Thanksgiving 2017 - we played cards a lot!

Eight Bell cousins all together Thanksgiving Day 2017.  What a special occasion that is!!  No one indulged me with "let's do the parents" and now "grandparents and kids" and then "all girls" or anything like that. . .oh well.  We did get a good one of the six of us though :)

There were two cameras (these are from my iPhone) and no one ever knew which one to look at.  Oh well.
This was the entire family -- 17 of us this year:

Obviously most were looking at the other camera in this one -- hope to get some of those shots eventually.  Not only did Debbie and Patrick host this group of 17, but also included our neighbors (Barbara & Tommy) and also a friend of Debbie's from church, Jason.

It was a gorgeous day and endless food (as usual).  Here is just a sampling of choices that we had:















I brought our "usual" -- appetizers and some desserts:

The desserts are always a group effort -- Nancy did the apple pie, Barbara contributed the pumpkin pie and cheesecake, and Thomas made the peanutbutter pie -- an every year request.  Patrick always surprises us with some gourmet treat -- this year it was carrot cake.  Believe it or not, these lasted us two nights.

 We checked into our hotel about 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.  We wanted to rest a bit after the drive and give our hosts a little more time to get ready for the 10 of us. . .so out came the cards!

Between main meal and dessert I spotted this:


















And then they had everyone else playing this crazy game together. . .

And a little later it was this:
Forks, instead of spoons because it's always more fun if someone gets stabbed (that was Frederick this year)

The next night we were invited over again and this was pre-dinner. . .

And then post-dinner Aunt Barbara taught us a new game, Hand & Foot.

I think it's one we'll try to play again. . .you are supposed to use a deck of cards for every player plus one!  Since we had 6 people playing (3 pairs), we were using seven decks of cards.  We found out Aunt Barbara keeps cards with her at all times, just like Marie :)









We stayed until Saturday. . .once we had breakfast we pulled out the cards again!

We were playing double-deck bid Euchre -- boys against girls.  The girls won this time!!














So. . .lots of family time and cards. . .but also. . .as usual, Debbie outdid herself on the decorations:

If she was a home decor blogger she would be among the most popular and talented out there!!!  I'm always in awe of her eye and style.  And yes, you counted correctly -- three tables this year!
The men out-did themselves carving the turkeys:

Patrick pulls out this shirt every year -- someday I will have to gather all my pictures and we'll make it a game to see if we can put the years in order. . .




















The next day was another outstanding weather day. . .these boys had fun trying to run the gas out on the Buzzmobile:

And Thomas helped get some lights up outside:

This was the view we came back to (this is looking down the driveway):

As we were celebrating in middle TN, my Ohio family was all together and they sent a few pics:

It sounds like it was a nice day there too. . .my sister always hosts and this year my sister-in-law brought her mother. . .








Here are a few more of my favorites from Thanksgiving Day:

 And, Friday night, Barbara and I looking as tired as we felt --

And Christopher and Hank just totally zonked out --

That's what fresh air, food, and family will do to ya!

What an amazing holiday weekend we had this year!!!  There is so, so much to be grateful and thankful for.  I just realized I don't have a picture of Nana. . .this was at the dog park with the older two Thanksgiving Eve:

We capped off the weekend today (Sunday) by attending the Festival of Trees that supports our local Children's Hospital.  It was incredible but this post is already filled with a lot so I'll wait on that one.  Margaret didn't want to go, but I had said that we are doing one Christmas thing a weekend until Christmas. . .she said, "can I decorate instead of going with you?". . .well. . .YES!!!  We came home to this:

It was such a nice job!!












And I was ecstatic that she put some lights outside:

And then I brought home a tree from the festival (I had originally said we weren't doing a tree this year simply because it's so much work and we won't be hosting any big celebrations. . .)

So now we have a bit of holiday spirit in this house.  I may buy/make a few more things, but for the most part, I think this will be it this year.

Onward and forward -- ready to celebrate this season on Christ's birth!!  Our pastor challenged us today to adopt a "ThanksLiving" attitude. . .I like it :)

Love,
Jenni