Kathleen Chronicles: Thanksgiving Traditions

Traditions. I wrote about family traditions last summer when I was feeling the effects of traditions changing. Change makes most people feel a bit discombobulated (did you know that is a real word that spell check can correct? I never knew!).

Thanksgiving has always been at Grandma and Grandpa's but last year Pat and Linda hosted a blending of her family and his. They combined relatives and cuisine for a twist on the classic Thanksgiving meal. The time together was great fun, deliciously diverse and voted a resounding success by the guests. There was talk of this being our new Turkey Day tradition (which pleased Grandma greatly; she said she was ready to hand over the hostess reins :))

Thanksgiving 2010 at Pat and Linda's Home

Pat and Linda opted not to host the festivities again this year as they would be spending it with Linda's family. That meant the hunt was on for a Turkey Day 2011 location. As much as Joc loved the idea of playing hostess, their small apartment wasn't an option.

I offered my house; but we acknowledged it is seating challenged, kitchen cramped and canine corrupt. Glenna offered her house; but it was determined two turkey dinners in three days was too much to expect of one person (us on Thursday and the whole Diefendorf clan on Saturday).

James voted for dinner at Red Robin. Papa said Chinese take-out sounded deelish. Just typing their suggestions cracks me up :-)

Grandma said her house made the most sense and we should just move it back there (hard to argue with such a wise woman!). We agreed to her plan if she would promise to simply set the table, cook the turkey and let the rest of us bring everything else. She agreed.

Tess made 3 different dessert bars that quickly disappeared; many before dinner :)
I brought sweet potatoes, veggie appetizer and green salad
Glenna contributed fruit, twice-baked potatoes and pies (mmmmmmm)
Jocelyn provided a green bean casserole, and her mother-in-law's broccoli salad and corn biscuits
Grandma cooked the turkey, stuffing and gravy (the stuffing and gravy sorta went with the turkey prep)
Grandpa served his infamous shrimp cocktail. I mean seriously, what would Thanksgiving or Christmas be without Grandpa's shrimp cocktail? Grandpa of course complained about the shrimp not being quite the right size or flavor ;) but I didn't see anyone else complaining and there were but a small handful left at the end of the night.

It ended up being a cozy group of 11: Grandma, Grandpa, David, Glenna, Tyler, Jocelyn, James, Tess, Daniel, John and me. We were in touch with our out-of-town kids Anna, Ben and Shannon via texts and calls - which is always great fun! We missed having Pat and Linda there. It left us feeling a bit discombobulated.

Daniel assured Grandma he was still the same sweet and wonderful little boy under all that hair. She said she'd watch and see :)

Tess' jaw was locked up and she was on meds to relax the muscles and ease the pain...can you tell :)

This picture was taken before Tess' meds kicked in. LoL - she is a trooper!

Recently it was noted that I'm not featured in these posts. Of course not. Why do you think I do the post? I don't like to be featured :) But when Glenna said, "You'll be just like Aunt Jody and we will think you were adopted too!" I decided a self portrait now and again was in order.

Grandma lamented that she didn't set two tables in the family room so we could all be together. She thinks she'll try it for Christmas.

Joc preparing her broccoli salad in the silver bowl Aunt Jody gave her. This is her mother-in-law's recipe that the adult table proclaimed a winner - not sure how the kids feel about it ;)

I didn't realize how monochromatic our meal was until I looked at this photo. We needed a parsley garnish to liven up the presentation - where is Martha Stewart when you need her :)

James and Joc stopping at the salad bar on their way to the table.

Uncle David had the honor of carving the bird (and nibbling on all the tasty tidbits as he was going :)) The turkey was fall-off-the-bone tender making it difficult for David to slice nice neat pieces for the serving platter. But in the end he won the battle!

All five kids (kids. hahaha. not so much so) cleared the tables and loaded the dishwasher. Grandma, Glenna and I did pots and pans and put away food. Many hands make light work (as Mother used to say!).

After dinner Tyler, Joc and James played a new favorite board game in the Marth household called Settlers of Catan. James dominates most of the time but Tess, John and I are getting stronger at game strategy and make him work for his wins!

John, Daniel and Grandpa wrestled the Christmas tree out of the carport storage. After finding the right plastic and plywood base, up went the tree. A lot of the pre-strung lights have long since burned out so Glenna strung lots and lots of new white lights to fill in the dark gaps. Grandma smiled when it was all done. She does love the tradition of getting her tree up on this day.

Grandpa cracked us up. He didn't like that the new lights saying they were much brighter. He kept suggesting ways to tone them down. Next time we go there I won't be surprised if they are all wrapped in tissue paper to mute their glow :D

I didn't have any snapshots of papa (must have been too busy chatting - who me? no way!) so I asked papa to smile. Papa was being papa and this is what he provided for me to photograph. I think all of you who know him will agree...oh, so papa!