Our Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Belated, of course, but I just have to post what we were up to. Then I'll cooperate with the rest of blogworld and and the calendar and post something about Christmas!

My in-laws decided that instead of hosting a regular Thanksgiving dinner for "only" 9-14 people at their home, they'd host a dinner at their church for 150 people who might not otherwise get a Thanksgiving dinner.

This is the main centerpiece on the serving table.

These are the simple centerpieces I did for the rest of the tables.

The goal was to make the fellowship hall look festive and inviting while using things the church or members already owned. 

I think it looks simple and welcoming!

We spent a couple hours on Wednesday setting up, then ran some last-minute errands and went home to cook sweet potatoes from our garden. 

Here she is, The Boss, as we called her on Thanksgiving. :) She planned and organized for weeks ahead of time so Thanksgiving Day ran smoothly.  

There were many volunteers from the church who came to help out instead of staying home with their families!

Here are the centerpieces with the candles lit and ready to go!

The dessert table!

Look at all that food! Church members and local businesses donated everything! A dentist from town even showed up that morning saying he was there to help! He warmly welcomed people in the lobby and disappeared without eating a crumb!

Here is a group from the rehab center enjoying the meal. They clapped for us and told us how nice it was to be treated like humans. I'm not telling you for the accolades, but so we can all realized how much we have to be thankful for!

The people standing in this picture are church members who acted as servers, bringing people hot cider, salad and pies. That really helped those of us serving in the kitchen!

We (and I say that only because I helped; this was all the organizing of my in-laws!) also sent meals to the jail and the police station. As the day wound down, we realized we had a lot of food leftover, so my father-in-law called the jail and asked if they would like seconds for supper! We dished up more and sent it out. Someone told him when he delivered the food, "It's so nice to know there are people out there who care." Doesn't that make it all worthwhile?!

No mommy-blogger could write a holiday post without pictures of her kids! Does he look full or what?!

Clearly this little guy's attention is no longer on the empty plate! My sweet husband spent most of the day at his parent's house with the boys so I could focus on cooking and serving.

I hope you and your family had a nice Thanksgiving. We're definitely planning to do this again! What a blessing we all received by blessing others who are less fortunate.