For those who know nothing of my family, it is pretty big. There are 7 kids, along with my mom and dad. All of us are married and many of us have kids. So, if you take all of us and add us together, there is a total of 27 people. Now...close your eyes and imagine 27 people crammed into a 5-bedroom, 2100 square foot home....not a recipe for comfort...but definitely a recipe for FUN!
It was great to see the entire family. We all get along fairly well together. It was great to have the entire family here. I stayed up late every night and although I was exhausted, I had a lot of fun. Needless to say, I ended up getting sick on Sunday. :( Still don't feel 100%, but it's all good.
So, how did I fit all these people in my house? Well, my parents graciously (and for their sanity) stayed in a near-by hotel along with one brother and his family. Addison had to be kicked out of 
her room and put in our walk-in closet....she kept asking us "do I have to sleep in the closet again?" The novelty wore off with her after the 2nd night. We also took our 5 ft-high storage area and finished some of it to make it into a make-shift kid play area with a TV and toys during the day and a sleep area for my youngest brother and his wife at night.
Family started to arrive on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and started leaving Friday. My last two brothers and their families left on Sunday.
To the left are some pictures of our front room that we turned into the dinning room. We cleared out all the furniture to make room for the tables and chairs our neighbor let us borrow. Immediately to the left is a picture of the kitchen. It was hard to fit all those people and all that food in our house, but we managed. We had a lot of good food and we ended up making 8 pumpkin pies....and they were all gone by Saturday!
I had a moment of clarity during Thanksgiving. During Thanksgiving dinner, our family has a tradition of going around the table saying what we are thankful for. During this, I found myself looking at all my brothers and sister and their spouses and my parents, and thinking of how grateful I am for the blessings of the temple, of the sealing power and eternal families. Yes, we fight sometimes and don't get a long 100% of the time, but we are family and we love each other. We will be together forever and for that I am grateful.
It was great to have all of us together and I can't wait for us to all be together again. I just wish it would have lasted a little longer. As you see to the left....my brother, Evan, is a little crazy. I think this is why we have so much fun together....we are all crazy. :)
her room and put in our walk-in closet....she kept asking us "do I have to sleep in the closet again?" The novelty wore off with her after the 2nd night. We also took our 5 ft-high storage area and finished some of it to make it into a make-shift kid play area with a TV and toys during the day and a sleep area for my youngest brother and his wife at night.Family started to arrive on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and started leaving Friday. My last two brothers and their families left on Sunday.
To the left are some pictures of our front room that we turned into the dinning room. We cleared out all the furniture to make room for the tables and chairs our neighbor let us borrow. Immediately to the left is a picture of the kitchen. It was hard to fit all those people and all that food in our house, but we managed. We had a lot of good food and we ended up making 8 pumpkin pies....and they were all gone by Saturday!I had a moment of clarity during Thanksgiving. During Thanksgiving dinner, our family has a tradition of going around the table saying what we are thankful for. During this, I found myself looking at all my brothers and sister and their spouses and my parents, and thinking of how grateful I am for the blessings of the temple, of the sealing power and eternal families. Yes, we fight sometimes and don't get a long 100% of the time, but we are family and we love each other. We will be together forever and for that I am grateful.
It was great to have all of us together and I can't wait for us to all be together again. I just wish it would have lasted a little longer. As you see to the left....my brother, Evan, is a little crazy. I think this is why we have so much fun together....we are all crazy. :)
2 comments:
Blasted Blogger...I posted something and then something went awry and it said it couldn't be posted. ARRRR! Anyway, I just said that Addison was like Harry Potter - sleeping in the closet AND that you guys have a great blog background, and so does your favoritest sister! :-) AND we can't wait to give you guys your Christmas present...I think it's great.
Thanks for having us at thanksgiving. It was fun! Hope you have a great Christmas. Please tell Addison we love seeing her in the commercials. The boys get a kick out of it every time.
Post a Comment