All puffed up with family pride after my favorite time of the year - Thanksgiving!

The trip to Maine was worth the 25-hour travel day home that started with a ride to the bus station in Portland with Auntie Linda (Thanks for the ride!) at 4:15 Monday morning, and ended by landing in Missoula on the snowy runway this morning at nearly 3 am! The only thing that could have made the trip better is if Jeff had been able to go with me.

This year we had 37 people at for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was 20 more people than we had last year, and it was such a fun day...we have made a tradition that the women show up between 10-10:30am and get some things started in the kitchen, then the men come with the kids a little later....everyone sifts in little by little. We ate dinner at 1:30.

This year I helped Gram with the Sticky Buns which caused no less conversation and controversy than they do every year. This year we did some calculations that there were 32 sticky buns for 37 people and a little panic set in among the masses...I remember Andrew saw that I was dishing myself up one and he said hey - could you throw a couple of those on my plate? I told him that the rations only allowed for one per person! Hee hee.

Here are a few pics from our Thanksgiving day:

Almost all the cousins were there - We were missing Emily, who was unable to come this year.
These are the "Little" cousins (or the Great Grands). Twelve children of the cousins...next year there will be fifteen!

A stunning Gram with a handsome sidekick.

Mom, her sisters and Grammy, the center of it all.

The Smith Kids (youngest to oldest): Frank, David, Elizabeth, Genevieve.

Mom and her four children, now, all in their 30s! Eeek!


We also had a lot of fun at Gram Astrid's with the kids:

Uncle Dave pulled out Castle Greyskull and all the He-Man Characters.


Then I thought Anna would like to see my Barbies - but as it turns out everyone liked them so I brought out 8 from my collection to share with the kids. It provided hours of entertainment.



Anna and her Uncle David.

Everybody loves Uncle David!








This was the mood around the breakfast table the morning after Thanksgiving. We all fit perfectly snug.

The Uncles and kids dragging freshly cut boughs for Grammy Astrid's homemade Christmas Wreath for her barn!

Frank and David wiring the boughs together.

Hanging the wreath just so.

Adding the bow that Katie cleaned up for us.

Perfect timing - this was taken minutes after Mom drove into the driveway after work to find us working on the wreath!


One night around the kitchen table eating pizza from Ken's.

This is one of my favorite memories from my trip. The last night in Maine I spent with my Aunt Linda and Uncle David at Joe's Boathouse next to where I used to work - at Springpoint Marina. It was a lovely evening. I'm glad I could hog them all to myself this time!