Fifteen years ago, a bunch of college kids were sitting around an apartment lamenting the fact that we had to spend Thanksgiving with our families when we really just wanted to be with our friends. Thus, Friends' Thanksgiving was born. Since then, every year I have hosted a gathering of my friends and their families for a big Thanksgiving meal the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I make the turkey and they bring the rest.
It has been so much fun. We love seeing the friends that change and the ones that stay the same. In 1998, a friend gave us a tablecloth and since then everyone who attends signs the tablecloth before they leave. We all sit around and read the signatures and how many kids have been added or remember a friend lost to cancer or a move across the country.
But, Friends' Thanksgiving is a constant. Even when we moved far away from home to the Northwoods of Minnesota and we had no friends, we used it as our way of making friends and getting to know the people in our lives.
Well, last night's feast was a roaring success. Even though I had to send out a full disclosure email telling everyone that my kids woke up with snotty noses, to which I got an email back that it was ok because Meg's kids woke up with a snotty attitude. My chicks were, of course, in full representation. In the mix we had two families that have been with me for the 15 years and two people who attended for the first time. The kids ran around like crazy people and the adults locked ourselves in a room with several bottles of wine and the pumpkin cheesec
ake. This is Chowder with his other dorky pastor friends. (Church talk was banned.)
I tried a different way of roasting my 24 lb turkey last night and it was delicious! I couldn't believe how flavorful and moist and tasty it was! If anyone wants the recipe I'll happily post it, but if no one does I don't want to type it all out.
Oh and the Cakes' moment of the evening was at around 7:30pm when all of my drains backed up into my downstairs toilet and bathtub! It was perfect. I couldn't wash the dishes, bathe the kids, or even use the toilet. loved it. Plumber didn't show up until 7:15pm tonight.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Friends' Thanksgiving...
Posted by Cakes at 11/18/2007
Labels: A Matter of Friends, A Matter of Place
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4 comments:
so fantastically cool!!!
Ew! on the backed up drains, but Awww! on all the rest. Sounds like so much fun.
Without fail, whenever my mom hosted Thanksgiving something would go terribly wrong with the house. Backed-up drains, frozen or burst pipes... you name it!
Your tradition with your friends sounds wonderful! And I reallly like the idea of the tablecloth. Do the guests sign it every year? Or just the newcomers?
Sounds like a wonderful tradition! Sorry about the drains though!
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