I just finished reading Jennie's entry about spending Thanksgiving with her folks and some of the thoughtful things they did as a family that brought extra meaning to the day and made it a special day for everyone.

I wish our Thanksgiving was half as special as that.

Maybe ours was kind of lame because my sister insisted on getting together last Sunday for a pseudo-Thanksgiving get-together that wasn't on Thanksgiving. To distinguish it from an actual Thanksgiving feast, we had cold meat instead of hot meat. Amazingly, everyone was there. I didn't expect my sister's son and middle daughter to come, really, but I was happy they did. I know it meant a lot to my mom.

My sister loves family history and always tries to impress the importance of understanding your heritage upon her kids. This occasion was no exception. She brought a bunch of questions printed out related to our family history and left each one on a small strip of paper at each place sitting on the tables. It was kind of like a trivia game and everyone had to read their question and see if anyone knew the answer. "What ancestor lost their sense of smell?" "How many family members graduated from college?" Things like that.

After dinner, before anyone left as quickly as they could, we managed to get a family picture in the family room. We took a family portrait this last Summer in Hyrum, but it didn't turn out quite right. This time it turned out much better.

The whole family

Siblings: Tom, Allison, and myself

So, we had that event on Sunday and then my brother and I had our kids over there again on Thursday -- this time for hot meat.

I showed up -- with wife and kids -- a couple hours early so we could help my dad put up some Christmas lights outside. We went to see Chicken Little beforehand and went straight over to my parents' after that. (Movie was better than I thought it would be, but still probably should have gone straight to video.)

Putting the Christmas lights up went pretty quickly, partially because, well, I'm good at it at this point.

Then Uncle Ralph, my dad's half-brother, showed up. Then, right around the time we were supposed to eat, my brother and his kids showed up. We had to wait around for a half hour because my mom said the turkey wasn't quite done. She beat herself up about that for the rest of the evening, which was really quite stupid, I thought. I mean, when it was done, it was great. It was worth waiting another 30 minutes for.

Then, my dad said a simple prayer and we ate dinner. It wasn't fifteen minutes before people finished their food, began clearing the table, and started washing dishes. As soon as my mom was done cleaning up, she started asking people if they wanted pie yet. Christine said no, mostly, I think, because she just wanted my mom to calm down and relax for a while.

There were also some comments and gestures made that really didn't go with the Thanksgiving theme at all. So, yeah, nothing at all like Jennie's family.