My family used to be WAY bigger. We'd easily have 25 people at any occasion where food is served.

Now it is generally the five of us - Mom, Dad, Sister, and my Wife - trying to figure out how to make smaller versions of the dishes we have made for 50 years, and generally failing.

So we did a small spatchcocked turkey, and the usual sides, and pies from Costco. There was some cross-communication, so we basically wound up with 1 pie per person, but we did our duty (eventually, throughout the weekend), and all the pies got eaten.

This Thanksgiving was about Games and Decorating. I got up into the attic and pulled down lights and ornaments. Put lights up on the house for my 80+ year old dad, and my wife and sister decorated the back yard trees and walkways with lights and baubles.

I did some electrical work on some funky outlets around the house.

We built a puzzle, and played a LOT of a simple dice game we have become addicted to. ("Dix Mille" is the only name we have been able to pin to it.)

We then met up with kleinbl00 and the Balloonatic and their partners and offspring, and did the little village tree lighting ceremony and hot chocolate adventure.

It was lovely and idyllic.