Thanksgiving Day, 2024

Thanksgiving Day was a wonderful holiday - we may have been a smaller crowd (that will change at Christmas), but we had so much fun, laughter, and good food.

Wednesday I spent much of the day baking. Pepper believes in helping, a job she takes seriously even though she is retired from Guide Dog service.

I guess I was a little too energetic when I rolled out the pie dough!

Two homemade cherry pies and two pumpkin. The house smelled heavenly.

Florida Son Kyle was joining us for the holiday and came in late Wednesday. 

Tammo was so excited to see his dad and even climbed into his lap. 

Things began hopping early Thanksgiving morning. Helped by Mama, Pepper, Tammo, and Nash (who is over chatting with Kyle), we all pitched in to get ready for our other family members who were coming for the day.

The table was all set and ready to go 

and the cheeseballs were set out for those who came extra-hungry.

Lisa outdid herself this year, making three different kinds. A cheddar pecan,

a beef and green onion (my favorite),

and a chocolate chip dessert cheeseball (middle). There was also a cheese platter (Leslie's hobby is making homemade cheese), pickles, and olives.

As folks arrived, they put their dishes out on the serving table and pitched in in the kitchen.

Wrong knife for carving a turkey, Jenny, but I am sure Kyle appreciated the offer to help!

We took a family selfie before we started diving into all that food.

Lisa, Rick, Leslie, Jenny, Kyle, me, Craig, Eric, Steve, and Cindie.

Father and son. I love this picture of Craig and Kyle.

Dinner dishes cleared away, we played a VERY rousing game of Bank. (Eric, Kyle, Craig, me, Leslie, and Rick.)

So rousing that this message appeared on Lisa's Apple Watch:

Yep, that's the Isenbarger family playing a game! Even with a smaller group!

New to Bank, Steve was very happy when he won the first game.

Games over, it was time for pies. But first, we took a sibling shot. And then we ate pie, more cheeseballs, and sat around talking and watching football and basketball on TV.

Pepper cuddled up with Jenny. She's a cat lover with five cats, but said she really liked having Pepper show her some love.

Nash and Tammo were not very subtle as they hoped Kyle would notice them and share. (Nope!)

The festivities wrapped up around 10:00 PM. It had been a terrific day and I went to bed replete not only with food, but with happiness and gratitude, too.  

Unfortunately, just two hours later I awoke to a text that a family member was in the Emergency Room and being admitted to the hospital.

Stay 'tooned for another blog post coming later today, but probably not until after 11:00 AM Eastern time.