The Life of a Former Deputy Sheriff: Thanksgiving at the Carter household!!!

Each Thanksgiving it is tradition to fry a turkey around the Carter household for the main course. Well not really the day of Thanksgiving. We usually gather the family together a week or so before the actual day. We do this so that our children (5) won't have to choose where to go to on Thanksgiving Day. These days it is getting harder and harder to get everyone together at one time without some kind of conflict so we have decided for the past several years to do our gatherings either before or after the actual holiday so our children won't have to choose where to go on that day or have to eat 4 or 5 meals on that day. It is more important to us to have everyone together at one time than what day it actually is. So this past Sunday was our THANKSGIVING and we had our whole family together with no pressure of having to leave to go the in-laws or girlfriends house and it makes it so much easier. Now I have posted a few videos of the process leading up to the big day so please take a moment to watch them.
The most important thing was that we had everyone together and were able to catch up a little bit and spend some time together. That is what Thanksgiving is all about anyway, being thankful for what you have and in that sense I am truly blessed. 5 great children, 2 great daughter - n - laws and a wonderful wife. Oh and don't let me forget the dogs the one devil of a cat we have!!! It is truly a great life and I thank the Lord everyday for it. Sure we have some bad times but the good far out weigh the good.
This time we added a little twist!!!! About a week before the BIG DAY we sent out a "group text message" to all our children telling them of the plans and that this year each one would be required to bring a different item. It was amazing how fast they jumped on that!!! The first to go was the rolls, then the dessert. One of them volunteered to bring the oil for frying the turkey and he probably got the short end of the stick on that one since it takes about 5 gallons of peanut oil to fry a turkey and that stuff is not cheap and unless you are going to use it again within a week it just goes in the trash ( or woods in our case ) but none the less they all came through so each had a part in our meal. SEE WE ARE GETTING CHEAPER IN OUR OLD AGE!! It is time for payback for all those years of providing for them!! We have a great group of children and I wouldn't trade life itself for anyone of them. They have all grown up in their own special way and perhaps learned a lesson or two from dear old mom and dad - even though they won't admit it, but WE see it!