Thanksgivings Past

This is not Thanksgiving 2000, but I don't have a picture of that one uploaded and this was just a few weeks later...we were living in VA, had a new Max, and friends had  us (all 3) over to celebrate.

 Again, not Thanksgiving 2001, but this is where we celebrated (I think)...Uncle Bland and Norm were kind enough to host us (again, all 3) for our 2nd married Thanksgiving in Ashville, NC.

Thanksgiving 2002.  We had a new Nathan and were living in Texas--driving distance to Granddad's house.

Thanksgiving 2003.  Again in Texas and close enough to celebrate with the TSEs.  Nathan was big enough to eat at the kid's table and I'm sure Max was around there somewhere.

Ah, there he is with the other family--we got to see both sides.  Still Thanksgiving 2003.

Thanksgiving 2004.  We had a BRAND new Hannah.  I think we had Chinese food at home and went to bed around 7 PM.

We did make it to Nana's house to see our new cousin, Bade.

Thanksgiving 2005. The first of two times our dining room table has ever been used.  Nana and Papa came to celebrate Hannah's first birthday and helped us celebrate our first Michigan Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving 2006.  Not really documented.  We were a little busy with thoughts of  moving out of the country, two busy little people and one more on the way.  

Thanksgiving 2007.  We had Stephanie visiting from Denmark.  We celebrated at least 3 times--which became the tradition in Belgium.

Still 2007.  We celebrated this one early to incorporate this turkey carver's 40th birthday.  It was a huge group and so much fun.  As I've mentioned before, the table settings were incredible.

Thanksgiving 2008. 

Here is one on the actual Thursday...kids had a half day of school & a regular one on Friday.  Not easy to squeeze in a Thanksgiving meal with little people like ours.  Joe was at work anyway--in BE it was just Thursday.

Still 2008.  The Sunday Thanksgiving lunch at our church--we did this every year.  Biggest potluck EVA!

Still 2008.  A sweet memory of six families with 16 kids.  Wow!  We had the hostess with the mostest.

 

Thanksgiving 2009.  We were not so good with the documentation.  This picture was taken in November.  That is the best I can do.  We celebrated at least twice. :)

And now to the present.  This year it was just the five of us.  It was Sarah's first American Thanksgiving and she opted out of all photos--she still has a nasty cold.  I cooked a lot.  Made my first turkey. (We did throw together a couple of different things in BE for different events, but this was the first time I put real effort in on the turkey).

It was good (still is--there is lots left over), but it was a lot of work for the 15 minutes we sat at our dining room table (for the 2nd time in 5 years) and ate.

Hannah was the most enthusiastic about Thanksgiving--kindergarten helped.  Nathan was most enthusiastic about football--although he did learn a lot about Native American tribes in school these last few weeks.  The half and half I sent in was used to make Popcorn Soup.  Nathan said, "It sounds bad, looks bad and smells bad, but it tastes good!"  Hmmmm...  Sarah was just having a hard time being enthusiastic about anything.  (Last night after waking up from a two hour nap at around 6, she asked to go to bed at 7:30.  While saying her prayers, she said she was thankful for tissues.  So sweet, but sad at the same time).  She's better today.

We were really bad about taking pictures.  So here is our enthusiastic one again.  We've had a lot of togetherness this long weekend--which we all know can be challenging as well as lovely.  We stayed home for two days and finally got out today.  It was clear that all three needed an earlier bedtime tonight, so they got one.

We're blessed and thankful and even though we miss all of you family and friends from Thanksgivings past, we're so thankful for the memories.

PS This post started because we were discussing that we thought we had never celebrated Thanksgiving the same way in our 10 years of marriage.  We have not.  Here's to the tradition of changing traditions every year.