"Where does the shed go?"

I am truly thankful for incredible family.

This year for Thanksgiving, I made the hour drive up to my grandparents' house in Clearfield.

There, my grandparents, aunt and cousins were already preparing dinner.

For my contribution, I was asked to bring a gluten free* dessert to share. I fully intended to make a pie. So, Wednesday night, I took the crust dough out of the freezer to thaw. Unfortunately it didn't thaw by morning. Also, pies take 2 hours to make...and a pie pan. My pie became brownies pretty quickly. Kind of an early morning Thanksgiving miracle if you will. 

Anywho, this was easily the smallest Thanksgiving gathering I've ever been too. 

Up until about 3 years ago (pre-high school graduation) the majority of my extended family lived in Utah or Colorado, which made large Dysfunctional Family Fests a breeze. Well, as far as getting everyone together went. So, that's what we did. It wasn't unusual to have 15 to 20 people milling about, grazing, cooking, laughing, playing or arguing at my grandparent's home in Colorado around 2 o'clock Thanksgiving day. We watched the parade, set up the absurdly large, wobbly table, argued over who had to sit at the kid's table and ate while my grandma, mom and aunts cooked. Now, they weren't called Dysfunctional Family Fests for no reason. Like we've always said, "It's not really a family party until someone leaves crying." 

The year or so around my senior year, the members of my family were scattered to the winds for various reasons. Which makes large family gatherings a bit more challenging. Last year, I spent Thanksgiving with a friend's large, lovely family. I missed my family, but was very grateful for the generosity of my friend and his family. It was a great time and I didn't feel unwelcome for a moment.

This year, it was just my grandparent's, my aunt and her sons, and me.

It was calm, fairly quiet, and relaxing but definitely not lacking in humor and fun.

 This is what happens when my 14 year old cousin is in charge of setting the table. "Pop" art (i.e. random stuff) center pieces and paper airplane napkins.

Log O' Cranberry 

(one of these things is not like the others...)

My darling grandparents preparing the turkey.

Overheard during the evening:

(while decorating the Christmas tree)

Ian (8): holding up a nativity ornament Where does the shed go?

(while getting ready to leave)

Me: So, 'girding up your loins' just means 'put your pants on!'

Erin and Grandma: Well, no. A Gird is like...armor that goes *here*

Grandpa: So when you go to war, you don't get your tallywacker cut off...

Did I mention that I [love] my family?