holidays + hoopla: Thanksgiving 2009 in California

What a wonderful Thanksgiving! I was so blessed to be able to have almost 2 weeks off of work. So what did I do? Visit my family of course! I haven't had a Thanksgiving with my family in 3 years. But the food was just as amazing as I remembered. The women, and men, in my family are amazing cooks! We celebrated the day at Grandma Trudy and Grandpa Gary's house. I love how my grandma decorates. Everything is so opulent and grand but warm, comfortable and cozy.

 My family was so brave this year and used actual plates and silverware! :) When you have 24 plus people and all of their dishes, paper and plastic is the way to go! But Grandma says Thanksgiving dinner tastes better on real plates with real utensils. :) So we braved the extra dishes.

After dinner and some relaxation to help our tummies settle from all the wonderful food, we started Thanksgiving Turkey Bingo! A Larkins' Family Tradition!

 

Sweet Clara and Colette made each of the girls a bracelet and then wrote on a piece paper why they were thankful for each member of our family. They passed them out before Bingo. Love them.

Our Bingo papers crack me up because they are personalized with family sayings and facts like "mountain dew"-my grandpa's favorite drink- and "got a bone in your neck!?"-something my great-grandpa GG used to say as he grabbed your collarbone- along with the traditional words like turkey and pilgrim. This year, the Clifts and Ron's mother, Joyce, were with us. Colette was my Bingo buddy. Matthew and Charlie cheated. :) I grabbed Scott about three pairs of socks. And Dad was the Bingo master again.

The kids get a little intense with it, worried they won't get Bingo. haha. But my Dad makes sure to go around the room, checking the little kids Bingo cards and calling out what they need :) It's a little rigged obviously, but so much fun. Once you've won, you yell BINGO! then it's Prizes! Prizes! Prizes! A lot of the kids hide the prizes they really want beforehand so they make sure they get it. haha. Love that Turkey Bingo.

I am so thankful for my family! Especially my wonderful husband, who sadly had to stay in Idaho. He went to his sister's house for Thanksgiving. Thank you Bensons for feeding him!

Five things I am grateful for:
1. My husband
2. My family
3. My Savior
4. My health
5. My husband's support and love in letting me be with my family for Thanksgiving.