Happy Thanksgiving!

We've had a quiet day here, with the Mr. sleeping (since he worked all last night and goes back to work another overnight shift in a couple of hours), me keeping an eye on the turkey, and a nice, cozy fire in our new wood stove.  The children begged for a "jammie day" (meaning they don't have to get dressed all day long!) and so far, we have enjoyed some Thanksgiving crafts, stories, and games of Boggle Jr, UNO Moo, Barrel of Monkeys, and Settlers of Zarahemla (well, OK, only half of a game of Settlers - they tired of it after about an hour).  Though the turkey's been in for over 8 hours now, the timer is still not popped, and I'm hoping it pops in the next hour or the Mr. will miss it all together!  Other than that, though, it's been a peaceful, quiet, and relaxing day!  I haven't accomplished a single thing other than keeping the children dressed and preparing our simple meal (Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, rolls, cranberry sauce, fresh beet salad, steamed green beans, and a pumpkin pie...much simpler than either of our extended families, but all I was willing to do on my own. :) )

The kids helped me make some little napkin 'turkeys' for our place settings:

Thankful

I LOVE that Thanksgiving comes right before Christmas! I adore Christmas, truly! But unfortunately I feel it often turns into a commercial, self-serving holiday (wish lists, visits to Santa to tell him what I want, etc.) such that the true meanings of the holiday (peace, joy, love, generosity, etc) play a less-significant role than they should. So, I find it especially meaningful that Thanksgiving comes in at just the right moment to remind us of ALL we have to be grateful for. Because remembering our blessings is a GREAT cure for (what we like to call) the "gimmies"!

We often put up little "hand" turkeys with things we are grateful for, but this year we decided it would be fun to make a chain, and to see how long the chain could be. Could it be taller than Daddy? Taller than the ceiling? Taller than the HOUSE? (this is a very exciting concept to a 4 year old - something larger than a house!) Each link in the chain contained something for which our family (or a member of our family) is grateful. This is what we came up with in our first 5 minutes (currently taller than the ceiling - we will need to revisit it this week to reach our 'taller than the house' goal). In the order in which they were shouted out by excited family members: (And I have to say, our children really impressed us in their creativity! We asked them to think beyond the standard answers....and they certainly did!)

The Temple

Books

Skype (Grins! - He loves skyping family!)

Repentance

Spell check

Ears

Stickers

Prayer

Church

Eyeballs

REAL maple syrup (not the corn syrup kind!)

Computer

Crepes

Toys

Love

Daddy

Water

Mommy

Bums (We thought Grins was just being silly here but he explained that, if we didn't each have a 'bum', we wouldn't be able to rid our bodies of waste....which would make us sick.....which would be bad. So we honor the submission. lol.)

Milk

Ben and Jerry's

Scriptures

Chocolate

Jesus

Music

Angel

Toilet

Candy

Grins

Wiggles

Sleep

Food

Walls

Family

Our House

Babies

Light

Phone

Priesthood

Toothpaste

Dinner

Sisters

Eggs

Crayons

Clothing

Cameras

Coats

Swimming Pools

Clocks

Dancing

Youtube

Hair

Eyebrows

Eyelashes

Paint

Heat

Beds

Christmas

Blankets

Snuggles

Hugs

Kisses

Noses

Running Water

Electricity

Freedom of Religion

Independence

Journals

Pioneers

Explorers

Cars

Inventors

Founding Fathers

Eating utensils

Sewing machine

baby dolls

refrigerator

stoves

microwave

We will update our list when it is complete....