Thanksgiving

The last 3 years our kids had to go to school ON Thanksgiving while living in Jakarta! So we were very thankful to have the whole family together today. So thankful that we decided to do the turkey trot on post together- 

We would spend thanksgiving with the Petro's and the Walgren's. Both neighbor families that we go to church with- and we all have son's in 11th grade. Tricia & Tony (Petros) invited us all to their house for dinner. 

They had a lovely tablescape set up for our dinner-

But first, games. Both families are super fun and wildly competitive. So we each had to come up with a game. The McCullough game was (and is almost always) Pictionary, using a giant dry erase board and Thanksgiving terms-

There was a corn hole tournament, lots of minute to win it games and a new favorite- called Pop Dart- which Tricia's nephews are actually the creators of!

The whole gang- 

The whole silly gang-

It was such a gorgeous day to be outside. But dinner is ready! 

Brian likes to be in charge of the turkey. which is weird when you are invited to share thanksgiving at someone else's home. I mentioned this to Tricia and she ASKED that Brian do the turkey! She knows of his stellar cooking, and said she loves to host Thanksgiving but doesn't ever enjoy cooking the turkey. Win win!

Brian actually did turkey two ways- one in the oven and legs & breasts on the grill- so Tony jumped in to help carve-

Tony is an Army chaplain. We all gathered around and read this blessing before we ate-

Who let the kids go first?

Full table, full bellies, full hearts-

After dinner the competition really began. As a kid Leasa's family would listen to Wayne Newton's Christmas album and string popcorn. So Leasa created one last game- stringing popcorn-

Slave labor. If I remember correctly, Macy won!

Tony was our own personal barrista-

Happy kids post pie-

Happier adults-

Brian took a selfie walking his turkeys home through the neighborhood come clean up time-

Anytime I see kids playing games- and not on their phones, my heart is happy-

 

This day made my heart happy. It's rare that families click so fast and so well. But we have found 2 other families where we have a lot in common, our kids get a long, the wives get along and the husbands get along. And we can walk to each others houses! What a true gift from God this is for us. So very thankful because of the gift of friendship this Thanksgiving.