The house was perfectly quiet, still, and clean for a couple hours the afternoon of Thursday, November 22. Jackie was out visiting with her family. Christi had picked up Ashleigh and Briana and they were eating lunch over at Joy’s place. So it was just me and the cats, listening to the background sounds of the Packers defeating the Lions. But soon, there would be hungryfolk arriving in droves. At around 3:30pm, the first of our family members arrived to begin setting up for our traditional annual Thanksgiving feast and festivities.
We had all been in the holiday spirit early this year. Ashleigh and Derek had already whipped out National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Jackie and I watched White Christmas earlier in the week. The Christmas music started early on the Muzak at my office and I even found myself playing additional tunes in the car on my iPod. Briana had arrived on Wednesday evening. That night I also picked up some chairs at Mom’s house and helped Bob load the tables into his truck (I also beat Mom in a game of pool and lost one to Bob). Ashleigh, Briana, and I had created the seating name tags for the 50 expected guests during the late hours of Wednesday. Jackie had made her now-famous frozen peanut butter pie and was set to pick up the drinks and ice on her way over. We were ready for Thanksgiving.
Bev and Ed were first over, bringing along the most important staple: the turkey. Bev began to set up the kitchen for the feeding frenzy. Her family came along soon enough: Susan, Charles, Charley, Sam, Chris, Sarah, Karen, Joe, Abby, and Andrew. Darlene and Bob strolled in next. Their family came shortly behind them: Brittney, Doug, Jacob, Lauren, and Zac. Bob positioned the cooler of beer in the garage and Darlene went to work on the dinner rolls. It wasn’t long before my kitchen was taken over by ladies who seemingly knew what they were doing - and I slinked out of it.
Mom and Bob arrived with the tables and the rest of the chairs and soon all of the worker bees were trying to position them and scoot them about in the basement to fit the masses who were still arriving. Denise, Aaron, and Adam eventually made it over, Jackie came with Grace bearing drinks, and Christi, Ashleigh, Briana, and Creed returned from Joy’s - and Derek trailed behind. Bryan and Erine would show up in time for dessert.
Diana and Tom came along bringing Grandpa Murphy and more food for the spread and had most of their family behind them as well: Cathy, Lori, Shane, Abbey, Elise, Brandon, Debby, Mike, and Little Brad. Missing in action were Jim and Jan’s family and Dan’s family. They were all celebrating elsewhere. In all, we had a whopping 45 people sharing in the gala Thanksgiving affair.
Bev carefully arranges the name placards
Mom, Bob, Doug, and Diana debate the placement of the tables
Grandpa, Darlene, Tom, and Diana capably take charge of the kitchen
After all of the setup of the dining area and the layout and warming of the food was complete, it was time to get down to business. Jackie and I sat with Cathy, Debby, and Mike in the rear corner of the basement. I had two platefuls of the turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, sweet potato casserole, peas, corn, stuffing, veggie tray, green been casserole, and wide array of soda - before returning to choose between the pumpkin pie, apple pie, peanut butter pie, pumpkin roll, and cookies. I ultimately chose more than one.
Diana, Abbey, Shane, Elise, and Lori prepare to chow down
Grandpa takes a seat near Mom and Bob
Bev, Little Brad, Andrew, Joe, and Karen tend to their plates
Brad, Jackie, Cathy, and Debby give a whole new meaning to the word stuffing
Briana mid-bite and an over-enthusiastic Chris
Throughout the evening I roamed the house while picking at the food, visiting with everyone I could, cringing as the kids took over my bedroom while they colored under Christi’s supervision, watching some classic YouTube scenes on the computer with Jackie, Susan, Charles, and, glancing at the Cowboys demolishing the Jets on TV, singing to Adam, watching Mom, Denise, Bev, and Karen play Farkle, chugging a Budweiser Select, going outside to cool off as the body heat warmed the house, chatting with Chris and Grandpa about Joe Louis, and of course snapping numerous photos of the gathering.
The entire Tange-clan
Meet the Robinsons
The tryptophan sets in
Brandon relaxes on the floor with his iPod
Elise, Abby, Abbey, and Grace being kids
Bobble-heads Andrew and Creed
Grandpa Murphy and Bryan
Christi and Briana host Little Brad to a movie
Lauren and Jake
The Tange-grandkids: Andrew, Sammy, Abby, and Charley
Adam and Bryan
By evening’s end, there were very few casualites considering the sheer volume of people in the house. Creed was having some stomach issues, the metal ball from the Snafu game was missing, the refrigerator magnets had been slightly re-arranged, and there appeared to be a shortage of toilet paper. Even the cats hadn’t been entirely traumatized. Tiny who made numerous appearances throughout the evening was okay, and Baby finally made her first appearance after most everyone had left. Billy and Jill came over to pick up Briana and it was good to visit with them for a while and let them all laugh at my 1988 appearance in the DVD of Road Tripped.
My buddy Briana
The radiant Jackie
The Ockermans ready to depart
Billy and me
All in all, it was another great Thanksgiving. But as soon as I get my pool table, I’ll have an excuse to pass the torch to another victim…er, host.
I’m not over-enthusiastic. I always hover over my food with a creepy-looking smile on my face, daring any passersby to try to take my food. I learned it by watching the hyenas on Wild Discovery.
Chris Tangeman
November 25th, 2007
Thank you so much for letting us have Thanksgiving at your beautiful home. Everyone fit in, everything went smoothly, and everyone had a great sitdown meal together. You’re the BEST!
Bev
November 29th, 2007
I think Abby and Sam are flexing for the camera in the Tange-kids pic
Susan
December 31st, 2007