Williams Style Thanksgiving

Every year our Thanksgiving is awesome and crazy busy. 

Here's the breakdown:

8:30am: Get up and go play a flag football "turkey bowl" at the field in my parent's neighborhood. I usually play for a minute then watch all the kids while their dads play. The SMART wives send their husbands with the kids so they can cook in peace. Maybe I'll get smart next year too :)

11am: Come home to put baby boy down for an early nap (it's gonna be a looooong day & he's gonna need it) and finish cooking up the side dishes I was assigned.

2pm: First Thanksgiving feast at my parents house with my dad's side of the family. He is the oldest of 7 kids,  I'm the oldest grandchild and grandkids are still comin'= lots of people and lots of fun. We eat on their beautifully landscaped drive way (sounds random, but it makes for a very nice atmosphere - would you expect anything less from a talented landscape architect?)

5pm: Head on over to the in-laws for a SECOND Thanksgiving with Ryan's Mom's side of the family. We have perfected this art of too much Thanksgiving by learning to eat light and ONLY eat your very favorite dishes at each house (at my parents, it's my Grandma Lamb's rolls, my dad's salmon instead of turkey, Aunt Chrissy's pumpkin cookies, and Martineli's sparkling apple cider. At the in-laws, it's Aunt Annette's creamed corn, my mother-in-law's sweet potatoes and Aunt Jacque's apple pie). 

By the end of the day, I have cooked in & cleaned up THREE kitchens. Maybe some day we'll get the guts to tell my sweet mother-in-law that we need to trade off every year because it's too draining. It's too hard, though, when your families live 5 minutes from each other and eat at different times. Plus, you feel a little un-grateful because having those 2 families so close is really a huge blessing in our lives.

Highlight of the day:

ME: "Wendy, you need to take four more bites of turkey, before you eat dessert, because you're four years old."

WENDY: "I. don't. eat. animals."

EVERYONE started cracking up. It's purely because of her hate for the taste/texture of meat, not some deep love for innocent creatures. She has never preferred the taste of meat. I make her take bites of white meat when we have it because she is a finiky eater and that girl needs some protein. My little vegetarian.