The last few years we have had Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house with many other people.  We have enjoyed these visits for the friendship, laughter, and good food.  But this year Hailey asked that we stay at home for the holiday.  She missed our traditional dinner and our family time together.   

She doesn't remember because she was too young that every other year was a traditional Thanksgiving when we had the older kids for that holiday.  The in between years  were less traditional, sometimes eating out, just eating crab legs, and once nothing better than TV dinners.  (For which I owe my brother Jacob an apology, because he was living with us at the time. )  But we set out to make Hailey's Thanksgiving traditional and it turned out wonderful.

With football playing in the background I set out to make a traditional dinner that a family of 4 plus one friend could eat in a reasonable amount of time without getting sick of leftovers.   Our menu was super simple; turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, fresh green beans, rolls, a relish plate, and pumpkin pie.  My favorite item was the gravy.  I roasted the giblets in the oven while the turkey cooked, then threw them in a pot of water with an onion, carrot, garlic, and celery and simmered for hours.  The flavor was so strong and delicious I didn't even need bouillon to make the gravy.   It was fun making dinner and listening to the family noise in the background.   Hailey was right, it was wonderful to have Thanksgiving at home this year. 

After dinner we bundled up and grabbed our sleds to go burn off some calories.   

Walking up this hill takes a lot of effort but Nate didn't mind it all.  He went repeatedly. 

Nate's crash

Hailey's crash

Me, just before my crash.

After trying the smaller hills Nate decided to try the BIG hill.  Thankfully, friend Dwayne had enough energy left to take Nate up this hill several times.  They would go up a little,  try it and the next run they would go a little higher. 

Nate after the first few runs down the big hill.

Nate after his last run.

Nate and family friend Dwayne, survivors of the BIG hill.

After a game of Yahtzee, naps, and snacking, the traditional Thanksgiving holiday was over.   I hope when Hailey looks back she will have fond memories of our traditional Thanksgiving, even though the people she misses most this time of year,  her brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews, and grandparents, weren't here to join us.   They are certainly in our hearts and maybe when they see this great sledding hill they will want to come to our house next Thanksgiving.