Our Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving morning Dick and I got up bright and early and hit the road for Dick's parents' house near Manheim in Lancaster County.  We arrived shortly after 9 AM.  Dick's brother Bob, his wife Doris, and daughter Judi had arrived there the day before from their home in Northern Minnesota.  The men left right away to go sight in their hunting rifles, while we women talked and did meal prep.  Not nearly all of Dick's family was there, since some had other plans, but we and Anthony, Lori, and Austin were there, as well as Dick's brother Steve and his wife Faye, their daughter Krista and her husband Pete and their two children, Natalia and Adam. Doris's 93-year-old mother was also there from her home at a nearby retirement community.

When we all sat down for the family-style meal, we followed our tradition of saying grace, then singing together, "I'm So Glad I'm a Part of the Family of God."

 

There's always lots of loud talking and joking at a table full of Stauffers, and I usually find myself wishing I could sit at both ends of the table simultaneously, because I hate to miss anything!

During the afternoon we just hung out, played with the children, talked, napped, the guys went out to Grandpa's shop to play a game he invented, and we were just happy to be together.

 

 

Four Stauffer men.  There are actually five brothers in Dick's family, but two weren't there, so I stuck Anthony in this picture, since he looks like  he'd be their younger brother.

We left late in the afternoon and drove to Reading to pick up Destiny.  On our way back to State College, we stopped at a UniMart in Harrisburg where Frank was working second shift, so Destiny could get to see her daddy on Thanksgiving Day.

Between Harrisburg and State College we drove in horrible wind and rain, and our defroster was malfunctioning, so it was not a fun ride. We were very glad to be back home.  Destiny had not been here since I moved up, so she was just delighted to be here.