Family Gathering

I spent most of the day yesterday in my jammies after the big family reunion at my house on Saturday. It was lots of work, but so great to see everyone. We ended up with a little over forty people. Here are the two youngest! Both little babies were very friendly and sweet among all the tall relatives.

So, how do you feed a sit-down turkey dinner to forty-something people? The men were in charge of the turkeys. My son Dave cracked me up as he played Massage Therapist while rubbing in the seasonings. "How's your job going?"

He brought his turkey cooker over, so we had twin fryers bubbling away in the driveway...

and two twin turkeys, fried to golden perfection!

The weather was cold and gray, but we had about fourteen kids running in and out of the house and around the yard. Here is my granddaughter Lily in her new fleece toboggan made by my friend Mary Nennstiel. Too cute!

I plan to do as little as possible today, and won't be cooking anything for days...unless heating up leftovers in the "nuker" counts as cooking. Maybe the new sewing machine will get out of the box this week!

Christmas fun...and The Reveal

The Turner clan Christmas gathering is officially over- at least the part where we all gather for dinner at my house. It takes days of preparation, and then it is over so quickly! Of course, after having a week of warm days in the 70's and 80's, it turned very cold Friday night. Dave, Emily, Charlie and I were the only ones there on Friday night, and we bundled up in parkas to watch the Geminid meteor shower from our deck. That was a delightful prelude to the busy Saturday. I think about forty were there for dinner, and it rained for about the fifth time all year. The weather forecast for ice and snow in the mountains prevented my aunt and cousin from Alaska from coming down from Virginia. But all the NC mountain Turners braved the trip.

Just had to show off granddaughter Lily in her Christmas outfit! She was quite the party girl. Avery was much more sedate than usual, and in fact took a little snooze while all the company was there. The next morning, we exchanged presents with Dave and Emily, since they are going to be in Richmond for Christmas. So---I am now able to reveal my secret project from last week! Here is Emily's fiber shawl that I made on my long-arm machine. I decided to name it Precious Gems. I couldn't locate my camera while we were opening gifts, so I asked Dave to take her picture wearing it and send it to me. But here it is:

I took lots of photographs and took notes while I was making it. The plan is to post a tutorial. Frankly, I am still exhausted and don't have the energy! But check back and I will see what I can do!