Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving Delights

On Thanksgiving Day we’re thankful for
Our blessings all year through,
For family we dearly love,
For good friends, old and new.For sun to light and warm our days,
For stars that glow at night,
For trees of green and skies of blue,
And puffy clouds of white.We’re grateful for our eyes that see
The beauty all around,
For arms to hug, and legs to walk,
And ears to hear each sound.The list of all we’re grateful for
Would fill a great big book;
Our thankful hearts find new delights
Everywhere we look!By Joanna Fuchs
I really was rather lame this year as far as pictures go, but despite the lack of photographical doccumentation, Thanksgiving 2009 was a huge hit and a delightful success!

This year, Thanksgiving began for me on Wednesday November 25th when Lance and I went over to Grandma Clark's for his dad's family's Thanksgiving celebration! Lance was most looking forward to Grandma's sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows... Unfortunately, when she was pulling the dish out of the oven to top it with the fluffy white treats, the dish fell onto the tile floor and shattered. Sweet potatoes were everywhere! Lance and his dad were both heartbroken!

When Aunt Johnny, John, Kim, Chandler, and Kristi arrived, the kids ran off with Sarah and Stephanie to play while Sheryl, Kim, Belva, Aunt Johnny, and I finished gathering everything for dinner, then John said the prayer, and we dug in! I brought a spinach salad with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, candied pecans, and poppy seed dressing- I think everyone really liked it! My favorite, though, was the bruschetta Kristi made!

The night progressed with some rousing games of JINGO where Lance and I, combined, won ten dollars in quarters! Then we played Disney Scene It... I pretty much rocked it-- me and the preteen girls!

It was a wonderful night that wrapped up with hugs and goodbyes 'till Christmas time!


The Thanksgiving holiday progressed when we went to Mamaw and Granddad Sublett's for a turkey day lunch Thursday morning. Everyone was there-- Neva and Leonard, Tony and Lori, Rhonda, Bennett, Jake and Haley, and Sharon! I brought the relish tray... This family sure does love their green and black olives and baby gerkin pickles! Lori made her chocolate cream pie and coconut cream pie. Because Cam hates coconut, we never have it... So it was really was a treat to have such a delicious homemade coconut cream pie!

I also really enjoyed hearing Leonard's war stories! He was a US Navy Communications Technician in Japan, and my grandpa Jones was a US Navy Communications Officer-- they both had similar stories, and it was really fun to hear them from someone Lance admires so much!


After lunch, we headed over to my house for my family's thanksgiving dinner! I couldn't wait for my mama's yamstown sweet potatoes with the sugar crumble on top. We also had Lion House Rolls, Green bean Casserole, Garlic mashed potatoes, two fried turkeys, and Lance's new favorite- homemade Cranberry salad!

The rolls and the cranberry salad

My mama put together this beautiful flower/cranberry arrangement

We were thrilled to have Grandma Jones and Grandma LeSueur with us this year!

Here I am with two of my favorite boys!

Two of my favorite boys got a little too close over the break... uh oh!

And of course, Audrey entertained everyone with her 'grown up' Thanksgiving antics!

Here she is, reading to Grandma LeSueur

And with her new car that becomes a means of her walking when it's flipped up. Watch out, mom and dad... She's going to be walking soon, sans push-car!

Another notable event of Thanksgiving was the Lenox covered vegetable dish Mom got as an early Christmas present from the grandmas, Cam and Kevin, Daddy, Trevor, and me. She's wanted this piece that matches the rest of her china forever... She loves it!

Thanksgiving was amazing. Lots of friends, food, family, and memories-- I sure am going to miss all these traditions next year...

An Ode to Texas Living

Here it is, November 17th, and we just turned the heater on for the first time this fall/winter. With 61* as our high and 43* as our low today, we realize we're very fortunate-- and that it isn't even actually cold-- especially when we hear our Utah friends have been playing in the snow since Saturday! Ahh, God bless Texas... This is my kind of weather!

In other news, both Grandma Jones and Grandma LeSueur are coming to visit tomorrow! They'll be here when I go through the temple on Saturday, for my birthday on Monday, Thanksgiving on Thursday, and we get to have them with us 'till the 3rd of December! I couldn't be more thrilled!!

This was taken last thanksgiving just after we saw "The Nutcracker" ballet at the Majestic Theatre in downtown Dallas!

