Happy Thanksgiving!

The Thanksgiving holiday has provided me with some of my fondest memories with family.  Every year we would go down to my Aunt and Uncles, and my whole mom's side of the family would cram into their house.  All but one of the cousins were (are) boys, so we always had a good time wrestling, playing soccer or basketball and making movies.  So large Thanksgivings are always a lot of fun.

We hosted Thanksgiving with our neighbor, Linda, for the third time.  We don't have enough room for all those people in our apartment, but between the two flats, no one goes without a place to sit.  Alison did more preparation than previous years, and so has been spending the last couple of days baking and cooking.  Today was a doosey of a baking/cooking day, but here is some of what she put together.

Do you see the large red pot on the stove?  That was FILLED with potatoes, and thus filled with REAL mashed potatoes.... mmmm.....

Here is a closeup of the green bean caserolle that Alison made.  Cream, cheese, butter, more cheese... it doesn't get any more heart-stoppingly better than that.

I had meant to take a picture of all the people who'd come, but I forgot in all the hubub.  It was a great time of hanging out with some of our American friends, and a lot of our non-American friends came a long to celebrate the holiday.

Before we ate, Alison read the following Psalm as our prayer of thanksgiving to God for all he has provided:

Psalm 136: 1-9
¹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. 
            His love endures forever. 
²Give thanks to the God of gods. 
            His love endures forever. 
³Give thanks to the Lord of lords: 
            His love endures forever.

⁴to him who alone does great wonders,
            His love endures forever.
⁵who by his understanding made the heavens,
            His love endures forever.
⁶who spread out the earth upon the waters,
            His love endures forever.
⁷who made the great lights—
            His love endures forever.
⁸the sun to govern the day,
            His love endures forever.
⁹the moon and stars to govern the night;
            His love endures forever.