17 Relatives and Counting

Thanksgiving 2010

For the first time in many years, all of my mom's side of the family got together for Thanksgiving and my parent's house in Cleveland, TN.  When I say "all," I mean all!  I didn't really think of us having a large family really, but I guess it's because we aren't all together at once very much.  Throughout the week, there were 17 of us total:  Mom, Dad, Alan, me, Carla, Nannie, Robbie, Tammy, Anderson, Mattson, Gibbs, Chris, Susannah, Scott, Michelle, Morgan, and Trevor.  Samson was also there, but he spent most of his time hiding in the sauna in the basement.  Will was the only person who missed out - he decided to stay in Dallas since he had just started a new job, I think the more I described the activity at the house, the more content he was at home by himself!

Samson comfy in a chair prior to everyone's arrival

Dad was home with us for a few days and then left early Thanksgiving day to go hunting; he missed most of the crowd and Thanksgiving dinner, but if he was at home, he would probably be in the sauna with Samson! 




Preparing salad with Mom's greens

Mom harvested all her crops in Alabama and brought all her veggies up to Tennessee for dinner. We made salad with her lettuce, herbs and peppers and for Thanksgiving dinner, we used her crop of broccoli and it was delicious!

On Thanksgiving morning we went to downtown Chattanooga to do the 'Greatful Gobbler' walk. Carla was the organizer of this outing and then treated us all to brunch at her house after the walk.

Two Turkeys

Chris and Susannah

All the Gobblers at Carla's house

*Carla, this picture is especially for you.

Thanksgiving Table (1 of 3)

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to see the Lost Sea.  It's a giant cave with a big lake in it.  When I told Will where we were going, his comment was "what a red neck vacation thing to do"... that turned out to be a pretty accurate statement, considering I was standing in line behind a woman with camo-overalls on, one strap undone.  The cave tour took about an hour or so and we walked around and looked at all the rock formations and such as our guide, Sheenah, pointed out special formations to us.  One particular formation they call "bacon" because, as you will see below, it looks like strips of bacon.  At the bottom of the cave you get on a little boat with a glass bottom and take a ride around the lake and look at the albino fish. All in all, it was a neat trip and Nannie even went on the cave tour, she did a pretty good job of keeping up, especially when we have her a snickers bar for a little energy!

Waiting to get into the cave

Will, see what you missed??!!!

Alan did a little shopping at the gift store at the Lost Sea and found these fabulous hats. They were on sale so he couldn't resist.  I asked him if they were Christmas gifts for people and he said "no, I don't think so, but I could probably do all my Christmas shopping here."  The girl behind the cash register looked at us and responded in all seriousness, "That's what I do!"  I tried to keep a straight face.

After all the company left, my childhood friend, Caitlin Johnson Rogers came over to visit and brought her brand new, 6 week old baby, Mabry.  She was absolutely precious and very good. Caitlin looked great and seemed to have adjusted to motherhood with ease. 

I want one...just not now!

Mabry wide-eyed and awake

That pretty much sums up Thanksgiving this year, lots of family, lots of food and a whole lot of fun.  We will have to get together more often... I'm certainly thankful we were able to be together this year.

*Note: I apologize if you are not in any of the photos, Alan was in charge of taking pictures for me and he missed a few people.