Thanksgiving Through the Years

In  1997, we lived with John's family. I begged his family to let me make orange rolls, and so for the first time, I made bread. They were delicious and perfect.

In 1998, I  made an entire Thanksgiving dinner all by myself. It was a lot of work. But, it was delicious! We had it with My Uncle Bob, who lived near us in Ann Arbor, MI.

In 1999, I made my 2nd entire Thanksgiving dinner. Kate was my very fussy 3 month old baby, Ruth was just over 1 1/2 years, and John wouldn't help with the kids because he felt like he needed to be working, even on Thanksgiving. It was a nightmare! Kate had to be held the entire time. It took me 8 hours just to make 2 apple pies. The turkey cooked too slowly and came out 2 hours late and a little under done. I swore I would never make an entire Thanksgiving dinner again.

In 2000, our friends, the Shumway-Smith's invited our family and a few others to their house for Thanksgiving dinner. I made a couple of pies, and some orange rolls! We had a nice dinner. The kids played with their friends, and we played some fun games. John complained that Thanksgiving should be just family, and I reminded him that I would never make an entire Thanksgiving dinner again.

In 2001, we drove from Long Island, New York to Portland, ME, and had Thanksgiving with all of my siblings and parents. I believe we even took the ferry to make the drive a couple hours shorter.

In 2002, we lived in Toronto, Canada. They have Thanksgiving on our Columbus Day. But I still made Thanksgiving dinner, the whole thing, all by myself  on the U.S. Thanksgiving Day because I was home sick for the United States. John worked, and Ruth went to school. Johnny was a year old and it wasn't too bad. We enjoyed our dinner.

In 2003, we went to the church potluck Thanksgiving dinner on Canada's Thanksgiving Day and called it good! I made some apple pie on the U.S. Thanksgiving Day.

In 2004, my parents flew out to our new home in Wichita, KS. I has an awesome time making Thanksgiving dinner with my mom. It was so fun to have that time planning and cooking with my mom. What a treasure!

In 2005, I made all of the pies and jellos, and things. Then Johnny, Kate, and myself came down with the stomach flu. On Thanksgiving Day, we were recovering. I made the whole thing the day after Thanksgiving just in time for Ruth, Adam, and John to come down with the stomach flu. I think we ended up throwing out most of the turkey.

In 2006, after 3 days of cooking and tending kids, and cleaning, all on my lonesome (John still thought working was more important than Thanksgiving), we sat down to a very large, nicely decorated, carefully made meal. After trying a few things, Johnny declared, "Mom, this is the worst dinner, you have ever made!" That was the best entertainment. I don't think a sitcom could come up with something so perfect. Still, it made me think, "Why am I doing this?" Again, I swore I wouldn't do it alone again.

In 2007, John did not want to invite 3 families over to share the work, so he decided to find out why I would complain about making a "simple dinner". John helped with all of the cooking. He even helped plan the menu. We tried a lot of new things. After the dinner was over, John declared that that was too much work, and he was thankful that we would not have to do that again for a whole year!

In 2008, we decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner, we were thankful for. So we let everyone choose a couple of foods they just loved and that is what we had. We had a smorgousborg of BBQ ribs, homemade cheese fries, a roast, mashed squash, orange rolls, Italian Sodas, and banana splits. It was lovely. And it was less than half the work.

In 2009, we had moved to Utah and had Thanksgiving dinner with all of John's family. There were a lot of people and a lot of food, and it was just different, but good different. John still thought we should just all have BBQ ribs because they are easier to make. The next morning, Ruth had the stomach flu. She decided Thanksgiving meant throwing up. We have tried to tell her it is just chance.

In 2010, I made a few things and we all went up to John's family's. I declared again and again, how nice it is to have other families to share Thanksgiving with.

This year, Rachel has come down with the stomach flu. Maybe Ruth is right??? I am supposed to make pies, and orange rolls, jello and squash. I am hoping we can make it to the Robertson's. But if we have a bunch of barfing kids, I'll make the pies, rolls, jello, and squash. Then I will throw some ribs and BBQ sauce into the crockpot, make some cheese fries, and those who are not ill can join in. Hopefully, no one else will get sick...tbc

Thanksgiving Dinner, 2008, our dinner of food we are grateful for!