Double Vision: Gobble, Gobble-- Another Thanksgiving

While some people would argue that there is only so much turkey that one can eat, we are fortunate enough to be able to attend Thanksgiving with both of our families each year. And while that means that we make the journey to southwest Missouri on two consecutive weekends, this is a minor trade-off that we will gladly sacrifice so that we do not have to do the every other year holiday schedule that some couples have to endure. As we always do on Thanksgiving Day, Jill and I and her father got up early and competed in our own “turkey trot.” Granted, ours is held at the churches family life center on the treadmills and so we don’t have to worry about the elements outside, but it is still a personal accomplishment to get up and run on one of the laziest days of the year. That being said, we certainly made up for it later in the day.

For those of you who have a small family you would be amazed at the amount of food that is on the table at the Evans Thanksgiving. I myself have what I would consider a good sized family and I always thought that we had more food than imaginable, that was until I went to Jill’s grandparents. There you will find a large turkey, an even bigger ham, and about 42 side dishes (because every family member tends to have their own favorite that they cannot do without). Oh, and to top it all off, there are at least 10 pies and countless other desserts just to make sure that you have no choice but to like something there. The food is canvassed across three tables and gently flows from the kitchen, to the table, and sometimes even overflows into the living room. But boy is it good. Needless to say, our hour of running is erased after about five minutes of arriving as we always find ourselves “sampling” it all.

In addition to the mounds of food I think that we also experienced an all-time first at the Evans Farm this Thanksgiving. Every family member was present! So what did we do to celebrate? We took pictures. Lots and lots of pictures! Each individual family, all of the siblings, every imaginable combination was snapped by at least two or three different cameras. There were so many flashes and shutters going off it almost made me want to go in for a wardrobe change. But nonetheless, we survived and looking back we are glad that we were able to get the shots that we did. I just hope that everyone realizes that each camera adds ten pounds and that they did not even give us time to let our food set after “sampling” 40 of the 42 side dishes. Just remember that when you see all of the protruding stomachs.