Thanksgiving

This past week I was blessed to be able to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday three times. Yes, three times! And yes, I do still like turkey and I officially need to go on a diet (but the diet may have to be postponed until New Year's resolutions as I have a weakness for gingerbread men). It was a wonderful week and all three times of feasting were extraordinary. I thoroughly enjoyed the time of recollecting the Lord's blessings in my life, teaching my children the history of Thanksgiving, visiting with family, and of course eating delicious food.

The week started off with a visit to Grammy and Pappy’s house in Williamsburg for a Saturday Thanksgiving celebration. This was the first holiday spent in John and Karen’s new home and it was a special time for all. Brian’s sweet grandmother, Nana, had flown in from Houston, Texas and Brian’s sister, Tara, and her boyfriend, Archie, drove down from D.C. We were able to introduce Nannie to her fifth great-grandson and Davis enjoyed several hours of attention in her arms. Brian’s mom had the table beautifully set and treated us to a delectable meal. The turkey was absolutely perfect (I will have to find out her secrets!). The boys had fun playing with all of the new toys at Grammy and Pappy’s house and being entertained by fun Aunt Tara (or as Bryce says, “funny Aunt Tara”). We had a wonderful time.

Nannie and Davis.

Grammy and Carter.

Nana, Tara, Carter and Karen.

Pappy carving the turkey with Grant looking on.

Nana and Bryce.

On Tuesday I helped out with the kindergarten Thanksgiving feast at Alberta Smith Elementary school. The children enjoyed a feast of all the traditional Thanksgiving foods while dressed in costumes they had made to look like the Native American Indians who took part in the first Thanksgiving. I enjoyed seeing Grant with his classmates and had fun talking with the kindergartners. Grant’s teacher sent home a list of what each child in her class had said when asked the question, “How do you cook a Thanksgiving turkey?” The answers were quite amusing (and creative!). Here are a few:

Alexis: "Put on pepper, sauce, chicken and fries. Put in the oven for 3 minutes."

Gracie: "Put in milk, eggs, and pancakes. Put on feathers, pepper and salt. Cook in oven for 25 seconds."

Grant: "Cut it. Cook in oven for 13 minutes. Put on cinnamon."

Grant and Bryce helped the day before the feast to make some cornucopia favors for Grant’s classmates. I got the idea from my friend Jillian who is Bryce’s Sunday school teacher. Using sugar cones as the cornucopia, the boys filled them with sunflower seeds, raisins, candy corn, and pretzels, each item symbolizing something different. I attached a paper with the following inscription on each cornucopia:

Ice Cream Cone

represents a cornucopia, or a horn of plenty.

Pretzels

represent arms folded in thanks and prayer.

Dried fruit

represents the celebration of the harvest, when the pilgrims finally had enough food to eat.

Sunflower seeds

present next season’s harvest.

Candy Corn

represents maize. During the first year of settlement, many pilgrims died because food was so scarce. Native Americans shared corn with them and taught them how to plant this new crop.

Psalm 107:1 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Grant wearing his Indian headdress, sitting next to Jolie and Kameron.

On Thursday we hosted the annual Callahan Thanksgiving gathering in our home. This was the first time that Brian and I had hosted the big event. It was a cozy get-together with roughly thirty people in our house, but everyone enjoyed the close fellowship. We had family come in from northern Virginia, Portsmouth, Virginia, Charlotte, North Carolina and Delaware. It was a potluck style meal with everyone contributing a dish (or two or three). We truly had a feast. There was enough food in our kitchen to feed a small army. We also discovered that the Callahans can drink some coffee! Brian brewed the coffee while I kept busy rotating casseroles in and out of the oven. The weather was nice and after our meal we were able to walk off a few of those calories and make room for some pumpkin pie. We enjoyed seeing my mom’s side of the family and were grateful that everyone was willing to make the trip to our house. It was a memorable day.

Brian carving the ham.

The women talking in the kitchen.

Eric--"Uncle Eric" to my boys.

The young people's table.

The fine china crowd.

Four out of the eight Callahan brothers. My mom is one of eleven children.

Grandpa and Davis.