After most every holiday C.O. and I say, "That was the best one yet." Well, it happened again. This Thanksgiving was the best Thanksgiving yet. The holiday week kicked off with C.O.'s parents arriving from Minnesota.
Our entire family was thankful to spend these few days with Mac and Mary after not seeing them for well over a year. I noticed the kids were more content with all of the attention they received throughout the week. Grandparents are a good thing.
Mary Crockett came down from Anchorage to stay a couple days. Mary was my student up in Brevig Mission but now is all grown up, a college student and is considered a close friend of the family. She has grown into such a wonderful young lady (that is a very old person thing to say I just realized).
Stu came from Bird Creek, south of Anchorage. Stu is now making Alaska his home after moving from C.O.'s hometown of Side Lake, Minnesota. It's been fun to get to know him better.
There's something special about gathering with the same relatives year after year but I love celebrating holidays with a group of people who don't necessarily know each other. A group made up of friends new and old and family too. Our Thanksgiving Day table was filled with just that kind of group: families and singles, kids and grandparents, those who traveled from across town and those who had to fly a couple thousand miles to get here. Perfect.
We had a total of 18 people for Thanksgiving dinner and were able to seat everyone at one table thanks to a couple sheets of plywood, saw horses and a 20 foot piece of cloth. Throughout the night we enjoyed sledding and a bonfire, games and chatting, pie and egg nog and a whole lot of laughter. See. It was the best Thanksgiving yet.
I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Maybe next year we'll find you seated at our plywood banquet table. We'd love to have you!
~AnnMarie
