Thanksgiving 2009 (meal #3 post #1)

Every year my in-laws' family gathers at their hunting lodge on the Black River on Thanksgiving. It's the perfect rustic setting for Thanksgiving - see what I mean?

We typically have 100-200 relatives there. And each year the family tree is posted and updated. It goes all the way back to the early 1700s. (PS. We have an early ancestor named "Napoleon Bonaparte Barefoot." I know, right?)


(It takes multiple large charts to post them all.)

(The green sticky notes represent updates by way of marriage, birth or death. They'll be incorporated on the chart before next Thanksgiving.)

I took close ups of our part on the chart but then thought better of posting our full names, birth dates, etc. on the Internet. (Duh.)

Given the size of the crowd, and the possibility of rain, we often rent a large tent to gather in and eat, in addition to the house. But this year the weather was perfect.

The boys always play football.



Some of the crowd gathering by the outbuildings.


Here's the view to the river from the back porch.

My daughter was shocked to recognize the lady in the vest as one of the teachers at her middle school. Remember when you thought your distant relatives didn't have real lives ... like they only materialized out of thin air on holidays? :)

Remember too when you simply could not resist skipping a rock when standing at the edge of smooth water?

I'll post more pics in the next post.