“And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen. “
~Ward Elliot Hour
We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with my parents, who drove out to our house, on Wednesday evening. My brother Isaac, and my sister Amanda (with her beautiful family) came on Thanksgiving day. My mom’s presence in the kitchen made the day stress-free and easy, and the food all turned out perfectly.
The best part of all, was being together….all the talking, laughing, singing, visiting, planning, loving….
Dad played the guitar for the boys
Mom read books to the children
we watched tv together
we went outside for some football and walks
snoozed on the couch
drank coffee
hugs, teasing, being silly
Isn’t Thanksgiving a lovely day to celebrate? I was thinking this week, of all the many, many verses in the Bible about being thankful…..and I feel joy, knowing that God must be pleased with a whole day set aside, for the purpose of gathering together, in thankfulness.
We are thankful to God for all the thousands of blessings He showers on us day by day. We don’t even realize the good things happening around us, thanks to God in His mercy, leading and guiding our days with such amazing kindness. All of our days are carefully planned by Him.
“One generation shall praise thy works to another, and all declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.” Psalm 145:4, 5
“They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.” Psalm 145:7
Caleb, baking with Grandma in the kitchen;
spending time, making memories
my mom;
my sweet little nephew, Weston;
my joyful niece, Abigail;
Mom and Dad brought their dog out with them. We’ve had Brutus in the family for almost 12 years.
my niece, Naomi, with Caleb;
me and my sweet pea (who was sound asleep just a few minutes after this picture was taken);
Mom and I enjoyed going through the contents of our gratitude basket;
On Friday morning, we all went to my sister’s house for brunch and then Mom and Dad went back home. It was a wonderful weekend. I’m so thankful for my loving family and all the good times we have spent together through the years. It means so much to me, to see my children growing up in the security of a healthy relationship with their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.
This morning, Rich is busy outside with the boys, working on the chicken coop.
How excited we all were, to find the very first egg, this morning!
Good to be Home 
Family time is so fun…so good your children can experience grandparents, aunts and uncles. I think that is so important.
Lovely lovely day. Glad you had plenty of help. I think Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday.
Looks like your day went great! I love your gratitude basket…such a great tradition. We use to write appreciation notes on post-it notes and give them to each other just out of the blue and they said things like “I appreciate you letting me eat the last cookie” or something childish but it sure meant a lot…Have a great day!
You have much to be thankful for. Your family is so loving and warm. Yay for the egg!!
Glad you had a thankful sharing with some of your family. Is Rich’s family nearby also? Happy for you that you’ll now be gathering eggs daily; fresh eggs are SO yummy! Grace appears much improved – just in time for the feasting & family fun – another reason we are grateful! 🙂 Lois
Your family times are so meaningful!! I’m kind of jelous.
What a beautiful family. I loved hearing about your Thanksgiving day.. 🙂 YOUR FIRST EGG!!! That is so exciting!
What a blessing! Lots of family to share Thanksgiving and lots of HELP!!! “Brutus” – how cute!We had construction paper, cut out leaves that we wrote on (on the backs) about what we were thankful for this year. It was all anonymous – but some thoughts were obvious. They were read while we leisurely ate our dessert. I used them to decorate the table (around the centerpiece) while we were eating dinner.
Family times are such a blessing! Enjoyed hearing about your Thanksgiving activities! The first egg,what fun!
Such special thoughts, blessings and memories in your gratitude basket. Family is wonderful!
Shanda, I too, love the memories my children will have! Gotta love that egg
All that food looks so yummy and I bet it was wonderful being with family! It’s always so fun to catch up and see family isn’t it?
Family is wonderful isn’t it? What a lovely day you had~~Cinnamon
Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I’m so happy that you were able to gather as a family for the special day. Lovely pictures and verses. Love you, Lish
I’m so thankful for your beautiful family. It gives me hope of what our family can be like. I don’t mean to sound like my family is horrible; it’s not! It’s just very broken, but I am believing God for transformed hearts and lives!!! Much love, Shanda.–Amanda
Hooray for an egg!! And where did you get that super cute shirt you’re wearing? You always look so cute! We have similar taste in clothes. 🙂
Hooray for the first egg!! How fun for you all. Lovely family pictures. We also had a full Thanksgiving and enjoyed our time with both sides of our families.
Glad you had a wonderful thanksgiving! What wonderful memories you have:) Did David get to make his famous fried egg with that egg?
Loved reading your Thanksgiving post! Family time with thankfulness, yummy food, and sweet moments are a true blessing. So how do you share an egg?
Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
wonderful happy loving memories~ great times together ~ comfort ~ these are the feelings I am having looking back on our special thanksgiving day and brunch together Love you guys ~ SISSY
Happy Thanksgiving ! what a wonderful post! ~ blessings on this new week friend!
Naomi & Abigail have the Most Beautiful Blue Eyes–You sure look like your Mother–Look’s like a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with Family–I guess we need to see the mother chicken who produced the F-I-R-S-T egg.
Who broke the egg open, or didn’t you break it? It was Joanna the chicken who gave you the very first egg right? :)Weston is adorable…really really cute!So fun that your parents came and that your sister was there as well, I cannot imagine you doing it all alone, being so tired these days, you are always so refreshed after they come for a visit..I am happy for you!
What a lovely Thanksgiving you had! I will enjoy yours vicariously! LOL! The thankful notes are so precious. I am thankful for pudding, too! YAY! The first egg! May there be many, many more!
I love seeing how other folks celebrate Thanksgiving – and your family was no exception!! Great times! Thanks for sharing.