We're having Thanksgiving at our own house this year--a first, actually! Which makes me think, where were we in all of our other Thanksgivings?

1997

Jon had just moved to Lincoln; we went to Noral and Cindy's place in Omaha. Finding some family nearby is really nice when you're new to an area!

1998

Back in Seattle after all the weddings, we had Thanksgiving dinner at Ron & Dianne's, and Rachel & Mike were there and she brought a beet for supper. We also went to Cindy & Brian's for dessert. I recall there was a pumpkin cheesecake involved.

1999

Back in Nebraska, We went to Fremont, Nebraska at Susan Kiesling's house. We were asked to bring a cake, so we brought a black forest torte. It turned out that cakes were actually for after supper (read: leftovers, in the form of turkey sandwiches et al.) and we were having pies after dinner... and this was normal. That was a ton of food... although, there were a ton of people there. There was also a mandatory walk around the neighborhood in between meals.

2000

We had Thanksgiving dinner at George Ritchie's house. Admired his built-in organ and incredible speaker system; found that we all agreed on nearly every political subject. I'm pretty sure it was this year, but I'm having a hard time remembering... good thing I'm writing this now, otherwise I'd probably have forgotten everything! Had dinner with Ben Carlisle and Kelly Grey at Ben's place a couple of days after Thanksgiving? I sort of don't remember exactly when. I don't remember everything we had either, but there was definitely a ton of butter involved (a stick of butter per potato, I recall...?!) and a game of mah jongg maybe, and we watched Fantasia 2000 for sure.

2001

Back in Seattle, we went to Janice & Tim's new house. There was a brouhaha over the number of chairs available and the possibility of inviting certain individuals, but we had a good time anyway. It was amazing that they managed to get their house ready for Thanksgiving dinner so quickly.

2002

Still in Seattle... went to Janice & Tim's again, I think. For some reason, I get 2002 and 2003 mixed up, but I'm pretty sure we all went over to the Brandts this year. I sort of recall Grandma Herr getting driven around to various locations... but maybe that was the previous year.

2003

Assuming I'm remembering correctly, we had dinner at Ron & Dianne's place this year and again a great time was had by all.

2004

First year in Ames. Went to Peggy Earnshaw's house with 6-month old Simon. They were very generous! Played with the harpsichord a bit, and listened to some fine trumpet playing.

2005

Went to Dick & Jan Harken's place in Boone. We enjoyed ourselves a lot and had a good time with them and Dick's mother. Simon had a good time too although I recall it was bitterly cold and windy outside.

2006

Dick & Jan's again, this time with Leigh Anna & Andy as well... visiting from Chicago. They announced that they were going to become vegan as of Jan. 1, 2007. We argued a little about orthorexia, philosophies of nutrition, and how to deal with the problem of capitalist food supplies, and generally had a good time.

2007

We're at home! And having a ton of turkey and other fun dishes. Our house is on the market (more on that later) so we have to keep it clean. There's snow on the ground... and we had to borrow a roasting pan because a) we don't have one and b) if we did, I don't think it would've been big enough for this bird!

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