Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving 2009 was great!!! We had about 45 people there for dinner. If Mom could have seen it she would be proud. Actually I think she was there. This week has been a hard one with all of the anniversaries happening with in a few days. A lot of milestones for us this week. I was kind of dreading being all together with out Mom. While we were all together it seemed as though Mom was right there too only that we couldn't see her or talk to her. The noise level was roof raising, until everyone had food in front of them. It's amazing that the noise turns into happy, laughing and visiting when people are eating. Who ever said dinner is only for an hour, has never been to an Israelsen dinner. We can't even get through the line in an hour let alone eat some of everything that is on the serving table. That's the other part we have down. The variety and amount of food is wonderful. Three turkeys, two hams, 50 lbs of potatoes, 6 loafs of stuffing, three pans of yams, salads, rolls and a whole 8'table of dessert. Amazing. Everything was delectable delicious.
I know you have all been waiting for the Lapp dancing update and here it is.... All of the Israelsen Men wore reindeer hats and I danced in my Lapp apron, skirt and shoes. Paige did a great job at retelling the story about the birth of the Lappland subject and EVERYONE had a great laugh.
After dinner we all wrote what we were thankful for on leaves & angels. We hung them all on a string and let me tell you, our family is thankful for a lot of things. That evening we took the "Thankful Chain" to Grandpa Gene's house. He put it on like a necklace and read everything his family was thankful for. It was so much fun and brought tears and cheers. We also wrote a few notes to Elder Gillies. He was missed. We enjoyed pumpkin pie and huckleberry pie just for him. We also missed Tessa but did get to yell "Hello" to her on Thanksgiving night. All 35 of us. I am sure she could feel our LOVE:)
At Dad's house we all sat around and talked. It is so much fun to laugh as a family. We enjoyed being together. I am sure these years of getting us all together are getting fewer. It is rather hard to get 7 kids together and 7 spouses never mind all of the kids. By next year we will may be a few more in number. So we had to enjoy this year to the fullest. I think we did a great job at it. I had fun and I hope you all did TOO!!!