Deeanne Gist - www.deeannegist.com - Inspirational Romance Author

Monday, November 27, 2006

Thanksgiving Photos

I didn't end up getting my desk clean before Thanksgiving Day, but I shifted the stacks around, so it looked cleaner. ;-)

We ended up having a great time. I can remember when I was dating Greg back in the early, early 80s and he stayed in the States one summer to work, while I went "home" to Norway (where my parents were living at the time).

Ohmygosh. I missed him sooooo much that summer. There was one thing that always made me feel a little closer to him, though. And that was spending time with his family (who just happen to live next door to us--in Norway!).

So every morning, I would arrive on the Gist's doorstep--uninvited--to share a cup of coffee with Greg's mom. The two of us would talk and talk and talk. Originally the only thing we had in common was that we both loved Greg. But by the end of that summer, we were fast friends.

As I mentioned last week, Greg was out-of-town during Thanksgiving this year. And I always miss him when he travels, but I particularly miss him when he is gone for a holiday. It made me think (and pray for) our service men and women, our single parents, our friends who have recently lost spouses and loved ones.

This year, we celebrated Thanksgiving not only without Greg, but without his mother, who lost her battle with cancer in February. As a special treat, though, our son (who headed west upon graduating in May) is now back in town from California. (He missed his girlfriend and friends and decided to come back, for a while. He's sharing an apartment with his cousin and his cousin's friend.)

Boy, was it *wonderful* to have him sitting at our dinner table! As well as the family members that were able to join us. Allow me to introduce you to a few of them.

This is our daughter (17 yrs old) and son (15 yrs) and Greg's brother (who is lurking as we speak and if he doesn't learn to post comments, I might just have to take some drastic measures and reveal his age or some such thing.)

This is our older son who is back from California (18 yrs), his precious girlfriend (whom we absolutely adore) and our older daughter in from college.

This is Greg's uncle and aunt and their precious Steven who single-handedly ate a dozen dinner rolls, I think!

And this is me and my dad:

My mom was there, too, as was Greg's dad, but I think they must have been outside or something when I was madly rushing around with my camera. Hopefully Aunt Donna got some pics that she can send me.

So ... what about y'all? How was your Thanksgiving? Did you stay in town? Go elsewhere? Any fun traditions? Do tell.

posted by Deeanne at 8:31 AM

16 Comments:

Sharlene MacLaren said...: What a precious picture of you and your daddy. Cherish it.

Looks like you had a wonderful day! And you know what--it didn't matter one bit that you didn't finish organizing your desk. As long as the piles were neat that's all that matters. (smile)

We spent the day at my niece's house. Had an absolutely scrumptious meal. This was the first Thanksgiving without my mom. We put her in an adult foster care home this past June (she has Alzheimer's) and she doesn't do well outside of her new environment. Seemed strange to all of us though...her not being there.

Thanksgiving night we brought our eight-month-old grandson home with us so Kendra (our daughter) could hit the stores at 5 a.m., and Terry (her hubby) could go shoot at ducks! We had so much fun with "our boy". This grandparent business is just a blast!

So that was our day.
Barb said...: Nice to see your boy home! I'll hafta do that next year, boo hoo. This year daughter #2 cooked the entire meal herself, with a little help from her dad on the turkey, which meant I got to relax ALL day, for which I was MOST thankful! I did get dish duty that evening and the next morning, but it was a small price to pay. One couple of guests brought their 25 year old wedding pix, which was pretty fun...
Deeanne said...: Oh, fun! Congrats on your grandbaby, Shar and what a neat day.

It's so hard watching our parents get old, isn't it? My mom looked so much like I remember my grandmother looking. It's just so bizarre sometimes.

I'm so impressed about your daughter cooking the meal, Barb. How did she do? Did she do lots of prep work in advance? How old is she?

What a great idea about wedding pics. That would be fun! Anybody else? What did y'all do?
Jenster said...: It was a nice, quiet, relaxing Thanksgiving. The only one I ever remember. lol It was a cold, drizzly day and to say we stayed in our pajamas the entire day wouldn't be exactly correct. We all changed into other comfy jammies after our showers. :o)

I cooked the meal and Todd and the kids cleaned up. Nice!

The next day was gorgeous and we walked off our Turkey Day by touring Valley Forge on foot. Lot's of fun and great family time.

I love your story about you and your mother-in-law. Sounds to me like your own romance could be it's own book!

Jen
Barb said...: Wo, like THE Valley Forge?! Daughter #2 is 22. She planned for a few days, wrote up the grocery list for me, then set to work when she finished school the day before Thanxgiving. She did great! She'd like to find a good husband and I'm thinking we should advertise her culinary skills with a cute picture of her....
Katybug said...: Wow, Dee, your oldest son looks just like you!!! Thanksgiving, and holidays in general, are nothing without family. I'm from a family of 7 kids, and the family Christmas shindig with our extended family never really got started until we arrived. We were the majority of the invitees.:-)

We just got back home--literally!!--from being in Tulsa, Oklahoma over the Thanksgiving holiday, and I feel so out of the loop! Dee, I'm glad you only post 3 times a week! And I don't feel nearly so bad about my desk--thank you for sharing yours with us!!! ;-)

While we were in Oklahoma, my husband was inducted into the American Bicycle Association BMX Hall of Fame. It was rather bizarre...I felt sort of like I was married to a rock star...imagine, people asking my sweet boy for his autograph! It's still throws me, but it was a fun time spent with friends from all over the country. Alas, back to the "real world"...!
Katybug said...: BTW, your tile is gorgeous!
Jenster said...: Yup. THE Valley Forge. It's a beautiful place and so interesting. The rich history of this area was one of the big selling points of moving up here. That and the fact that God wants us up here for some reason. Not sure what it is yet, but I hope to find out some day.

Jen
Meg said...: Great pictures, Dee. What a beautiful family, and I'm glad you've got your boy home again. Even if he's under another roof.

This year was the first time we didn't have Thanksgiving with our kids. My husband and I made the long trek to Florida to visit his parents, and our pastor's family adopted our two sons and our daughter and her husband for the holiday. It was strange to be without our kids, but our nephews were good substitutes.
Anonymous said...: Hmmm, I don't know.... I think your oldest son looks an aweful lot like your brother-in-law.

;-)

Happy Thanksgiving.

Lurker #2
Deeanne said...: Oh, oh! Someone in the family has learned how to post a comment, but isn't revealing him/herself. I thought it might be Phil, but it says Lurker #2 and he's Lurker #1--or is Greg Lurker #1?

Is that you, Phil? Greg? Who *finally* figured out how to post??

Do tell. (Btw, I'm very proud of you!)
Anonymous said...: Hi Dee....it's me! Lurker #1!!!
Anonymous said...: Thanks for a wonderful afternoon and all your efforts at making us all feel so very loved in this family. Count me in next year for the preparation and clean up--so long as we get to go to another movie afterwards! Love you all!
Lurker #1
Anonymous said...: ... former family member just checking in on y'all.

Glad to see lurker #1 finally de-lurked!
Deeanne said...: Well ... let's have a celebration!! You FINALLY learned how to post. Congrats, honey. I'm really proud of you. Hope you're warmin' up your ski boots!!
Deeanne said...: Lurker #2, email me so I know who you are. DG