Every year we have an abundance of family to spend the day with. We feel so lucky to have so many great people in our life. The kids and I started the morning at my mom's. They played in the loft and I put the green bean casserole together and "helped" the Mom, Bunny and Grandma Colleen make the final preparations. I am clearly the least qualified to the in the kitchen, but someday I'm going to have to grow up and prepare Thanksgiving meal (I'm hoping I've got at least 20-30 years before I'm actually responsible for this).
Anyway, Mom set a lovely table as per usual. She indulged me and set the table with the china and crystal. Although I had to agree to wash aforementioned china and crystal, as it cannot be thrown away like paper plates or put in the dishwasher like everyday dishes. In the photos from this year, you'll see the experts making mashed potatoes. I'm being pretty serious here. I had to photograph it because, between Mom and Bunny, the level of expertise when it comes to mashed potatoes made it an historic moment. It was like eating icing on a fork.
We had a full house this year with Bunny, Keith, Mom, Dad, Andrew, PawPaw Fordie, Grandma Colleen, our 4 Hooligans, and of course, the Animals of The Farm. Much fun was had!
Thanksgiving at The Farm
From there, we traveled to Emily's house. Another full house of crazy family awaited us. Here, we enjoyed dessert, and then a few hours later, leftovers. One of the highlights of the Riney Family Thanksgiving is that it has CHEESE. I tell Sam this fact is what tipped the scales and helped me decide to marry into the family. Really Gwen, it's like we were destined to eat Thanksgiving together.
Here we enjoyed the evening with the Chicago/Milwaukee arm of the family: George and Pam from Chicago proper, Casey, Sarah and Pat Masterson from Milwaukee (ish), Guy from Peoria, and the usual Riney suspects from here (Tom, Gwen, Em, Steve, Gigi, Becky, and Pete). Patrick and Casey don't get to see each other very often, but had lots of fun while they were together.
We neglected to bring our camera in the house at Emily's; so there are only pics of my mom's house. But rest assured, the whole day was lovely. I'm pretty sure I had dessert five times before I went to bed. Grandma Huber's apple pie recipe is still alive and well. Dad and I make at least two each year and they never disappoint!
Coming Soon: "What I'm Thankful for in 2010" (I swear).
For the past couple of years, I've been studying under the tutelage of my mom and Bunny to make some of the best cookies. Cut out cookies, in particular, have been my focus. These are very labor-intensive cookies! This month, we've been very busy baking holiday treats. Mom and I donated 2 sets of 6 dozen cookies to the Evangelical School Auction (to be delivered at Christmas time). We also made cookies to give as gifts to teachers (10 in total), Sam's shift at the police dpartment, the staff at the credit union, and so on. Of course, we also made enough for some family gatherings as well. In all, I think we made about 25 dozen cookies/treats. 
Patrick and Eva helped on the first day. They were pros at rolling out the dough. I couldn't figure out how they were so good on their first try...Play Doh! These kids LOVE Play Doh. They each made their own tray of cookies...we didn't include these in with the "gift cookies" though. :)
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