Thanksgiving Traditions

Tradition says that we go to Montana for Thanksgiving.  I like traditions.  I like going to Montana.

The feast is wonderful every year and the noisy crowd of cousins is music to my ears.

Tradition says the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning will be cold.  Really cold.  Christopher and I have done the 10k two years in a row.  I guess you could say that's part of the tradition now.  It's the only 10k I run all year.

Tradition says that our Thanksgiving dinner has all of the trimmings.  And we eat 'til we're stuffed.  Stuffed!

The big boys ate at the adult table because the other 10 cousins filled the "kid table" to capacity.

Tradition says that the variety of pies will accomodate everyone's favorite.  Mine is pumpkin.

This is the pie-maker (and roll-maker and pretty much most-of-the-meal-maker):

I sure appreciate her efforts.

Tradition says that Grandpa will make hotcakes every morning for breakfast.  Unless you're Caleb or Maureen and you prefer french toast.  He'll offer you your choice of breakfast beverage, too.  And if you're Caleb, he'll even put ice in your cup.  The hotcakes are special and the syrup is piping hot and thin as water.

It's funny that all of my pictures of Grandpa show him sitting down.  That's really misleading because tradition says that he cleans up all the grandkid messes and does a lot of dishes and cooking.  He also takes the kids to Exploration Works.  And plunges toilets.

Christopher helped a lot with the dishes, too:

He's kind of a Mr. Fix-it.  He helped replace the forty-year-old thermostat.  Or was it even older than that?  Here's Mr. Fix-it's wife modeling the relic:

Tradition says that I go shopping.  I'm not usually a shopper but with sales tax-free shopping opportunities, shopping is a must!  I've never braved the stores on Black Friday, but on Thanksgiving night, the kids were off swimming and Jon and Christopher went to the movies, so Emily and I decided to "just go see" what was happening at the stores.

(the contents are blurred so that no surprises will be ruined.)

We stayed out 'til midnight and bought sacks full of goodies.  Such fun!

Tradition says that the cousins will have the time of their lives and build fond memories together.  

Many more cousins pictures to come...

Tradition says that we put up the Christmas tree right when we get home from our Thanksgiving trip.  

And that's how we do Thanksgiving.  Because tradition says so.  And because it's just the way we like it.