of Daisy's antibiotics. At first we wrapped her in a towel, but now after two weeks she's learned the drill and makes no fuss about taking her medicine...unfortunately she is now back to her old tricks of getting into everything again.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I felt like "Grandmother" just for a moment.

The woman we called Grandmother in my family was actually my mother-in-law, who took me under her wing as her daughter when I married her son. I was but a child of 16 and thought I was so grown up, and even though I felt grown up I still needed the guidance of a mother. I always called her mom, unless I was in the presence of my children, and then I would call her grandmother. Soon the name grandmother was all we called her as we had more children.

Never in a million years could I ever measure up to grandmother. She was an angel here on earth. You never heard a mean word come out of her mouth. She never talked about anyone unless it was to praise them. She was a Christian woman who read her bible daily and very seldom missed church. She was loved and admired by all who met her. She would greet the mailman on hot days with a cold glass of iced tea or lemonade and feed you if you happen to be passing and were hungry. Everyone…strangers included…were welcomed into her home and treated like family…that’s just the way she was, and boy could she cook. She could whip up a delicious meal in no time at all. Grandmother is gone now, but her memory will always be with us.

Our Thanksgiving gathering gets better year after year, and I don’t know why I work myself into such a panic getting the last minute things done. I woke up early and put the second turkey into the oven…the first one was baked the day before and neatly cut up into slices of white & dark meat. The second turkey was to adorn our table and also to provide more turkey legs to those who like turkey legs. Sometimes the legs mysteriously disappear the night before, and Suzanne & Jimmy are usually the culprits, but this year everything went without a hitch except for one missing wing, but nobody even noticed. And Peanut, I won’t tell anyone that you’re the one who ate it…it’ll be our little secret.

As it turned out there was no need for me to panic…I didn’t burn anything, the turkey was thoroughly cooked and I remembered to put all the food out on the tables. Have you ever forgotten a dish and found it after every guest was gone? I’ll admit I’ve been guilty of that, but not this year. There was enough food to feed a small army, because you just never know with grandchildren if they are going to bring guests with them. And they know from experience that any guests they bring will always be welcomed.

On Thanksgiving day the family all gathered round and after giving thanks for our bounty we all sat down to feast and to visit. We sat in every room in the house…on beds with TV trays, on foot stools…just everywhere we could find a spot except of course in the bathrooms. We live in a very small modest house, nothing fancy but…it is home-ee. If the weather would have permitted we could have at least spread out into the picnic tables out in the yard, but that day it turned much too cold to be out. Everyone brought their camera’s and at times it seemed like I was in the midst of strobe lights flashing all around me. Although I had charged my camera up the night before, I didn’t take a single picture. I figured that for once I would visit, camera free and ask for copies of their pictures…my camera isn’t working very well any way and I’ve asked Santa for a new one, but he answered me already and said that I have to be nicer and that I better do it by Christmas or I won’t be getting one.

Our dinner was at noon and as 4:30 p.m. approached some guests had to leave for other holiday commitments, and some stayed. Megan & Zac came late and I was very happy they were able to come. And to my surprise about 2 hours later some of the other grandchildren started coming back and stayed until around 10 p.m. I guess they came back for dessert, but for whatever reason they came back, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside that they even bothered to come back. No board games were played…we just talked, laughed and shared stories. It was like a ‘show n tell’ and I felt very fortunate to be included among this young adult crowd of 18-21 year olds. They shared their ideas, hopes and dreams as well as their disappointments with us (Suzanne, Sharon, Jimmy & I). Sometimes I’d find myself just staring at them and feeling so proud of the young adults they’ve become. I also found myself wishing that my oldest grandson Doug and his wife would have also been able to come back and share in the fun, but they had to travel 140 miles after they left here to see their other grandma and then come back to report to work that evening at 10 pm…I don’t see how they managed to do it, but they did.

Since the grandchildren now have apartments of their own, they all took leftovers with them…even some of their parents fixed themselves a plate to take home. Matt said he just needed something for lunch the next day at work and by the time he picked out everything he wanted to take we had to pack all the bowls and containers in a large white garbage bag. He works a 24 hour shift and lunch apparently takes up a lot of their time, hehehe, I hope he doesn’t read that. Or maybe he was planning on sharing his lunch with his fellow firefighters. I heard through the grapevine yesterday morning that Matt had already eaten the pumpkin pie by 10 a.m…he loves pumpkin pie.

It was during the gathering up of the leftovers to send home with the grandchildren that I had a “grandmother moment.” A fleeting memory, a warm, happy & proud feeling of what I was seeing before me…and a feeling that I had once again gone full circle…and I knew right then that it must have been exactly how she must have felt each time she lovingly packed up leftover Sunday dinners for us to take home. I remember it so well as she packed everything with such care, so it wouldn’t spill on the way home. Sometimes we’d get into it before we even left the street where she lived. We felt like we had run away with the prize…the good food that tasted so well, better than anything you could make yourself. There simply was no one who could cook like grandmother, and some of the leftovers that I lovingly packed for my own grandchildren were made using her very own recipes.

Although our table was missing some of the grandchildren, they were not far from our thoughts and our prayers. Brandon, Scott’s son is still in Japan serving his country in the Marines, and Michael is still in training in Missouri with the Army National Guard. Thalia was also MIA from our table as well as Stephanie due to unforeseen circumstances. It is very likely that Brandon & Michael will also NOT be home for Christmas, but maybe…there is always a maybe…Michael might just be in a position to come home…maybe???

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are still feasting it up!