Belated Thanksgiving Smiles part 2

Where has time gone?

Here it is 2 weeks after the holiday and I am still posting

Thanksgiving pictures.

As my English friends would say..

"What am I like???"

I was tempted to go on and post my December smiles today but

I want to have the rest of my Thanksgiving memories documented for our family record...

....so...

please bare with me as I continue to tell you about our

Terrific Thanksgiving.

My first smiles of the day started out bright and early that morning

at about 6:15 a.m. when Ernie arrived

and started the coals for his new smoker that he brought over.

I basted the turkey while Ernie got the coals ready.
I thought it was so cute that Ernie would go to so much trouble
to make us a smoked turkey this year.

We were not sure how it would turn out
so I cooked another turkey in the oven while this one cooked in the smoker.
However, Ernie's bird turned out great and was enjoyed by all.
We had my turkey the next day so nothing was wasted.

Having my sweet girls here to help me made me smile.
Lynell, Erin, Mindy, Claire and Loni
all pitched in and helped with dinner.
It was pretty easy for us since we had done most of the preparation earlier that week.
We all enjoyed this shrimp appetizer with pepper sauce while we waited for the birds to cook.
Mindy's shrimp tray has become a tradition that makes us all smile.

My roses made me smile.
They were full of blooms just in time to adorn my buffet tables.
I thought that was very thoughtful of them.

Our biggest smiles came when it was time to eat our dinner.

How blessed we are to be able to set buffet tables full of delicious food.

I was even smiling more that I could share this special time
with my dear children and their families.

No mother was ever blessed with a more precious family.

Thier love fills my soul with smiles.
Of course, I include my John in those smiles.

Isn't he a cute Grampy! I am thankful for him.

After filling our plates, and Thanking God for our bounty,

We all sat down to enjoy a wonderful meal ...
...good conversation and comaraderie .

After all that eating, we had to wait a while to have our desserts.

Our dessert table looked like we were at Home Town Buffet.

Mindy, Claire and I made all kinds of pies.

There was also chocolate pumpkin cake and Erin made a raspberry bread pudding to die for.
Smile, smile, smile!
...
Then it was time to clean up.

It is our tradition that we girls cook and put away the food left overs
and the men clean up.
This tradition makes me smile.

John and Jalen pitched right in and got started with the clean up.
John would be perfectly content if we used paper plates and plastic utensils for dinner.

He doesn't really see the need to use all my fine china and stemware...
...but he has learned that it does matter to me...
so I really do smile that he is willing to help wash it all up.

So you can see that Thanksgiving day really gave me a lot to smile about.
We were well fed with good food...
...but...
Even more delicious to me than the food I ate

was the love and the spirit of thanksgiving I feasted on that day.

I am so blessed.

I am so grateful.

I thank my Heavenly Father every day.

Thanks for letting me share these belated smiles with you.

Have a great week. Hugs, Lura