Thanksgiving this Year

We had a dozy of a Thanksgiving this year. Bob and mom put on a great show with the turkey and the ham, mashed potatoes and dressing. The rest of us contributed as well with cowboy beans from us and Kelly's outstanding cheese tray. The meatballs from Cammie were wonderful and the sushi from Kelly and wonderful English blue cheese and cracker plate were wonderful. Cammie also brought her famous mushroom caps.. wonderful in all its glory. She also brought a green bean dish to die for. Dana and Jim brought mountains of green goup. otherwise known as the Watergate salad because it became popular throughout the country at the same time that the Watergate scandal was revealed. We also brought at gigantic Chocolate cake from Costco that had a wonderful reception. It was also a celebration of Heather, our eldest daughter's birthday. We also enjoyed the pies that mom made. Pumpkin and apple. The apple pie is always special. Acacia always looks forward to mom's pumpkin. She was not disappointed.

Sue put together a wonderful looking table arrangement. The cleanup crew needs some kudos for their fine work. We had 15 people in all!

Jim and Dana joined our usual party. Dana is Bob's sister. Jim and Dana retired about 7 years ago. Jim worked in a company that made heating and air conditioning structures for commercial buildings. They have been on the road in a huge Rv since that time. Their heart is with the Salvation Army. They donate a major part of their time to the cause. Dana showed me some wonderful photos of the Alaskan cruise they took in September. They left out of Seattle with Jim's mom and her sister and kids. I could relate to the places that they went. Southeast Alaska is something cool. Jim played his B flat horn for us after dinner. He had a couple of nice songs with a taped accompaniment. We enjoyed it immensely.

The daughters were all there. Both Linzi and Heather were there and enjoyed their cousins Cammie and Acacia.

After dinner

A and a rousing game of bocci on the front lawn mom reintroduced the subject of the Christmas party.

Some stakeholders in the party had some concerned regarding the rules of the party gift give. Some of the concerns were:

Some people had already purchased gifts for individuals.

Some people felt that they were left out of the decision making process. Not that they were against the idea.

Some people felt they would have a difficult time finding time to make something.

Some people felt that that their gift would be more meaningful if they knew name of their recipient.

All of these concerns were discussed in open forum. It was wonderful to see that we could do this without anyone (that I know of) getting their feelings hurt.

We established that side gifts to individual other members of the family would be permitted.

That the gift give creative item should cost less than 25 dollars to make. The people could opt in by bringing a gift or opt out by not bringing a handmade gift. That Ebay and Salvation Army/Goodwill secondary economy pieces and parts could be used, but not necessarily.

The discussion finally centered upon whether or not to draw names for the event or to pick numbers on the day of the even for the gifts that people bring.

In a close vote, the group voted with invisible ink on single piece of paper to pick numbers not names. Assessment will be made with a June party to investigate the pick name variation for the next year.

All present seemed to be happy with the process.

Love : )
Pat