A Payne-Full Thanksgiving

The bigger the family gets, the harder it is to celebrate holidays on the day officially set aside for that celebration.  Anybody else have that problem?  Throw in an expectant (any day now) mother thousands of miles away in Utah, a sales-savvy business associate who has parties every weekend, and a couple of high-strung college students and it becomes impossible to manage to celebrate when you’re supposed to. 

But whoever said the Paynes like doing what they’re supposed to?  So this past Sunday we all got together at the big Plantation (someday I’ll blog about the house on the hill that’s overrun with cats, dogs, and kids) to give thanks for another year of blessings…..like new a new niece and a forecoming nephew….a few inches taller for the cousins….a job that semi-pays Calley’s bills….a Thirty One bag for any occasion (courtesy of our personal consultant)….Uncle Bubby back home to prepare the turkey properly….and that my sisters have finally learned how to load a dishwasher without being asked.

Hope you enjoy these images from a day that was perfectly Payne-full in every way (especially when Big Daddy insisted on educating us about the first Thanksgiving by reading aloud from this book for half an hour…I think he quit when he realized everyone had gone outside to “check on the dogs”).

Yum-O, Uncle Corey!

Amelia’s first Thanksgiving…tiny bits of ham and a jar of squash.

My sweet, sweet grandparents.

Even the Pioneer Woman would be proud of that.

Jackson, my nephew and future politician.  See how he’s working the charm?

It takes a lot of people to carve a turkey.

The “big girls” who are all getting so tall and beautiful.

Had to take a picture just to make sure it was really happening….

“God, Our Father…”

And of course it wouldn’t be a family event….

…unless someone falls asleep on the couch (I think that was while Daddy was reading the book).