Eating Football

The speaker in church last Sunday began his talk on gratitude by listing the many things he loves about Thanksgiving. His ideas included family, eating, football, etc. Caleb, who was half-heartedly listening, didn't process the pause which suggested a comma between the words eating and football. He quickly cocked his head to one side as he incredulously asked, "Eating football?"

Football and Thanksgiving go together like mashed potatoes and gravy, like the Rockettes and the Thanksgiving Day Parade. And there are always several games to help satisfy our appetite for the sport.

Jon and Caleb started the day by bundling up for the annual Turkey Bowl. It was a sunny, crisp fall day and they looked so cute as they headed out together. Caleb had a blast running around with his buddies while Dad played a few games that would make him sore enough to spend the rest of the day limping.

I spent the day (and several hours yesterday) in the kitchen. It takes so much time to prepare a meal that takes a mere minutes to devour. Since we were a small crowd this year, I contemplated omitting some of the standard side dishes. But in the end, the traditionalist in me couldn't let them go so I managed to get all the trimmings on the table. It was the classic Thanksgiving dinner.
There are so many yummy things about Thanksgiving but we've decided that the quintessential item is the pumpkin pie. It is the one thing we just wouldn't want to live without.

I made two pies but we couldn't resist indulging in the first one last night. After today's feast, half of the second pie remains. We have lots of other leftovers too, but we can't wait for our huge extra helping of football when we watch the big rivalry game on Saturday. Go Cougs!