Thanksgiving Day (11/26/09)

I woke up around 8:30... I could hear talking. Others were awake. So I told Lydia to get up, and I went and took a quick shower. It felt soooo good! That ten hour trip was so long.

After dressing, I greeted everyone that was there. Lydia and Mysia then took showers and Malachi woke up. He was a bit shy at first, but once he discovered all the toys, all was well!

We started the day talking and visiting, and getting ready for the Thanksgiving supper. There was a lot to do, and the women-folk were at it! Us guys did the predictable... we pulled out our laptops! lol! Actually, I started working on the list for the concert for that evening.

Dinner was fantastic! We had tons of turkey and pumpkin pie! –That's what counts to me! It was all good!

We all got dressed and tried to hurry off to the church for pictures. Unfortunately, Lydia had forgotten to pack her makeup, so we had to make a run to Wal-Mart first! Can you believe it? Even on vacation we can't keep from that place!

When we made it to the church, Sam was already setting up the sound equipment for the concert. He was trying to make sure it was all up and ready. For the next hour we did pictures. Big family, individual families, siblings, cousins, grandkids, great-grandkids... etc. Things ran pretty smoothly considering how many shots were taken and how many of us where there.

After the pictures were completed, it was time for the concert. My grandparents had invited friends and guests to watch, as us grandkids put on a show. We started out a little rough. We didn't have time for a sound check, and my siblings and I started it out. Not saying we did horribly, but the blend wasn't there. But as time went on, and different ones came up to do their song or skit, we were able to do some tweaking to get things to work out. The birthday boys, my dad and his twin brother, did ventriloquist acts... which was enjoyable for all the kids. My two cousins who are in the military did a patriotic poem and sang. There were two highlights of the concert... one was when my aunt Joy came up and embarrassed the birthday boys by singing them a song. And the second was at the end when all of us grandkids got on stage and sang "Amazing Grace" as a mini-choir.

When we got back to my grandparent's place they pulled out photo albums they've been putting together for us. We spent the rest of the evening going through them! Talk about memories...

Most everyone went to bed except for us older grandkids. We stayed up and browsed online to see what Black Friday specials were worth looking at. Lydia had a list of things she was thinking about getting. We had fun talking and browsing. But as it got later and later, Lydia and I decided to go to bed. She was planning on getting up and going to Wal-Mart (once again) around 7 in the morning.

Whew! What a day!

~Matt


"Birthdays are good for you - the more you have the longer you live."