Family Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. Courtney and Dave, along with Thomas, Taisie, Levi and Lila, drove down from Albany, New York to be with us. Jeremiah, Kate, and Leah came over for dinner. We filled up the dining room table and had to set up another table for the kids. We went out to the storage shed and pulled out two highchairs for Lila and Leah. Joanne worked very hard on the Thanksgiving meal, too hard but you can't tell her I said so. Actually, I simply tried to stay out of the way in the kitchen and watched football with Dave.

We had an abundance of food and had to leave some things on the counter for retrieval. But when we were done, there was not an abundance of leftovers. Everyone was full, contented, and ready for a nap; though it was closer to bed time for some of us. It was nice having all the kids together in one place. It doesn't happen often enough.

Courtney, Dave, and the kids, along with our nephew, Bailey, came down to the parsonage to spend the night on Saturday. The kids and Joanne all camped out in the living room for the night. They got up early Sunday morning and went to all three church services with Joanne and me. Of course, after listening to your grandfather give one sermon, the next time is a bit redundant, so you find something else to do. Levi and Lila decided to hide in the pews and draw. 

 

My brother, Aaron, joined us and his son, Bailey, for the service at Providence UMC. Our guests almost doubled the congregation at Providence. It was nice to have so many there. I love it when I get to have family join us.

 

Aaron couldn't join us at the last service, but Bailey stuck it out. At St. Andrews UMC we had the Hanging of the Greens service. The service explains the significance and meaning of the various greenery in the sanctuary. All the decorations on the tree, Chrismons, have biblical meanings and tell the Christmas story.  I was later told that the kids got a very nice compliment. Someone that they sat near them said that they were the best behaved children that they had ever seen in church. Apparently that is one thing I can't claim they inherited from their grandfather.

 

It was a long morning for the kids, but they did great. I know its not the style service that they're accustomed to, but again they did great. The kids weren't shy about talking to the congregations after each service. It was fun watching my church people interacting with them, telling them that they had seen their pictures on the blog. But, for me, the best part of the day was that I got to show off my family, that I talk about almost every Sunday, to all my churches.