Thanksgiving 2020

 I've had no high expectations for much lately, besides school work being done, meals for my family, and my usual personal schedule to keep my sanity. I didn't know what Thanksgiving was going to be like with the "pause" we're on now. 

We were supposed to watch the McEwen's dog Daisy, one of our most favorite jobs, while they went to Can Cun for Thanksgiving. They had some points at a hotel there from a stay last year. Those fell through less than a week before Thanksgiving, so they invited us to go to their house for dinner. Since Governor Whitmor said we could be with one family during this pause, we decided that the McEwen's would be the perfect family, that way not one child of ours gets to choose a friend. 

I was looking forward to eating with them. The thing that really lifted my spirits, though, was President Nelson's challenge to post something we are grateful for every day until Thanksgiving on social media. I'm not a huge fan of social media. I'll post big things here and there, but I try not to get really involved. I have to say that I really enjoyed looking for things I am thankful for and finding creative ways to portray it. So many things came to mind and I didn't even get to post them all, but it was so helpful for my spirit to recognize all those amazing blessings I have. I also enjoyed reading other's posts, but it would take a lot of time, so I had to set a limit. 

On Thanksgiving, after breakfast, we all did Erik's P.E. workout which was a selection of turkey games and cardio/strength training that had Thanksgiving themes. We also threw the football around in the backyard. It was so fun! The weather was warmer than in previous days, so it felt good to be outside. Soon after that, we discovered that Stefanie Nelson, our good friend who Karissa calls Sis Nel, was really down in the dumps. She already suffers from depression and migraines. She was upset because suddenly it was just going to be her and her husband for dinner. She had the turkey ready to go but doesn't even like turkey and didn't want to have to cook it and eat it without the company she was expecting. Karissa texted her and offered to go on a walk with her when she walked her dog. So at  12:30, Karissa and I went over and walked for over an hour with Bro and Sis Nel and I really think it lifted her spirits. I know it lifted mine!

Erik helped make the chocolate cheesecake pie. He actually ate most of it and liked it.

Austin chose to make rolls for his LME class. It worked perfectly for Thanksgiving!

Football fun!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the McEwen's. They're excellent and healthy cooks! We have a lot of things in common. It also turns out that Victoria's virtual violin teacher, who also teaches Trey and Jasmine McEwen, paired them up for the Zoom Christmas play along that will occur in a few weeks, not knowing that we were going to eat there. So after dinner, we practiced the songs. Jasmine just started playing, so she's only playing a few songs, and Karissa, who doesn't actually take private lessons right now, but is still in orchestra, was recruited by teacher Sister Swalberg to play Jasmine's part on her viola. It was a great way to start the season!

I was charging my phone in the car, so I put Jason up to the photos for a while.

Trey, Karissa, Jasmine, Victoria 

The pie that Erik helped make turned out to be a hit with the kids. They didn't like my small bit of trellis crust on the apple pie, but I don't like a lot of crust and I love apple pie, so that's the way I did it!

Austin, Erik, Karissa, Jasmine, and Ethan enjoying dessert.

Victoria, the selfie queen, took this of me and Jason, Trevor, Kayla, and Trey.

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning and getting our house ready for Christmas. Since we went to the McEwen's last-minute, almost, Jason had already planned some yummy things to make at our home and we already had a turkey. Plus, you have to have leftovers, so he worked really hard on Friday, despite being upset by Nebraska's loss, to make a turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole from scratch. It was delish! He's a very good cook!

4 Callings Birds in our garden (pigeons)

Putting up Christmas lights.

Even Luke helped.

Jason cut some logs so we could paint ornaments.

Austin made one with the Grinch holding a face mask with 2020 saying: Stink, Stank, Stunk!

We took some pictures of the kids individually, just for fun. They turned out pretty good. Love these kids!

I'm grateful for this time we had to give thanks and to start off the holiday season. I'm curious to know what the next few weeks will be like in terms of social distancing, but am trying to soak in the beauty of the celebration of Christ's birth and not worry about it for now. Happy Thanksgiving!