oh so thankful

The Thanksgiving holiday sure brought plenty to be thankful for this year.  For my family it would have to be our most celebrated holiday.  I guess because the focus is spending time with one another and eating a lot - two things that are at the core of our dynamic.  

Before the brothers began to make their arrivals I was able to celebrate the arrival of two of my favorite people.

 Rachel and Joshua flew in from Portland for the week.  Joshua made some amazing pizza for us over at Rachel's folks house and we were able to spend a lovely evening together.

 The occasion wound down with a spot of tea - naturally.  The tea was grown by Aunt Mayrea and she had dried it for winter.  It was complimented with honey from her hives.

Back at the Ranch: The collegiate brothers had arrived and brought a friend - Thomas - along for all the fun.  Thomas is an international student from South Korea and sent the weekend  experiencing the Telschow Thanksgiving Tradition.  He was very sweet and graciously explained to all of us what Oppa Gungnam style was and repeated the explanation when every single one of my cousins asked him the same thing at family dinner.  

 By some stroke of luck and brilliant planning on the school corporation's part, we did not have school on Wednesday.  We took the free day to cut out the twelve dozen ginger cookies Dad had whipped up the dough for the before.  Sara and Morgan were a huge help in the kitchen.  Morgan knew exactly how the cookies needed to be baked.

Some how moustaches became our running theme throughout the weekend.

The evening was spend undertaking the pie baking.  I believe there were somewhere between seven and ten in total.  Running our of pie is a constant worry in this house.  This year Mom whipped up dairy-free coconut creme pie as well as d-f pumpkin.  I made a vegan version of both.  Not having other ingredients prepared I improvised on both a coconut creme and pumpkin by replacing the egg with half a banana.  They both ended up with a banana flavor so I would like to revisit the recipes to let their original flavor stand out a bit more.

 The only two double crust pies were made with G-ma and Sam's Laura in mind.  Grandma Lillian loves ground cherry pie so we made her a small version that she took home.  Laura's favorite pie is blueberry so Mom made sure there was one for her.

 After pie making it was bread baking time.  Dad made his sourdough loaves but braided them so that they were easy to tear.  He also skipped the egg-wash - making them vegan.

Before the baking began I made up a schedule to keep us in check and to avoid the last minute rush.  It worked really well and we were able to get everything made in perfect time.  That was wonderful as we headed our for the "I'm Thankful 4" on Thursday morning.

 It was such a perfect morning.  Brisk in temperature, slightly foggy and sun-drenched.  

 It was so lovely to spend four miles together.

 Lewis, Samuel and Zachary three took on the four miles running.  Zachary beat the turkey - his annual goal.

 It truly was such a great year.  The whole family was there.  Mom & Dad, the brothers, Laura, our new friend Thomas, Josh & Rachel as well was Whitney & her man Brice.  Oh, and the Stella.

After our morning outing it was time to whip all the final preparations into shape.  I made Creamy Kale Quinoa.  Festivities were held at Rachel's folks house this year.  It was very well attended with lots of cousins, aunts and uncles everywhere!  I think the final count was about fifty.  My mom's eldest sister brought some seriously delicious curry that rocked my world.  Rachel made some amazing Leeky potatoes and a d-f green bean casserole.  I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had enjoyed this family favorite and I think the only one more excited about it was my Aunt Cindy.  All in all, I'd say it was banner year for the dairy-free dishes.  There were certainly no hungry bellies.

 Zachary, Josiah, Lewis imparted the most sacred of Thanksgiving activities onto Thomas.

 Friday evening an early dinner was enjoyed with Aunt Patti, Ashley & Jason, Whitney & Brice, Josh & Rachel, Sabrina and myself.  I most recognize how very "Portland" Josh is looking in this photo.

Saturday was the Telschow side dinner.   Dad once again whipped up twelve dozen of the iced gingers and there was plenty of food enjoyed by all.  There are many more young children on this side and they are always a source of constant entertainment.

Araelynn and Bowen enjoyed the chalk board with their cousin Isabelle.  I just now realized all three kids are wearing stripes.  Funny.

 The rest of the weekend looked kind of like this...the story of my life.  My boys.

This Thanksgiving I was most grateful to spend some wonderful moments with my family.  Cutting  cookies with the brothers, making pies with Mom, baking bread with Dad, having tea with Rachel and lots of laughs in between.  All in all I would have to say two of my favorite moments were when Rachel and Josh told Sam and Laura (and the rest of my family) that they will not be able to attend their wedding in June due to the fact airlines don't allow travel with newborns.  And nothing was quite as priceless as the screech Whitney let out when she saw Aunt Mayrea's "my baby's having a baby" shirt. Priceless.