Thanksgiving Guests (2010)

Thanksgiving dinner was so much fun! This year we decided to have my mom and Bob (my stepfather) up to the little (and I do mean little) house we use on Lake Winnipesaukee. We started with shopping and early preparations on Wednesday. We were busy all day making desserts and meat stuffing and even cooking a practice turkey (the one that gets cut up and frozen because we always seem to end up with two). Thursday we were up bright and early, cooking the turkey for dinner, peeling potatoes and finishing desserts. About an hour before dinner was ready we sent a couple of the boys to the garage to bring in the picnic table which is stored for the winter. I cleaned the top of the table and the benches and covered it with a nice tablecloth. I set both tables with plates, silverware, and linens. Then I started putting the food on the table. Just before the turkey went onto the table I called all the younger kids to crawl under to get to the "wall side". Miss teenager decided to crawl under, too, so she could claim a spot at the regular table where the adults would be sitting. This way she could engage in a more grown up conversation and was less likely to get soda or gravy spilled on her. That's when it happened. Dozens, probably a hundred or more, tiny baby spiders had been nesting under the picnic table and now that they were all warmed up in the cozy little house with the crackling fire, they began to hatch! One of the little girls shouted, "a spider!", then one of the boys shouted, "another one!" As I came to the table to check out the situation, there were suddenly spiders everywhere! Little tiny, baby spiders were crawling around the table, over the forks, and onto the plates. "Save the food!", I yelled. We all scrambled to pull all of the food from the table before the spiders got into any of it. The young children scurried back under the table to freedom and began helping clear the tables and smoosh little spiders with their napkins. Everyone was scrambling; everyone except Miss teenager who had grabbed tight to the nearest little sibling and wasn't letting go! Petrified, she was frozen with fear in the corner, standing on her chair, screaming. The food was saved, the table taken back out to the garage, the dishes cleaned, and Miss teenager freed. We had so much to be thankful for. We sat down at the table, stood by the counter, and retired to the living room with our dinners. We thanked God for His wonderful blessings, and enjoyed our spider free meal. Looking back on Thursday's events, I see the beauty of it all. The table looked wonderful, the children were all calm and peaceful, and the food was perfect. It was a wonderful moment which I thank God for blessing us with.Then the spiders came. Suddenly, there was business and screams and laughter. There were great big smiles and people all scurrying to the aid of one another. This was the life! This was a memory in the making. People see my family and they tell me we're crazy. They give my husband and I all sorts of unsolicited advise about how babies are made and what we're missing out on in life. But the business and the craziness is all part of the loving family which God has blessed us with and which I am thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend! So this weekend, I hope you were given a glimpse at the truth of family love and the beauty of children. I hope, in some way, you had some "baby spider" moments of your own which you will treasure forever! May God bless those baby spiders! (even the dead ones) Happy Thanksgiving to all you wonderful families!