Thanksgiving with the Oliver's

On Sunday we went to my Grandma Oliver's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. My Grandma claims not to be a good cook since she only cooks on holidays, but no one ever leaves hungry when she does! She and my aunt made all the traditional Thanksgiving foods: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans. But they also made meatloaf for those of us who dislike Thanksgiving foods (okay, maybe just for me!)

This is the meatloaf my aunt made for me. She shaped it to look like a turkey leg so I didn't feel left out. She had never made meatloaf before but I thought it was pretty good!!!

All the good food! My grandma made homemade noodles, too. YUM! There was also pumpkin pie, homemade rolls, and scalloped potatoes. Plenty of food for the family and enough for Eric and I to take home leftovers! Lucky us!
A few images of the family enjoying our Thanksgiving meal...

Thanksgiving with the Steffes/Fessler Family

Nearly 50 family members gathered at my Grandma's house this year to celebrate Thanksgiving. Most of the Fessler's and all of the Steffes' were in attendance. We drove to Wien early Thursday morning and began watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The kids (and many of the adults) quickly grew tired of watching the parade so they moved the party downstairs where we had set up a miniature jump house. I love my family. How many of you had jump houses at your Thanksgiving celebrations?? That's what I thought.

Tim had the honor of preparing the two turkeys for dinner, one he roasted and the other he fried. He also made the stuffing. David looks like he was helping but I'm not convinced. ;)

The deep fryer was a hit. In addition to frying the turkey, they also fried up some doughnuts! YUM! How many of you had homemade doughnuts at your Thanksgiving?? I love my family.

Finally, we got to enjoy all the good food! Everyone brought something so there was more than enough food to feed all 50 of us. Here are a few scenes of the family enjoying the food and the company:

A Hasty Week of Giving Thanks- Day 5

Today is the last day of my week of thanks giving. I enjoyed looking back on the good times I've had these past few months. Today we're thankful for selfless giving this Holiday season. Last week, as Eric and I were figuring out how many Christmas cards we wanted to send this year, we realized we had accumulated many Christmas cards from previous years and some vintage cards I had purchased from a flea market. Many of them had lost their envelopes. We did a little research online to see what we could do with the cards.

We discovered Holiday Mail for Heroes, sponsored by the Red Cross. Regardless of what you think of the war, there are men and women serving for our country, veterans who have served for our country, and family members of soldiers who are praying for the safe return of their loved ones. Eric and I decided to send our spare cards to service members, family, and veterans through the Holiday Mail for Heroes program.

If you're interested, take a look at the guidelines below or visit this link:
http://redcrosschat.org/2009/10/27/holiday-mail-for-heroes-2/

Guidelines:

We will begin accepting cards on November 2nd. Send in your cards to the address below, and please read the guidelines carefully!

Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

All cards must be received no later than Monday, December 7th. Cards received after this date will unfortunately be returned to the sender. This deadline ensures enough time to sort and distribute cards before the holidays.

Do...

• Sign all cards
• Entitle cards “Dear Service Member, Family or Veteran”
• Limit cards to 15 per person or 50 for school class or business group
• Bundle groups of cards in single, large envelopes (there is no need to include individual envelopes and postage for cards)

Don’t...

• Send letters
• Include personal information such as home or email addresses
• Use glitter – excessive amounts can aggravate health issues of wounded recipients
• Include inserts of any kind as they must be removed in the screening process

A Hasty Week of Giving Thanks- Day 4

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Today I'm thankful for time with family. I love the Holiday season, I get to spend more time with family this time of year than any other time. A few weeks ago I went up to my Grandma's house with my Dad and my Uncle Gary to help her decorate for Christmas. I had so much fun that as soon as I got home I had Eric help me decorate our place. We absolutely love Christmas-time. The glow from the tree lights make our house look so romantic. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Hasty Week of Giving Thanks- Day 3

Today I am thankful for health care professionals who encourage healing physically and emotionally. When my Mom was in the hospital recovering from her bilateral mastectomy, hysterectomy, and lymph node dissection her nurses allowed a visit from her baby boy, Truman.

Eric and I brought Truman dressed in his Frankenstein costume. The nurses loved him and it really put a smile on my mom's face.