Pre-Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving dinner

My singles ward had a big Thanksgiving dinner/activity last night. Seriously, the turnout was ridiculous. There are about 600 people in the congregation, and at most weekday activities you can expect somewhere between 50-200 people. Last night, at least 400 people showed up. I took a photo, but couldn't fit the entire room in the frame. Wow.

See what I mean?

I arrived about 15 minutes after the start time, and waited in the food line for 40 minutes. I quite enjoyed the live concertina/fiddle music as I slowly moved through the line, and chatted with friends and people-watched. Of course, the food was cold by the time I got to it, but there was still plenty of turkey, salad, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, nuts, rolls, and a myriad of desserts for all of the people who waited behind me, or wanted second helpings.

As I sat at my table, looking at the traditional food in front of me, I rebelled a little. I thought, "This is weird. I'm having pretty much this exact meal again in three days. Why am I eating this tonight, too?"

Don't get me wrong: I quite like "Thanksgiving" food, and am often sad that we don't really eat cranberry sauce or candied yams any other time of the year. I'm the girl who has asked for corned beef and cabbage for my birthday because I like it too much to only have it once a year on St. Patrick's Day. However, it felt silly to me to have the same meal twice in one week. Why not space the turkey dinners a bit and have the ward Thanksgiving activity six months early (in May?) so that it's more of a treat?

My guess is that the Thanksgiving dinner is just a good excuse to get everyone together. I talked with several people who said they only plan on attending two (of the at least 200) activities during the year, and one of them is Thanksgiving. Also, some people don't have anywhere to go on the actual Thanksgiving, and this way they still get a meal. In addition, we really can't have too many opportunities to be thankful for all that we have.

A segment of the insanely long, slow, wrap-around line

Still... I didn't have any problem saying no to dessert, because I know I'll be eating pie for the rest of the week.

And, let's face it: food is almost always better when made by family, especially my mom. While yummy, the meal I ate yesterday just doesn't compare to the real celebration.

It'll be nice to eat a warm meal, too!

Oh, man! I love Thanksgiving food!! Especially the pie!

My favorite is spending time with adored people I don't get to talk with nearly enough. It's fun to chat while we prepare and eat the meal, clean up, and head to a movie or play board games. Nothing like family time.

Then, on Friday, I plan to SLEEP IN and putter about my house. It's going to be glorious!

What are you looking forward to the most about the holiday weekend? Will you have both Thursday and Friday off, or do you have to work at all? Are you going out of town?

Whatever you're doing, I hope it truly is a happy Thanksgiving for each of you!