We had such a nice Thanksgiving Day!  It started with the Turkey Trot, a local race put on by the park department, I think.  Alice and Robert wanted to run.  Bobby and Susan, Alice, Robert, James, and Erin went to the park where it was being held.  Matthew and I stayed home in the warm house.  It was a very cold day.  They all came home later with ribbons and rosy cheeks.  Bobby ran with the kids and carried Robert part of the way. 

We put the turkey in the oven and everyone had some quiet time.  Pretty soon the turkey was ready to come out and we had to get the rest of the dinner put together.  It was a delicious meal!  It's true that the brining made the turkey tender and delicious!  Even the white meat was great.  The pies were as good as always, and the pumpkin with the coconut milk was even good.  Susan says not quite as good a texture, but definitely better than no pie at all.

The race mascots were fascinating to James but he didn't want to get too close. 

  When they got home form the Turkey Trot Erin had one more surprise for the kids.  She had had sent a chocolate cookie house to build.  It came with everything to complete it except the bottom frame was broken!!  She fixed it with some icing and they went on to create a masterpiece. 

And right after dinner they dismantled it and ate every single piece of candy off of it.  It was left a broken shell, but made three happy children. 

Between dinner and dessert Erin and Alice and Robert presented a program of the first Thanksgiving. 

Massasoit gave a big speech and then they lived happily ever after. 

Then they showed the movie Enchanted.  We all enjoyed it.  It was a fun show.

During dinner I mentioned that my dad was in jail for allegedly burning some houses in Arkansas and Susan and Erin tried to look up any records of that trial.  The attorney for the defense was Percy Foreman who also later defended some pretty hard core people.  But they didn't find anything mentioning my dad. 

The last activity before bedtime was a car race down tubes!  A fun evening!  And Matthew got to sleep through it all.  What a sweet little baby.