Thanksgiving Revisted

So I changed my mind and decided to say a few things about this last Thanksgiving with pictures:

It began with a quick drive up north Thursday morning and a lovely Thanksgiving Christmas service. Then we all geared up for the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma, and various students to come over and join for the FEAST. It was especially wonderful because as you might guess, my cooking is not quite like Thanksgiving-quality. The picture above is of the oldest and youngest cousins.

The following day we continued the tradition of going to downtown Seattle for the Macy's Parade. Jess brought a few international students home with her, and so it was fun to share Thanksgiving and what that means to us and then the after-Thanksgiving mayhem of downtown and American-style parades. When Santa arrives they spew all this confetti-snow out on the street and the kids bask in it (see picture). We even went to Golden Gardens afterward for a chilly afternoon at the beach where we roasted hot dogs and flew my dad's trick kite. That evening we hauled out the MOUNDS of Christmas decorations from the attic. The girls were so amazed, their eyes as big as saucers, at how much Christmas stuff we had! They also were quite fascinated by having an attic! We decorated the tree together and hung garlands and set up the Nativity--the family, the boyfriends, and the students all together with barely enough room to fit in the living room with all that stuff. After we cleared the table of Christmas decor, we gladly baked gingerbread and sugar cookies (mom had made the dough and icing! such a sweetheart) and gave them their due artistry. Joe even tried to make a gingerbread man with a nearly-amputated leg (using red icing) in my honor :) Those cookies were really good--I don't think many lasted the weekend.

In all, it was quiet a busy weekend with people coming and going, but it was nice to see the family, and most importantly, to express thanksgiving to God for His copious blessings on our lives. On that Sunday, the pastor at my parent's church gave a really neat message sharing the Thanksgiving messages of our forfathers--they were amazing! George Washington and Abraham Lincoln expressed as leaders of our country gratitude to God, an acknowledgement of sin and our need for repentance (as a nation), and encouraged people as individuals to look to God and give thanks. They defintely would not have been "PC" in our day. My drive home was rather uneventful, thankfully, as we had snow at my parent's house a bit the night before and they got a LOT of snow that afternoon and in the days following. And then it was back to school...but I'm very thankful to be here!