Thanksgiving 2008

Monday, December 8, 2008

    What a blessed Thanksgiving we had this year.  All of the Gotcher family congregated at our house for the week.  My parents, who live in Northwest Kansas stayed for a week.  My brother, Kenny, his wife, Renee, and their three girls, Audrey, Claire, and Elise came for about 5 days.  They drove from their home in Durango.  And my sister, Elizabeth and her husband, Anthony and their four girls, Stormie, Rachael, Faith, and Cadence came over almost every day.  They live nearby in Sapulpa.  In all, there were 10 children and 8 adults. 

    Preparing Thanksgiving dinner was so much fun.  Almost everybody had a hand in making something.  I made the Turkey, Brisket, Cheesecake, Cheeseball and laid out appetizers.  Mom made pumpkin pies, stuffing and gravy.  Dad made a wonderful chocolate mousse pie totally from scratch (even the whip cream).  Hannah made the wonderful rolls, apple pie and peach pie.  Virginia made the green bean casserole.  Renee made her special recipe for cream corn.  Kenny made the mashed potatoes (lumpy the way my family likes them).  Jason carved the meat.  The kids made placemats.  Elizabeth’s family had to go to Anthony’s family Thanksgiving dinner first (for lunch) so Elizabeth got to help with clean up.  It was a great family time and the memories will be treasured forever.

    During the week the cousins had such a great time getting to know each other and playing.  The trampoline got a lot of use.  Thank God for beautiful weather.  Friday we all went to Incredible Pizza to play - what a blast!  The cousins all had fun all week.  Thursday night was slumber party time.  They took over the game room and watched Wall-E.  Joel fell asleep.  He was so wore out.  Friday night Stormie and Rachael helped grandpa make whole wheat pizza crusts.  Pizza night was fun - reminded me of Saturday pizza night at the McConaughys’ when I was a kid - a longstanding tradition.  The pizza was great.  Renee and I got to work on pictures and making a family calendar which was fun.

    This year since we were all together we really wanted to get some good family pictures.  The last time we tried this before Joel, Cadence, and Elise, oh and Anthony, we hired someone and had them taken.  They didn’t work out really well.  So this year we just decided to try taking them ourselves.  So I got a tripod and used my digital camera (great gift from Jason last Christmas).  The timer worked perfectly and we actually got some really great shots.  What a beautiful family I have.  My mom and dad have got to be so proud.  We are all healthy and happy.  We all love our parents and our families and we all love God most of all.  We Thank God for his Love and for the Blessing of being part of His family and the Earthly family he put us in.