Thankful for family!

Thanksgiving weekend...  How can I jam 4 days of pure chaotic rush into one post?

hmmm.. Here we go.

Thursday.

Since we had our church Thanksgiving on Wednesday night, Robb and I spent a leisurely day getting the house ready for company, cooking food and just relaxing a bit.  It was nice!

And because Maddy and Matthew won't be joining us at Christmas-time and basically missing any time during December with us, I put the tree up on Thanksgiving morning.  She didn't have time to put any ornaments on it, but at least got the McVal feel as we head into Christmas season.

Robb's sister and family arrived early afternoon and Maddy and Matthew arrived around 4ish.  We also had a nephew from Kentucky arriving by 6ish, just in time for our Thanksgiving dinner.

So much fun and laughter!

Friday.

Meri, Maddy and Matthew went to go pick up Leon while Robb went to the hall and got the turkeys going.  I had chores to do around the house and made rolls.  Getting a crockpot of sloppy joes over to the hall in time for my sister's family to enjoy a quick lunch, as they arrived earlier in the day to help out.

Here is one of my sisters and her grandson Bo.

Here is another sister and her hubs.  They're both empty nesters now and enjoying life with no running all around keeping up with kid's schedules!  I'm so envious!!!

Yes, Teresa, I'm jealous!

The hall filled up with people and just before the dinner was thrown out onto the tables, a good chunk of us went down to the town tree lighting.  Free hot cocoa and kringla!  YUM!!!

Nephews and a great nephew.

Nieces and a niece in law.

 More nieces, nephews and inlaws.  and the little girl who changed Leon's life... More on that later.

Second cousins can marry, right?

Another sister and an aunt.  Aunt Dorcas used to do all the Thanksgiving planning and now I guess, I'm her.

A nephew and his wife.  They handed out their Christmas cards and if I read it close enough, they put in a mysterious message making an announcement!  YAY!

Ah, Maddy and Matthew!!!  It was so great having them here!!  Their lives are getting so busy now with work, school, work and more work.  It's a wonder they have time for each other.  We're planning a trip out to see them and celebrate Christmas at some point in Wisconsin.

They left soon after dinner to head north to see his family.

Meri and her choir stood around the tree and led everyone singing tons of Christmas carols.  I had to ditch out in the middle of Jingle Bells as I had 3 boxes of stuffing to make quick before dinner.

The rest of the people stayed out there and sang their hearts out!

It happened to be my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary too!  The wedding party and anyone associated with the wedding posed.  I was a baby at the time of the wedding, but I probably should have stood with them too.  As Janice was my nurse when I was born and I DID introduce them...

Maddy and Matthew got to visit with Norah, their flower girl, and her mom for a bit at dinner.  Norah was SO shy and I think it took a bit for her to warm up to them again, but after that, TALK TALK TALK TALK!

Most of the gang just before the talent show.

A nephew.  Wow we've got some talent in this family!

 My mom and her sister playing She'll be coming round the mountain.

It was especially touching to me and I'm crying now as I type this.  We got some disturbing health news for Mom this week so moments like this are especially poignant these days...

The surviving siblings and a spouse, singing all in parts.  Now we know where all the talent is coming from...

My nephew, Alex, cornered me in the kitchen and asked if I'd do an act with him in the talent show.  I had no idea what he had planned but figured I'd hold something for him or be sawed in two...  Whatever...  I didn't mind...

So when he went up in front, he called me up too.  He showed me some music and said just jump in wherever.  He played his violin and yes... I rapped/sang The Devil Went Down To Georgia...

I have no idea how to get the bootleg video of it that Robb made onto here, and it's only posted in our personal FB family group.  So someday, I'll show it to you.  Maybe... I haven't watched it yet myself. LOL!  So much fun!  I hammed it up as best as I could.  I had always LOVED that song!  And was so surprised that I'd been singing some of the lines incorrectly all these years.  REALLY??!!  THose are the words?

Towards the end of the talent show, my aunt Dorcas and her daughter, handed out leaflets with lots of Christmas songs in it and everyone sang.

My parents.

About this time, a few of my sisters congregated by the back wall.  I don't know what they were talking about and they acted secretive so I pretended to take a selfie and got em.

I still don't know...

This year, some sisters recommended that with my menu sign up sheet that I email out to everyone in prep for the dinner, I also send out a sign up sheet for clean up jobs.  WOW!  We got some awesome response and we were OUTTATHERE by 10pm.  There were some years we didn't get home til midnight.  You just need to ask...

My sister Tammy and several of her kids stayed with us until Sunday.  It was great getting to know her kids better.  I hadn't seen some of them in years!  Leon got to know his second cousin, Skylar, real well.  He has forgotten all about the cute little red haired girl from school and doted on his cousin all weekend.  They had a blast making forts, playing with all his toys and at one point Skylar gave birth to a stuffed animal and Leon was the doctor.  I won't get into the description of that one any more than this...  He talked her dad into saying he'll ship her to Leon.  Leon asked that he put holes in the box so she can breathe.  Oh and some Christmas crunch because she loves that stuff.

We met up at Ryan's pub and had appetizers before supper on Saturday.

 Took a cheesy pic and sent it to Maddy.

Leon got a hold of my phone to take a pic of Skylar and I have no idea who this man is...

 But this is Skylar.

Robb made a breakfast casserole the next morning and it was a hit.  I'll post the recipe some time.

They all left about the same time we were leaving for church, then I vegged out and relaxed the rest of Sunday.  Reorganized my sewing area a little but couldn't get psyched up enough to cut into any fabric.  Maybe tonight.

I'm sitting down now and I am thankful.  I hope your Thanksgiving was a good time too!