What does your Thanksgiving dinner look like?

As a kid growing up in the house I now live in I remember having Thanksgiving dinners with 12, 15, and 18 people in the house. Our family of 6 was usually only half of the guests and the other half consisted of my grandmother, my uncles, and always at least 3-5 'other' people. Someone that didn't have any family nearby and went to our church, a college student that couldn't afford to go home, a family that needed some where to 'land' since their little group of 3 didn't feel like Thanksgiving on their own. My parents were always very generous with their invitations and sincere as well.

It wasn't a Thanksgiving, but that reminds me of the time that one of my sister's friends came for Easter and after the invitation was extended and accepted, I found out that he was Jewish. I have to say I wonder what he thought of our Easter :)

Anyway, this year will be our family of 6, my parents' family of 4, and hopefully one of my brothers. Then in the evening my aunts and uncles will probably come by to join us for dessert and to visit. My parents and the boys will be here pretty early in the morning because she's bringing the turkey that needs to go in the oven! Then the kids will play on the porch and outside with the dog, we'll set the table, cook all of the side dishes, have an early lunch of sandwiches at around 11 along with crackers and cheese and celery with cream cheese and walnuts, we'll visit, make way more food than we'll eat that day, and just enjoy having family nearby. After the little guys are up from nap and of course after the turkey is finished cooking we'll have an early dinner around 3:30 or so.

My mom is bringing the bird, a green bean casserole, a cheesecake and dinner rolls. She's also bringing celery and she's bringing cherry tomatoes for the salad. I just finished making a pumpkin pie, I started the sweet potato dish, I'll make a corn bread pudding dish (YUM!), stuffing, the rest of the makings for a salad, and I have the other oddities that are a required part of our Thanksgiving dinner such as sweet and dill pickles, olives, canned cranberry sauce, turkey gravy, cream cheese and walnuts, crackers, and cheese.

I'm looking forward to spending the day with family tomorrow, to having our two newest children here to celebrate with us, to having all the great food we could ask for, and to eating leftovers for the rest of the weekend :)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and don't forget to give the biggest "thanks" to the Father who has given us all we have to be grateful for.