Thanksgiving Observed

Our family got together on Saturday to observe Thanksgiving. There was plenty of food and too darn many pecan pies (said "pee caahn" not "pee can"- and other pies with pecans in them. I think every single pie had pecans in it. Now I am not opposed to pecans, I love them, as long as they are not in pie form. And I really wanted a piece of apple pie with about half a can of whipped cream on it. But no not an apple pie to be found. Pout.)

I made Rachel Ray's Apple Onion Stuffin Muffins which are so tasty that they have changed my views on stuffing in general. There was green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, fried turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, and yams covered with marshmallows until they are so sweet it may as well be a dessert.

Hillbilly Golf.
How cute is my brother carrying my niece? He is going to be the cutest dad when he and his wife finally have chitlens.

After we ate, some people played Hillbilly Golf, while others played Tailgate Toss. I sat on the sidelines, because I don't enjoy playing games. I will admit that I am not a good sport. Nor am I any good at playing these games. I hate the way I feel when I lose. I hate the way I act when I win. I don't want my kids to see me like that, and it usually just makes me feel animosity towards the other players. Its a feeling I prefer to avoid. I am alright with board games- like Apples to Apples or Redneck Life. Losing or winning at board games feels different. Or maybe it is just that those games are so ridiculously silly that I laugh hard enough to not take them seriously.

Tailgate Toss

For once all eight of the grand kids were there, so we attempted to take a good picture. I set my camera on continuous shot. The pictures are hilarious to look at because its like an old movie, if you printed them and then flipped through them, the kids move, a dog walks behind them. Its great. The best picture of the bunch was the very first one I took, I think they are all looking in my general direction. This one is good, too. Especially with G-man jumping in the front. Totally a G-man move. Rhayn had just finished jumping, too, but her jump was not as spectacular as G-man's.
My dad's sister and her husband came down from one of the Dakotas to visit. They showed up sometime in the afternoon. There were plently of people to meet. (They had met Rhayn when she was 18 months old.) There was a lot of catching up to do. It was nice to listen to everyone tease eachother about carousing. (In case you didn't know what that word means. We thought it might be a Dakota word, but it turns out it is just not a word you use often if you don't really drink, considering the definitions almost all said something about drinking liquor.)

A rare Bethie Smile- she is sooo her Daddy's daughter!

The kids picked up cactus. Well, mostly Gwennie. She thought it great fun to gather up bits of cholla* and put them in a cup. I don't think she came home with any in her skin. She very gently picked it up, often using a stick to turn it over. This was a huge task, as you can see below there was a ton of cholla droppings all over.

Gwennie picking up cactus. See in the background? That huge pile? Its mostly cholla.

*Cholla (pronounced choi- ya, not cho la) is awful stuff.

It was a great day, we enjoyed ourselves, and the kids didn't fight- at all. Madder wanted to keep some of Gwennie's toys, but there was no fight over it. G'Rat's boys even got along. I think that having a large space and being able to separate the kids makes them able to get away from eachother when they do disagree. I don't remember fighting that much with my brothers and sister when I was young. I think if we weren't getting along- we separated ourselves. Whether that is good or bad, I don't know. But it made things more peaceful around the house. Maybe we didn't learn to deal with our problems, or talk them out, but we learned that you can cool off faster if you get away from eachother. And that works for me, even now.