Life is Short -- Live Thanksgiving Large

In Other Words:  

How to Logistically Navigate Housing 26 and 

Feeding 41 for Thanksgiving (and Live to Tell About It)

At least one month in advance, start buying up toilet paper, towels, sleeping pads, and breakfast cereals.  De-clutter and clean every room in your house.  Granted, this will never be completely done but at least you can say you tried.  

At least a week in advance, consume all the food in your fridge and freezer to free up space.  A few days in advance, start grocery shopping -- which will pretty much fill your pantry and both fridges (kitchen and garage). Top off all soap dispensers, stock bathrooms with towels and shampoo, pick up extra folding chairs and serving dishes from friends (and the church -- after all, you have given hundreds of hours in its service).

The night before guests start arriving, get plenty of sleep.  Ideally.  Reality is, you'll be up late cleaning the kitchen.

Once your throngs of nieces and nephews and sibs and sibs-in-law arrive, here are few activity ideas that might lessen the chaos (however slightly):

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA MUSEUM 

TRINITY RIVER PARK

GRANDPARENT'S YARD CLEAN-UP

VIDEO GAMES (own it -- your sanity is seriously on the line)

GUITAR PLAYING

RED ROVER

SETTLERS OF CATAN

 PLAYING POOL WITH GRANDPA

TRAMPOLINE

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING PLAY 

(written and directed entirely by kids)

VISITING THE DALLAS MORMON TEMPLE

The night before Thanksgiving, plan seating charts and oven schedules (tricky when you're cooking three turkeys).  Surrender your kitchen to those making pies and desserts.

Don't forget to simply enjoy the chaos of being surrounded by so many people you love.

On Thanksgiving morning, send as many people who are game to the neighborhood soccer field for the annual Turkey Bowl.  Cross your fingers that no one will end up in the ER, as that would disrupt your carefully planned meal schedule (plus it would kinda suck for the injured party).

Watch while Grandma helps younger grand kids assemble (and eat parts of) candy turkeys for the place settings.  Watch Macy's Thanksgiving Parade while preparing food.  Assign various sections of counter top to different people so as to reduce collisions in the kitchen. Ensure that the oven schedule is being followed.

Send the Turkey Bowl participants straight to the showers as soon as they return home. At your sister-in-law's suggestion, assign your older brother to decorate tables.  Listen while male relatives tease him for his decorating flair.

Ask your wonderful father to say the prayer for Thanksgiving dinner.  Be prepared to get emotional as you listen to his heartfelt, sincere expressions of gratitude to his Heavenly Father.  Due to terminal Stage 4 cancer, this amazing man has lost his hair, but not his optimism.  His energy is gone, but not his faith.  He is being robbed of years from his life, but he refuses to let that rob him of the genuine joy he finds in spending time with those he dearly loves.

Ask all of your guests to write what he or she is grateful for on a leaf and put it on a branch of your "gratitude tree." Your favorite leaf will say, "Bob Boyce."  Two owls might also appear on your tree.  Roll with it.

Enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving feast with truly incredible people whom you love with all your heart.

Note:  If your candy turkeys sit outside in 70+ degree heat, various parts of their anatomy will melt, fueling not-so-tasteful-but-still-kinda-funny jokes from boys.

Skate off your 4.000+ calories at Innerskate.  It's soooooo fun (and groovy)!

Eat a minimum of one piece from each dessert and feel just a little bit sick afterwards.  It's totally worth it.

Be grateful (almost beyond words) for how blessed you are to have such awesome, considerate, loving, helpful, fun and hilarious family members to spend Thanksgiving with.

Once all of your guests have departed, you will want to sleep for 24 hours (but don't count on it) and will need to run loads of laundry for at least an additional 24 hours.  

It will be worth every extra load of laundry.

Every one.