Gobble it up!

Our birds, getting ready to be delicious...

Chris, turkey farmer extraordinare.

Just out of the oven.

All the kids snappin' beans.

Everyone at the table. Elana, Layah, Amelie, Jacob, Ruthie, Noah, Michael, Miriam, Chris.

We had a great thanksgiving, starting on Wednesday with the not-so-fun activity of humanely slaughtering our naturally raised free-range turkeys which we sold to local friends. We made two for thanksgiving dinner and had one left for the freezer. The kids went to our friend Miriam's house for the day and Chris and I went to work at it. People periodically stopped by to pick up thier super fresh, oven-ready birds. While we were elbow deep in turkey guts, Chris commented on how we "have so much fun together" (which was supposed to be a sarcastic remark based on the fact that we never get out together like "on a date")--we both lamented that, yeah, we actually have the kids gone for a day and here we are doing *this!* Then we realized that when we met in the Smokie Mtns, we spent a good portion of our time doing something just as gristly-- preparing skins and skulls of roadkill for educational purposes...fire blazing, cold beer nearby, grubby-clothed and skinning something out back of the "death shed...".....ahh, a taste of the good old days right here at home...

We have a lot to be thankful for this year...and we are.