Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Eve we spent time at Mimi and Pop's house. We being me and Ellie, since Jon was at work. We played and took advantage of the cousins being in town from Chicago and Texas.

I had rehearsal at the church by 6:00 so Jon came home from work a bit early and we ate a quick dinner before I gave a few directions for Ellie and went to church. He met up with us closer to 7:00, when the service began. Ryan Estes led it this year and I played for the hymns. The Thanksgiving Eve service is one of my favorite services of the year!

Afterwards Jon was hosting all of the brothers-in-law and Pops for steaks and vegetables. I brought Ellie home, fed her a snack, and put her to bed. Then I rushed back to Elverson to hang out with Mimi and the sisters. We chatted and played Settlers of Catan. I stayed in Elverson until the boys came back, and didn't get home until after 1:00.

Thanksgiving morning we started off with a nice and slow breakfast. I made some mashed potatoes while Jon hung out with Ellie. He probably did some work around the house, too. Ellie took an early nap and we woke her up at 12:45 to head over to Mom-mom's house.

This year 65+ people were in attendance at the Stoltzfus Family Thanksgiving. Ellie had a ball playing with all of her cousins and second cousins with Mom-mom's toys. Her personal favorite was the toy kitchen. The ramp makes her a little nervous...

Calla reading to her little cousin

Busy cooking in the kitchen

Jon went and played soccer with my cousins at Twin Valley and I remained and watched Ellie and caught up with my cousins. In 2014 seven new babies will be born to my cousins, so that helped give us a lot to talk about! We stayed until 5:00 or so when Jon came and picked us up and we went over to Mimi and Pop's house.

Mimi was hosting appetizers and desserts for the DeWalt family get together. Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Keith's family came. Some of the boys played pool and a game of Bang was happening a few times throughout the evening. Ellie went to bed in the basement but woke up abruptly (and sadly) so we took her home and put her to bed. We all slept well after all the food we ate!

The DeWalt great grandchildren