Eat, Drink and Be Thankful

We did it again.  Thanksgiving 2012 was another legendary meal with our friends.  And lucky for you, I captured it in photos this year!  Aren't you excited?!

Okay, so yesterday I made pies.  Homemade pie crust with pecan, cherry and pumpkin.  Then this morning I got up and cooked for another 3 hours - dressing casserole, 10lbs of mashed potatoes and white buns.  So here was our contribution to today's meal:

Yes, that is a lattice crust - I'm kind of a big deal.

So we were the first to arrive.  Here is the amazing table set for 16:

and of course the kiddos table:

I was put in charge of organizing the food on the table.  We started with the buns:

And within 30 minutes and 3 more families arriving, we were ready to eat.  The table now looked like this:

Oh.Shut. Up.  I know that's what you're telling me.  It was amazingly delicious.  And the 20 of us barely made a dent.  And this photo doesn't even have the desserts in it!  This was our menu:

turkey

cranberries

gravy

mashed potatoes

buns - white and wheat

cornbread

dressing casserole

stuffing

sweet potatoes

green bean casserole

pomegranate jello salad

cranbrosia

veggie platter

spinach salad

Desserts:

pecan pie

pumpkin pie

cherry pie

chocolate fudge pie

pumpkin cheesecake

chocolate mint brownies

whipped cream and ice cream

The tradition continued of the Dean baby having a turkey bone to chew on their first Thanksgiving.  Remember these guys?

Here are the last babies to join in the tradition:

Ammon couldn't care less about that thing.  I think he tasted it once then was done with it.  So Miss picked up his slack:

Dace and Zade both ate well and had a great time at their little table, complete with drawing on the table cloth!  Here is Dace showing off his artwork:

After dinner, outside games commenced - the traditional post-turkey volleyball match.  Zade wanted to team up with Dallin.  Do you see him clinging on?

Then trampoline jumping

And lots of time with a whole tub of Little People toys.  

It was a fabulous, fabulous day.  I love having Thanksgiving this late in the year because it kicks off the Christmas season.  Tomorrow, the tree goes up!!!!