Can't wait for this year's adventures! :)

Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire

I am going to continue to count my many blessings throughout December. It was so wonderful to be able to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family; both of my grandmas flew in from Arizona to share this food and gratitude-filled holiday with us. They were also here to see me turn 21 and Cami turn 25 (on the 25th, I might add... 25 on the 25th)! It was so much fun to share these events with them because, growing up, we weren't able to be with them for this short pre-Christmas break very often.

Having the three-generation (soon to be four) thing going on over thanksgiving was really so great. My Grandma Jones was able to make her famous real cranberry salad and my Grandma LeSueur was there to make her famous Swedish salad- both of which are staples at our Thanksgiving table! My daddy fried the turkeys and my momma whipped up some amazing mashed potatoes, yam town potatoes, and some homemade whipped cream. I was in charge of the pumpkin and pecan pies, and Cam did everything else in between. We took our family Christmas card picture, as well as a TON of other good ones. We set up our Christmas tree, decorated it, drank homemade wassail with our homemade whipped cream, and read Christmas stories. We relived family memories, talked about our excitement for upcoming memories we are sure to make, and we had several family prayers together. This truly was the type of Thanksgiving pictured in Norman Rockwall picture books!


My dad, the turkey fryer- we successfully cooked two turkeys without blowing the house up!

Look at my cute brother putting the pies in the oven.

My mama, making the grahmcracker crust for the banana-cream pie.

Kevin added another skill to his list of manly things he can do- he can now do 12 things on his list!

Cam and Kevin at the dinner table with my beautiful centerpeice :)

Momma, Cami, and Baby J!

Our family picture- see how cute we can be!

Buddy LOVES scratching his back on the bottom limbs of the Christmas tree. It's his favorite part of Christmas- that, and all of the handouts he gets.

Everyone with the beautifully decorated Christmas tree :)


Now, I must make this clear, I only paint this beautiful picture to create a sort of nostalgia so I can come back and read about all these good things when my family is hurriedly rushing around during the not-so-picturesque times of the year. So, I suppose I am grateful for the opportunities we have to create some wonderful memories, so that we can cling onto them when things aren't so perfect. I love thinking back to times my whole family has been together. I think about things like my family's visit to Utah for General Conference my freshman year of college. Oh, I'm sure there were a few meltdowns that happened- but I don't remember them. I do, however, remember the warm feelings I got when I went with Cam and Kevin to pick up Mom, Dad, and Trevor from the airport. I remember having lunch between conference sessions at some restaurant across from temple square. I remember going shopping while the boys were attending priesthood session. Whenever I was homesick in the subsequent months, I would think about this wonderful time we had together, and it would lift me up!

Us, at lunch

My friend Bethany, me and Cam

The boys- we have so many pictures with Kevin's face like this... I roll my eyes every time I look at one of them...

Another favorite memory of mine is when my family went to New York City the Christmas of my freshman year in high school. I'll never forget stepping out of the subway and into times square and looking up and seeing the beautiful and angelic snow falling from the heavens. I also will never forget having to pull my over packed suitcases through that 'heavenly snow' a few blocks to our Times Square hotel. I'll always remember how alive the city was and my bubbling excitement for life. We were in Times square to usher in 2003 and watching the confetti rain down as the clock struck 12 can't be described by any other adjectives except magical. On this trip is when my 10-year-old brother unleashed his inner sumo (email me if you want to see those photos- I don't think they're appropriate for the www!), we visited the infamous soup kitchen- as made famous by Seinfeld's 'Soup Nazi' episode- where I got yelled at by no one other than 'The Soup Nazi' himself, and we took a taxi to church- which was between Central Park and Carnegie Hall, right below the temple that was under construction at that time. We did lots and lots of shopping, and I bought my notoriously famous purse called 'Big Red' from a sidewalk vendor; my mother was sure I had been ripped off. Thinking of this trip reminds me to always be excited about life- I was so excited to be in New York and it was wonderful to be there with my family!

Happy 2003!


I love this picture... This was on our way to church. Trev was so little!

So, there you have it- these are a few of my favorite memories. Take some time and jot down some thoughts about your favorite memories when you have a few minutes and think about them whenever you're blue- it works wonders! Try it... you'll like it :)