This year marks the first where two turkeys are required. Our gathering is getting bigger and so are the children. No more filling their plates with a teaspoon of this, a tablespoon of that. They all pretty much eat adult portions now, thus necessitating more bird.
Our Thanksgiving service at church is going to be on Wednesday night this year instead of Thursday morning. Our friends from St. Louis are joining us this year and expect to get to our house by tomorrow afternoon. We will eat supper, go to church and then drive up to the camp for the weekend. When we get there we will meet Jon's parents from Indiana, Jon's brother and his family, Jon's sister and her family. The head count this year is twenty one.
Last year I was in Paris for Thanksgiving on a training tour with fellow teachers to get ready for the trip we took to Spain this last summer. We didn't go to the camp for our Thanksgiving retreat and we all missed it.
The tradition is back this year. We bring our feast up to Gerwick Hall. We set up folding chairs and tables and usually scavenge the forest for pine cones and dried leaves and such to decorate the tables. We sing the doxology and we feast. I'm in charge of the turkey, the stuffing and the dessert. I bring cinnamon rolls purchased at the school's bake sale that I freeze and then reheat for breakfast the next day. We makes pots and pots and pots of coffee.
We sleep in bunk beds, lots of us in the same room and we spend our days playing guitar, working on a huge puzzle, playing cards, feeding the fire place, going on walks, nibbling on Thanksgiving leftovers and talking talking talking. It's a great weekend.
On Saturday morning we will pack up, clean the hall, and head back to our homes. On the way home we will smile and doze and reflect on the good gifts we have been given. Happy Thanksgiving.