Fourteen adults, four children, lots of food, and a beautiful autumn day. Almost all our children (see exception noted below), all our grandchildren, and guests from all our daughters-in-law's families gathered with us to celebrate the many things for which we are thankful.
Dapper in his cap, Max leads his mother into the celebration, a porter following with bags.
The older children (from left, Max, Reese, Finnley) gathered in the playroom to play with new toys and a whole bag of Goldfish.
The cap.
Beth holds a sleeping Parker Rose while Beth's sister Laurel and her husband Doug and his father Jim and his wife Sheryl and Doug's brother Matt mingle with Johnsons.
Reese entertained her mother Becky and her cousin Parker Rose, eliciting peals of laughter by running back and forth.
Anna's mother Maggie and I see to the gravy.
We stretched over three tables, one the first instance of a children's table where
Finnley, Reese, Max, and MeMike ate. The plate with the apple was set for the one missing guest.
Here is part of the spread. Everyone brought great food.
Seeing the older cousins running and playing together was a thrill for us
and the source of high volume sound for all.
Finnley helped with the photography chores, assisted here by Maggie who kept herself level with the camera even though the windows did not.
Maggie and MeMike took their grandsons for a nature walk down by the river.
Becky brought her cousin Lisa who is in town to finish preparing her mother's home for sale.
The exception to full family attendance at dinner on Thanksgiving Day was Nate. We saw him Friday at the hospital where he spent Thanksgiving Day (plus a day before and a couple more after) being treated for an infection stemming from a dog bite he got Tuesday trying to rescue a dog he saw in traffic. Read his account of it (and see lots of pictures of Parker Rose) on his blog.
Saturday we had Finnley and Reese with us while their parents helped Cousin Lisa with her work preparing her mother's home for sale.
In the afternoon, we went to the new playground at Berkeley Lake's City Hall.
And Finnley finished the afternoon snuggled on the couch with MeMike, drifting off to sleep.
