Thanksgiving Eve Day

Joe had to travel on Thanksgiving this year, so we decided to celebrate a day early.  Our family's tradition has always been to open our home to church/work friends who don't have any family nearby.  We usually have a decent crowd each year, but we were concerned that no one would come to celebrate with us a day early!  But we were wrong!  We had a great crowd - close to 45 people all together!  The food was spectacular and the fellowship was just what we all needed.

My pictures did not turn out very well - too much glare everywhere I turned......plus, I was so busy I almost forgot to take a few photos.  Anyway, here are the photos of our day!

David was very concerned that there would not be enough mashed potatoes!  However, Mrs. Wilford came through with 20 lbs. - plenty to go around.  Here is David on round two......or was it three?

Later in the evening, after the bonfire where everyone who went out was FROZEN, the young people had a rousing game of cards.  I have no idea what they were playing but there sure was a lot of hooting and hollering going on in there!  (What are they?  older kids?  young adults?  teen and post-teens?)

My Thanksgiving Eve started out very stressful.  Isaac had been complaining of severe stomach pains since Monday morning.  I took him into the ER that afternoon, convinced that he had appendicitis.  However, all the tests they ran came back negative.  We struggled through Tuesday, and late Tuesday night (11:30 pm to be exact)  Rachel and I drove him into Tucson to TMC because Isaac was still in so much pain.  We spent the entire night there, they ran more tests, and again nothing showed up.  We arrived back home at 6:30 am and I was able to get a quick hour nap before preparing for our guests.  I was running on adrenalin most of the day until about 8:00 when it hit me.  But Isaac was in so much misery, crying, most of the day - my heart was broken for him.

He has slept through the night the last two nights and seems to be feeling better.  He is eating more, and playing with Joshua, but still complains now and again about his stomach.  We are praying for a complete recovery for him!

Anyway, celebrating on Thanksgiving Eve may become a new tradition for us.  It allowed some families to join us that would have been celebrating with their own families on Thanksgiving Day.  We all had a wonderful time  - we have much to be thankful for, for sure!