Thanksgiving Feast

We got back from our trip down south at 9:08 tonight. Because we know about how long it takes once we turn west at the Moffit corner, we have a little contest to see who can guess the exact minute we drive up to the house. Nancy was the winner this evening. I had 9:07 and Gerrit had 9:06. Aleah did not participate. Donovan was sleeping. Samantha doesn't care (she's 2).

Yes, we were all well enough to meet with my relatives for Thanksgiving so we were happy about that. Nancy and I are almost comfortable in saying we are out of the woods as far as getting the stomach flu from the kids. Aleah even went to school for the last half day yesterday. She seriously loves school and doesn't like to miss.

The Thanksgiving dinner was excellent as usual. We met at a church in Linton - we have too big a group to meet at someone's house. We ate and then some played games and others sat together and talked. After that our family did go to my parent's house near Strasburg and we stayed there until after supper.

Well, I'll close with a few pictures. I need to get to bed so I can get up in a couple of hours to get in line. Some of the stores are opening at 4:00 am for Black Friday. No, I don't really do that. Several years ago I did go to Menards. I don't remember whether they opened at 5:00 or at 6:00 that year - and I'm not sure what hour they open this year. Anyway, I did not think Menards would be bad but I was very wrong. I got there right when they opened and was lucky to find a spot in the lot. I was just amazed at how many people were there. It was hard to walk around without bumping into someone. I stayed about twenty minutes and by then the checkout lines were to the back aisle, a distance of probably at least 75'. It was then I decided to leave without making any purchases.

This is our group after the dinner. I was in the sanctuary looking at the stained glass windows and took this from inside the sanctuary. The group looks smaller, I suppose, because the women were working in the kitchen. We had between 25 and 30 here today, and a good number were missing because of illness or other obligations.

A plate of mustard flavored pretzels that Donovan found revolting, and refused to eat. Donovan finds a lot of food revolting, though.

I sat near the kids while they played Monopoly Junior and watched for a while. Samantha was with me for part of the time and had me taking pictures of her hair bands. I thought they looked like eyes so I set this up and took a photo.