.: Thanksgiving

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Thanksgiving

We had another successful Thanksgiving Dinner this year with 16 senior missionary couples in our home. The majority of the missionaries work at the church offices with Tony.

I have to say that preparing for the dinner turned out to be quite a lot of work (a bit more than I had expected) but all the missionaries seemed very grateful for our efforts. They were also very appreciative to have a home where they could gather together to celebrate such an important holiday to them. Despite the work involved, their gratefulness made it all worth it.

Tony prepared and cooked his pumpkin pies on Thursday evening. I desperately tried to talk him out of making them this year since the canned pumpkin expired 8 months ago, but he wouldn't budge!! He got compliments his pie was really yummy.....little did the missionaries know! He insisted on using the pumpkin he had because he didn't want to drive all the way to Mt Wellington to get new pumpkin (it can only be bought from the American store) and even if he had decided to drive to the 'one and only store' he knew it was going to be REALLY expensive. I guess they were pretty good reasons to serve his guests expired pie!

On Friday night Tony got to bring home a nice new family mini van from the office so that he could transport tables and chairs from the chapel to our house. This worked out great and was so convenient not having to remove the kids seats and rearrange our own car. Juliet wanted to play in the van the entire weekend. In fact, several times we closed her in it to play (the van was right outside the kitchen window so we could keep an eye on her) and ran back in the house to get stuff done. The van served more purpose than one!

Friday afternoon I picked up 4 turkeys from the Butchers (3 for the missionaries to cook and one for us). I was not very impressed with the Butchers as they hadn't packaged any of the turkeys (other than put them in bags) and since they were fully defrosted they were all dripping blood and leaking every where! Luckily I had come prepared with big buckets in the back of the car. The kids and I delivered them to the church offices so the missionaries who volunteered to cook them could take them home straight after work.

Friday night Tony and I stayed up really late preparing the house, the turkey, and some of the stuffing.

Then we got up early to get the turkey stuffed and in the oven. Tony made a great stuffing and didn't over stuff the turkey this time (last year it exploded he stuffed it so full). My only job was to make our turkey look nice and golden. Since Tony usually does a good job at burning everything, I'm glad he asked me to do it! We forgot to uncover the turkey the last hour it was cooking, but after ten minutes under the grill, our turkey looked absolutely delicious.

Then we spent the rest of the day setting up all the tables, planning where things should go, etc.

Mum was in charge of the punch table. She hired a lovely punch bowl and made a delicious punch. We'll definitely assign her to do that again next year. Her and Peter did a great job at handing out drinks to everyone when they arrived. She also bought over these lovely roses from her garden to go on the main table.

The guests arrived and Tony parked everyone's car so that they would all fit down our driveway. All of our neighbours kindly let us use their driveway too since there were 16+ cars to park.

As everyone started to arrive ALL at once things got a little crazy and chaotic. My kitchen was packed with food, pots, pans, crock pots and people . In the middle of it all everyone was asking for serving dishes to put their food in, someone was trying to make gravy, and one of the missionaries started carving the turkeys and making a tremendous mess getting grease all over the place. The poor man didn't have enough room to calve and he also had the shakes in his hand quite bad so that didn't help matters!! I lost control of my kitchen at that point and just had faith that some of the sister missionaries would take charge for me. Next year I am going to ask that the turkeys are calved beforehand, the gravy is made beforehand, and that everyone immediately places their 'dish' on the outside serving table, not kitchen bench. That will help things run much smoother.

Everyone got into eating about 4.30pm. There was plenty of food for everyone and Tony got lots of comments on how moist and delicious his turkey tasted. After dessert, 3 or 4 couples left early, but the rest of us gathered in the lounge and took turns at sharing with everyone the things we were thankful for. As there were so many couples we asked that only one person from each couple give thanks.

Unfortunately, these are the only photos I managed to take of the whole dinner. Last year we got great photos because one of the missionaries was a photographer and she made a good effort at taking close ups of people talking, eating and having a good time. There was no photographer this time and I was too busy to think about taking photos.

Lots of the missionaries shared thanks for their families and grandchildren, and for the wonderful experiences they were having in NZ. Both mum and Travis shared what they were thankful for and so did Ashton and Hayden (and both Tony and I). Next year I need to 'prep' Hayden and Ashton a little on what to say because both of them got a bit lost for words and weren't sure what to say.

I really do enjoy this American tradition and I'm glad Tony came up with the idea to celebrate it in our home.. Everyone looks forward to enjoying a delicious meal and there is no better way to finish it off by reflecting on all the good things we have in life.

1 comment:

April Bullard said...: I was wondering the other day how your Thanksgiving dinner went. I'm so glad I decided to check in with your blog and I got to read all about it. It looks like and sounds like you all had a nice time. I'm glad that you are enjoying this wonderful Tradition.; February 28, 2013 at 8:18 AM

Funny Comments

Ashton walking into the supermarket quietly whispers to himself: "Please can I have macaroni and cheese, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Ashton: "I want to live with Jesus." Mummy: "Why?" Ashton: "Because he be nice to me and he gives me bread and water!"

Mummy, examining Ashton's legs, and thinking: My goodness, what hairy legs. Ashton, unimpressed with Mummy's examination, pulls away: "Don't touch them. I'm growing Daddy legs!"

Hayden gets upset at Ashton: "Right Ashton, that's it! I'm telling Jesus on you!"

Ashton with a cold: "I'm snotty as a piggy."

Hayden: "The sun is burning my eyeballs."

Hayden: "Mummy, how come your penis is missing?"

Hayden: "I get the bigger piece of cake because my skeleton is bigger."

Hayden (3yrs old) sees me get dressed in the morning and stares at my breasts with a confused look..."What thooooose be for???"

Hayden: "I don't want to finish my pizza, it's got blood all over it."

Hayden: "Ashton hit me in the heart."

Hayden learns the planets at Preschool: Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Penus!

Hayden (shopping with me and whining): "My brain hurts forever because you haven't buyed me anything."

QUOTES

Like the changing leaves of fall...My little boy is now a man.
--Author Unknown

Boys are God's way of telling you that your house is too neat!
--Author Unknown

There never has been, nor will there ever be, anything quite so special as the love between a mother and a son.
--Author Unknown

Boys are found everywhere - on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven protects them. A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.
--Alan Marshall Beck

Something For A Giggle....

I Owe My Mother ....

My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

My mother taught me RELIGION. "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

My mother taught me LOGIC. " Because I said so, that's why."

My mother taught me MORE LOGIC. "If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

My mother taught me FORESIGHT. "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

My mother taught me IRONY. "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS. "Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM. "Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

My mother taught me about STAMINA. "You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

My mother taught me about WEATHER. "This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY. "If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE. "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION. "Stop acting like your father!"

My mother taught me about ENVY. "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION. "Just wait until we get home."

My mother taught me about RECEIVING. "You are going to get it when you get home!"

My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE. "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."

My mother taught me ESP. "Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

My mother taught me HUMOR. "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT. "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

My mother taught me GENETICS. "You're just like your father."

My mother taught me about my ROOTS. "Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

My mother taught me WISDOM. "When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

My mother taught me about JUSTICE. "One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!