Our Thanksgiving was blessed...

We celebrated in town with Tim's side of the family this year, as his brother's family was/is in town for the holiday weekend. We invited our neighbors/friends from church (who moved here from SoCal) and they enjoyed the opportunity to be with our crazy family in the absence of theirs. "Strays" are always invited to the table at Thanksgiving! They brought a love of game playing, which fed Zac's incessant desire to strategize. They had to dissemble the never-ending "Settlers of Catan" game for the meal to be served, but having a digital photo as back-up, they were able to continue the game after dinner.

We keep another special family tradition passed down from Tim's mom's side of the family... we eat pies for lunch! After daily Mass we journeyed (8 miles) to the grandparents' house and gobbled up a few of these pies for lunch. We added a few other snacks and called it our mid-day meal.

Our feast with all the fixin's began closer to a true dinner time (around 5 I think). A few of us (not mentioning any names here) also had pies for dessert later in the evening. A few of us (no names) even ate pie for breakfast on Friday!

Pies are a big part of my family tradition. My mom always granted my wishes for pies on my birthday instead of cake. Lemon meringue is my favorite, and there's no better birthday present than a baked-by-mom lemon meringue pie! Mom's mom, Grandma O'D (at age 91) still bakes pies to contribute to family celebrations.

I received a text/photo message on my phone with photos of my niece, Kati, with a proud smile... and her first 2 pies! Baked for her family at Thanksgiving, Kati knew her Aunt Bridget would be proud... and I am!