Happy Thanksgiving from My Home to Yours!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's always crazy here at the Knowles house,

and especially so on Thanksgiving.

We were expecting 19 people!

However, my two oldest grandsons 

were sick with the flu,

so they had to stay home with their daddy.

Boo!

My own dad got married yesterday in Maryland.

I couldn't make it up on there on short notice,

especially with the holiday flight crunch,

but I'm thankful for my lovely new stepmother!

I REALLY MISS MY OWN SWEET MOM!

She passed away last year and

leaves a big hole in all our hearts,

especially during holidays.

I'm glad I've still got all 10 of my kids

either living nearby or at home with me.

Seven of my crazy kids!

My fifth daughter (in the back on the photo above),
basically took over the decorating and a lot of the cooking
to make everything very special.
She made this beautiful holiday table "runner"
with fancy wide ribbon and pine cones.

She made the bread and stuffing in the photos below.
Everyone did something, so I only had to
roast the turkeys and cook the ham!

Braided egg bread

Ham, apple and raisin stuffing

I stopped eating nearly all sugar two months ago.
(I only eat very small amounts
as natural ingredients in other foods.)
I was trying to make sugar free cranberry sauce with
whole cranberries and stevia, but it was still so tart
that I had to add a whole lot of sugar free Cool Whip,
which turned it into cranberry mousse.
It was still pretty sour! I won't bother with that again.
If I want cranberry mousse, I'll use a tiny bit of
sugar free cranberry juice with Cool Whip. 

My sixth daughter (who helped her siblings cook)
and my third son (who made the wassail).

"Let's each share three things we're thankful for..."

My seventh daughter sure gets
the "Live Laugh Love" concept on the box behind her.
But she's not all giggle.
This girl seriously knows how to clean house!
I don't know what I would have done without her!

My oldest son helped a lot with set up and cleaning.

Sister smiles!
(My second daughter brought chocolate trifle,
and my fourth daughter brought green bean casserole.)

My sister-in-law with my oldest daughter,
who provided homemade mashed potatoes.

My third daughter,
who made sweet potato casserole
and pineapple cream pie -
and brought along her kitty Luna.

My son-in-law with his little guy

My second son, who prefers to stay
 behind the camera most of the time.

My two oldest daughters
hold my two youngest grandsons.
I love the Gobble Gobble Gobble shirt.

Blue Bunny no sugar added bunny tracks ice cream
 with sugar free Cool Whip.
(It still contains the sugar that is naturally in milk,
but this was a special occasion.
I almost broke down and ate some sugary chocolate trifle,
but decided to stick to my plan. Yummy! Yay me!)

After dinner, I went for a nice long walk around the neighborhood with my fourth daughter, catching up on her news before she left. Now most of the kids are out at a movie with their big sisters. Even though the four oldest girls have moved out already, they still love to hang out with the younger ones. I count my blessings!

That was my day! Now I'm ready for a nap!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

You might like the most recent posts on two of my other blogs:

• What Love Looks Like: Reaching Out to the Homeless
• My Cottage Dreams (Why Not Now?)

Grace and peace,
Virginia Knowles
www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com