Thanksgiving Traditions, Part II

Our family has been going to the movies on Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. The first few years we were pretty much the only people in the theater, but the crowds steadily grew and grew and now the movie is usually packed. Some of our past Thanksgiving movies include, An American Tail, The Little Mermaid, and Happy Feet. This year, since we didn't have any little kids, we went to the new James Bond movie.

After the movie, Warren and Becky brought the girls over and we all got busy finishing up Thanksgiving dinner. Even Kenna did her part, handing me potatoes to peel.

While Kenna and I tackled the potatoes, my mom and sister-in-law Becky made the traditional croissants that have become a Thanksgiving table staple.

They are a lot of work but are worth it because they are so, so, so, so good.

My mom's croissant process results in buttery flaky rolls that have 167 layers. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Another Thanksgiving tradition around these parts is dancing to Christmas music in the kitchen. Greg and I took a turn around our tiny two-butt kitchen while James Taylor was serenading us this Christmas songs (for those of you not familiar with the phrase, a two-butt kitchen is a kitchen in which only two butts can fit comfortably). I'm not sure what we were supposed to be doing at that moment, but dancing was fun, especially since Greg will be serving the Lord as a missionary somewhere at this time next year.

Warren took charge of trying to convince Kenna to eat something other than olives. Then he introduced his daughter to his own private Thanksgiving tradition...

...lumping all of the food together, covering it with steak sauce, and scarfing it down while the rest of the family looks on in disgust. Unfortunately, Kenna wasn't disgusted. She thought her dad's concoction was delicious. I think Kenna's poor momma might have cried a little.

Kylie ended up napping through dinner, but woke up in time for dessert. She managed to con her soft-hearted papa into sharing his pie.

She thought it was delicious and stylish and ended up wearing almost as much as she ate.

While Papa slipped her bites of pie, Kylie hugged his knee and promised her undying devotion. But when his pie ran out, all promises were forgotten and she crawled over to her momma who had just sat down with a fresh piece. Papa didn't feel too bad about being abandoned because he understands the pull of pie. In fact, my mother's pie making skills were a major factor in his decision to propose.

Kylie wasn't the only one begging for people food. Chloe quickly figured out which members of my family were most likely to slip her contraband and used her "pity-the-poor-starving-dog" act to score some sweet treats.

Hopefully her owner was able to score some sweet deals at the door buster sales this morning without getting trampled by bargain-crazed shoppers, because if Chloe spends too much more time here, her daily tradition of taking an after-dinner walk will quickly be replaced by the new tradition of taking an after-dinner waddle.