We decided to stay home rather than travel with two small children to either of our family which would be an 8-or-13 hour drive. You really have to be up for an adventure like that and with us all being sick recently, my recent heavy workload and my mom's poor health - we didn't need any added stress. So staying home sounded perfect to us.
Jim normally cooks Thanksgiving dinner whether we travel or not so by him stating he wanted to have the neighbors over and do it again this year was no surprise. We have grown close with several of our neighbors on our street and we had three families over with their children, along with Matt and Shawna and another family we've grown close with over the years, Assia and Lydia.
Everyone arrived around 2 pm – dinner was ready by 2:45. We joined a folding table along with our dining room table with the leaf in it to accommodate 12 people. Then used the other folding table for the kids and put them right next to us. I made the place cards, and Jimmy made the entire dinner himself. He served salad, juicy turkey and dressing, along with corn, asparagus, rolls from our favorite baker, enough mashed potatoes to feed a small army and the perfect mushroom gravy which doused most of it. I'm very proud of him, he did an amazing job.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we opened up every window and the french doors, and the kids spent a good amount of time playing outside. I just love how well they all play together–no arguments and only one accident that I know of :-) Gabriel wasn't feeling too well so I laid him down for a bit and gave him Advil. As soon as the medicine kicked in, he was up and about with his friends, but we knew it was a little more serious when at about 7:00 he had a temperature of 103°. More medicine and in a hot shower he went and then straight to bed. Everyone left around 8 pm which leads me to believe they all had just as much as an enjoyable time as we did. We are so thankful for our friends for without our lives would undoubtedly be much duller. (I'm also thankful Gabriel felt much better in the morning) :)
