Giving Thanks

Of the countless blessings we have to give thanks for, one of the most important to me is friendships.  It becomes even more important around the holidays, since we don't have family near to celebrate with.  Thankfully, God has blessed us with wonderful friends here in Texas who have become like family who make the holidays wonderfully bright!

This year, despite my lack of skills in the kitchen, I was determined to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house.  Blame it on Pinterest, I guess, but I had so many cute Thanksgiving-themed ideas I wanted to try.

 Although the cooking part of Thanksgiving was extremely intimidating to me, I was willing to take on the challenge in order to also have the opportunity to decorate my Thanksgiving table.   I got lucky, however (along with all the other friends coming to our house) when our friend, Israel, offered to cook...THE WHOLE MEAL! He is a chef by profession, and I was more than willing to accept his offer for the sake of the other guests...

With Jenn and Israel and their family, and friends Beth and Charlie and theirs, we had a VERY full house with 7 kids under that age of 5 (not including two babies in Jenn's and Beth's bellies).  But everything was wonderful.  The kids all played well together, the conversation was great, and the food was DELICIOUS! Not a bad way to spend Thanksgiving.