Thanksgiving

We had a relatively quite Thanksgiving this year. We spent it with Ty's side of the family and there were only about 30 people there this year (which is nothing compared to the 60+ of us that it could have been if everyone were there). First we all did a Thanksgiving skit that is a tradition to perform everything Thanksgiving and it was really fun. This was the first time I had participated in it, I don't know why I haven't seen it before but it was really fun. Emma was an Indian woman and she wore a feather on a headband. Her part was to say "shhhhh" when ever they mentioned Indian woman in the skit. I was a pilgrim woman, I think that is what I was called, and I cannot even remember what I was supposed to say. I was helping Emma with her part, and by the end of the skit I think she began to get it. It was really fun. Then we all went around the room telling what we were thankful for. Earlier that morning we were trying to help Emma understand more about Thanksgiving and asking her what she was thankful for. She quietly say juice. She had juice earlier that morning. I know Emma is grateful for a lot more than that, but on that day, this year she was grateful for juice. So, when we were going around the room that day, I told them what Emma was grateful for, as she was running (loudly) in and out of the room being very disruptive. But, she is three right?

Then I began my way too long explanation of what I was grateful for. So, here is what I am grateful for this year. I am first off grateful for my family. I am grateful for Burke and his heart. I am so grateful for the way his heart is and all the good things about it. It is strong and for the most part healthy, just a lot disfigured. I am grateful especially for the surgeons and doctors at Primary Children's who performed surgery on him, who took care of him throughout the days after surgery. Those nurses are truly amazing in the PICU. They are. And we were thankful for all those who took great care of him and knew exactly what to do for him, and if they didn't they would find out and figure out a way to make Burke comfortable. We are so blessed to have Burke still in our lives and to have him recover so well from major heart surgery. We are grateful for all that the Lord is teaching us. This is our refiners fire, and I hope and pray that I can become what Heavenly Father wants me to become.


So, after everyone told us about what they were grateful for, we sang some traditional Thanksgiving hymns, and then held hands standing up around the table and prayed over our traditional thanksgiving meal. It was very traditional, and I loved it. It is so fun to see the traditions of other families. I love holidays, and traditions bring families closer. It is a time where we can bond while we perform something that is unique to just that specific family. I love the traditions that I grew up with, and I love the traditions that I am discovering about Tyler's side of the family. And I love that I am making traditions with my own little family.

The food this year was especially AMAZING! I ate so much and was full but not overly full. Jenny those roll man. They get all of us all the time. They were soooo GOOD!! And I made an Yam and apple recipe that I got from my sister in law Adelin that was to die for. Here is the recipe. It was so yummy, so thanks Adelin!

After the feast, some of us slept, some of us went home to have the children sleep, and some stayed and ate more and played games. Later on that night we all gathered back at the Johnsons and played games into the night. It was so much fun to be there, and the games were so fun. I got schooled in the pantihose ball game. Okay, that title doesn't sound very good, but I reassure you all it's not what you think. It is very G rated, okay except for the hip thrusts. No, it is this awesome game that I don't know who thought of, but you put a pool ball in old pantihose and you tie the pantihose around your waist so the ball is hanging about 3-4 inches off the ground. You are competing against another person to see if you can swinging your hips to try and swing the ball in the pantihose in order to get the poolball to hit another pool ball on the ground all the way across the room. Okay, I am not very good at explaining games by writing the rules out, but it is a TOTALLY FUN game, and I got schooled EVERY TIME!! (I think I might have won once against Martha, and I almost got her again.) It was awful! But so much fun. So, if anyone ever wants to learn that game, dispite my awful confusing directions, just let me know and we can demonstrate- it is a great one, and totally worth just watching. Anyways, I know I ALWAYS write too much in my posts. But here are a couple of pictures from that night. Burke actually for the first time since surgery came alive more. He was playing with the dog and walking and laughing. How grateful am I.He was playing fetch with Chloe who is Sydney's dog. We all had a blast watching him laugh so hard. He even wore out Chloe. Emma and her cousin Molly who is only 7 weeks younger than Emma were having a ball playing their own card game.

This is how we ended the night, with Kennedy and Emma naked watching both of their favorite movie, "Annie". We all joined in and watched too, but with our shirts on of course. What a fun night!