A Wonderful Coombs Thanksgiving

Jon and I had such a wonderful Thanksgiving up in St. George with the entire Coombs family. It's hard to believe that there are already 29 of us! Even harder to believe that 7 of those were added just since Mom and Dad Coombs left on their mission two years ago. The Lord really does bless families of those who serve missions! And there are still 3 more due in the next 5 months--I guess those blessings just keep on coming even after the mission is done.

Jon and I were unfortunately the last to arrive for the festivities, getting there late Wednesday night, but I think we still felt that by making the most of the time we did have, we didn't feel too jipped. It was so nice to see Mark and Lisa's family, especially the kids, since it had been way too long since we had seen them last. I hardly recognized Jonah! Hopefully we won't have to wait that long to see them again. Thursday we enjoyed a morning at the park near Joe and Cindy's, and then an afternoon filled with the most delicious food. Several of the family members, particularly the Mark Coombs family, had special traditional recipes that they shared with us all, and they were amazing, particularly Mark's pumpkin bread, sweet potatoes (tasted more like a dessert than a side dish), and Jim's Dutch apple pie. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite meal of the year--all of my favorites (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc.) all spread out on one table. What a dream! That night we showcased our talents in our Coombs Family Talent Show. I noticed that many parents used their kids' talents for getting out of performing themselves, but when you have kids as cute as this family has, who could blame them? Jon and I displayed our well-honed psychic abilities to read each others minds, much to the amazement of all--or at least the 10-and-under crowd. Well, other than eating too much (but isn't that what Thanksgiving is for?), the whole day was perfect.

Friday started out with more pigging out as we enjoyed scones at the park. I still remember the morning I was first introduced to scones with the Coombs family back at the beach in California when Jon and I were still dating. It must have been then that I decided I needed to be a part of the Coombs family. =) Well, the guys and some of the girls spent the morning burning off their scones playing ultimate frisbee, while the rest of us burned off our excess calories chasing after our little ones. I'm still not sure who got the better workout that morning--me or Jon! We spent the afternoon playing games at the house, relaxing, and gearing up for our Christmas celebration (two holidays in one--since we won't all be able to get together at Christmas time) that night. We had a family devotional, sang plenty of Christmas songs, exchanged gifts (thanks Amy for the beautiful prayer stool!), and enjoyed dinner at Golden Corral thanks to Dad.

Saturday was nice because it was very relaxing, fairly unscripted, and as interactive as we wanted it to be. Some chose to go shopping, many of us played games (of which I was the reigning King in our game of Scum!), and some took the opportunity to nap, or set the hills on fire. =) At least Mark had permission for that, even if it did get a little more out of control than Mom would have liked. (Check out our Thanksgiving photos on our Yahoo site to see the hills ablaze--and that was after it had calmed down!) That night, Jon and I, Shelly and Jim, Amy, Mom and Dad, and Christien went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which Jon and I had been particularly anxious to see. The movie was great, and I thought the best of the four Harry Potter films, but no movie could possibly live up to the book, so I was still a little disappointed. Not a movie for the younger kids, but Harry Potter-reading adults will probably like it. It was just nice to get away and see a movie in an actual theater, though, something Jon and I haven't been able to do very often (maybe 4 times!) since Aaron joined our family. That night, despite my and Jon's need for sleep, we stayed up late talking to Mark and Lisa one last time, a very special treat that we would have loved to have been able to enjoy for longer. Sunday morning, after difficult goodbyes, Jon and I hit the road for home, finally arriving in QC 9 hours later.

So, that was our happy Thanksgiving. It seemed way too short, but we enjoyed every minute. The weekend only served to strengthen Jon's resolve to one day have his whole family living close. And with that, we hope you all had joyous and thanks-filled celebrations with your own loved ones. We certainly are grateful for all of you!