Sunday, November 26, 2023

Mission Home Thanksgiving Dinner

Sister Collins has had a bad cough since having Covid a month ago and finally had it checked on Monday and found out that she had walking pneumonia--not contagious, just miserable for her.  She was determined to still host Thanksgiving dinner.  She said that being alone on the holiday would be worse for her than the work required for us to share a meal together.

So Thursday morning, Jena and I headed up to Bentonville with our sweet potato casserole.  Gary woke up with a  head cold so he stayed behind.  Sister Collins was worried about leaving him alone, but he used a switch on her comment--he would rather be alone on the holiday so that Jena and I could join with other missionaries.  That is what would make him happy. He munched on leftovers and enjoyed the plate of food we brought back for him.

Sister Collins had us write a gratitude list.  We then shared our lists, marking off the ones that matched.  Jena did a great job!  I will treasure her gratitude list.
Mine is probably more of the expected things if you know me....
We had plenty of food and it was all delicious.


Sister Collins had us write things to put on leaves as well and decorated the tree limb in the centerpiece.  Apparently, President Collins had been teasing her about the "branch" in the middle of the table, but the sisters got it and we thought it was darling, especially with our little leaves on it.




Homemade Italian ices to drink
Jena with President and Sister Collins.  How lucky we are to serve with these wonderful leaders!  
Our selfie

Sister Lowery (the mission nurse), Sister and Elder Gremlich, Jena, Elder and Sister Rodeback (the car tsars), and President Collins  (Sister Collins took the photo.)

Sister Lowery made all of these beautiful desserts for us, except the pumpkin pie which she bought.
The gingerbread men and the chocolate covered peanut butter balls were amazing.


I had some of the blueberry pie.

We also played Blank Slate which was a big hit and probably will be purchased by a few of the couples for their families.

And that was our Arkansas Thanksgiving!

Since then we have enjoyed a quiet weekend, getting our Christmas stuff together for the grandkids, watching a bit of BYU sports including the last 20 minutes of the BYU women's soccer game with their come from behind 4-3 win over North Carolina.  The great finish led to a discussion on my sibling thread about the Miracle Bowl so Saturday morning, Gary and I watched the last 3 minutes of that game in the Holiday Bowl in 1980.  The miracle of the internet which allows us to watch things like that whenever we want to.  Unfortunately, BYU football lost in double overtime to Oklahoma State later yesterday afternoon, but it had some exciting moments and was closer than anyone thought it would be, so it was exciting even if the end was disappointing.  On the plus side, in addition to the soccer win, the men's and women's basketball teams both won as well to remain undefeated in the early season play.

In the grand scheme of things, sports doesn't matter much, but it brings fun to our lives--and fun is just what you need sometimes.  Go, Cougars!!

 

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