Thanksgiving for 36

In case I haven't mentioned it before, we have a very large family. On my mom's side there are about 56 of us (give or take a cousin or two) with my grandparents, their 10 kids & spouses, and all the grand and great grand children. This year for Thanksgiving there were 36 of us.... all in one house!!

Like every other family, we begin our day in the kitchen...mostly it's the aunts and a few of the older female cousins, and of course, Grandma... it is her kitchen after all. 

Each family (of the 10 kids) brings a specific dish and my grandparents make the hams and turkeys. But some how there is still tons of work to be done in the kitchen before we sit down for lunch.

 

And sitting down to lunch is another process all in itself. My grandparents have what we all call "The Big Room" which used to be 3 separate bedrooms when their kids were young. Now it's just a HUGE room where we all get together. We put together a bunch of tables and chairs, my mom decorated the table, my nephew and I set all the place settings and name tags up, and then came the food.

Thanksgiving (and every holiday actually) was once again a lot of work... but totally worth it. I LOVE having such a huge and close family. This is tradition for us in every sense. I'm so glad that my son is experiencing the same family traditions with the same family (plus about 20 more people) as I did when I was young.

Justin - Drew - Jake

My favorite little turkeys!!