Sunday, November 29, 2009

A Griswold Thanksgiving

Thankfully, there wasn't a dead grandma on top of our car involved, but this Thanksgiving lived up to Griswold lore.

We rode through Nashville at rush hour on Wednesday afternoon on the way to Kentucky to spend Thanksgiving with Jason's family. Seven hours later {for our 4 hour drive}, we arrived safely at the Holiday Inn and tucked our movie-marathon-watching children into their beds.

The next day was so much fun! Thanksgiving Day had sprinkling snow, loads of relatives {about 30- and that's the immediate Dunham family} and piles of delicious food.

We sat with about 16 children and parents of young children at the kids table and tried to convince our children that the turkey and dressing was really chicken nuggets and French fries. Ollie is always a good eater; Henry notsomuch. That is normally fine, but sometimes Ollie gets excited and tries to eat too much at once.

He decided to stuff it all in at the Thanksgiving table and- as has happened MANY times at our table- started talking with his mouth full. I think he was saying, "Mwahhm, I meee tuh spit dis awww". I spoke through my teeth to him that he should, "drink some milk and chew. Do not spit that all out at the table."

Big mistake.

I can't believe I forgot about this child's gag reflex. He has one. A big one.

And so he barfed into my hands at the Thanksgiving table.
That's how we say Happy Thanksgiving.

It was lovely, my friends. A classic. I heard tales of the story being told by the other kids to their parents. One of our cousin's children came to her and said, "Hey mom, I need another roll. And one of the little kids just ralphed at the table."

So proud.

Ollie was fine. Jason took him to clean up and he was back eating casseroles and cookies in no time. Some might say "puke and rally", but not me. The rest of our weekend was fantastic and puke free and hopefully I will upload some pictures for you tomorrow.
I'm still washing clothes and finding goldfish ground into the car.

I think it's safe to say I've given up on the perfect Thanksgiving. But I'm still holding out for a barf free Christmas. Or at least one without a cousin Eddie.

How was your Thanksgiving?

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love it. EVERY bit of it. I love large families...none of the adults even noticed..it only phased the kids. and their memory has like a 5 second rebound. in and out. over with.

Here's to the Griswolds.

Can't wait to see pictures!

BASSakward Tales said...

love it...i thought my family was the only one that had griswald moments...glad yall made it home safely...

The Incredible Shrinking Woman said...

BEST.
THANKS.
GIVING.
STORY.
EVER.
EVER.
EVER.

Kellie said...

/tooo funny - you have me laughing!!!! We had a similar story Last Thanksgiving - I hosted it ALL at my house - extended family and all and as our out-of town guests were literally driving up the driveway, Wilson threw up ALL.OVER.the entrance way downstairs - talk about a welcome party!!!! He laid on a mattress in our bedroom the rest of the day!!! I think I need to post that one again!!!

Ivy said...

Hilarious!! At least you caught it! Glad ya'll had fun:)

Jenn McPherson said...

Hilarious!! I visioned you talking through your teeth. Does that work for you? Reese sometimes imitates it back to me. Always nice. Sounds like it was eventful & wonderful!! We drove through nights of lights and Reese was looking for a Dora witch and mispronounced "witch" several times. It went great with the Christian Christmas station we were listening to at the time...

dawn said...

HYS.TER.I.CAL!

Oh my. I'm laughing. Nothing as appetizing as barf at the thanksgiving table.

:)

Stephanie B said...

Oh my. I feel for you, but I do admit to almost coffee showering my computer keyboard again when I got to the barfing part. (One of these days I'm gonna learn to NOT drink my coffee while reading your blog!) So glad all turned out well, though. And that you had a wonderful holiday!!

Kelly said...

Hilarious!

Rachel B said...

All I can say is WOW!! That is definitely a Griswold Thanksgiving. No squirrels running through the house though, right? Poor little Ollie, he was just trying to hurry up and eat so he could get dessert. That's what my kids do anyway.

You know you passed by me when you went to KY. We live in Columbia, TN, Exit 37 on I-65.

Unreasonable Grace said...

PLEASE don't post any graphic pictures. We all know what puke looks like.

Truly a classic holiday - one that you will hear about for the next 50 years! Poor Ollie. He'll never live it down.

kim

Unreasonable Grace said...

PLEASE don't post any graphic pictures. We all know what puke looks like.

Truly a classic holiday - one that you will hear about for the next 50 years! Poor Ollie. He'll never live it down.

kim

Mary @ Giving Up On Perfect said...

Oh my! After I posted my giving up on perfect Thanksgiving deal, I remembered that last year, my cousin's son barfed his guts up at the dinner table. Where we were eating on my mom's fancy-schmancy china. It. Was. Priceless. And also disgusting. But mostly priceless.

Donna said...

Okay I also have a gag reflex and I'm having trouble reading this....
Glad you had a Happy Thanksgiving with your ginormous family- we had your cheese whiz broccoli and it was divine!!

nicole said...

Gross! And funny. At least it didn't quell his appetite. :)

chrisannan said...

Annie puked on the Thanksgiving table as well! Just lovely!

Holly said...

real tomato ketchup, eddie? (we say this all the time!)

Mr. and Mrs. Nurse Boy said...

That is awesome!

BTW, I am laughing with you, not at you! ;0)

Mrs. NB

maggie may said...

my son pukes at the table about once every two weeks. it disgusts me, and i can never tell when it's going to happen. so i feel your pain. my favorite is when it happens at restaurants when we're sitting with people who do not have children. good solid birth control. ;)

TexasBobbi said...

I thought that is how every holiday is supposed to go, it isn't a good one till someone pukes.

Tami said...

Oh my my....the turkey did fly at your thanksgiving!

And can you really get all the goldfish out of the car upholstery?

Carrie said...

Hahaha! I'm laughing at these comments as much as your post! Of course, it is a LOT funnier reading about it than watching it happen. Now Mom knows why I was running around looking for a dish cloth.

Susannah said...

Barfing at the table is always the best! Ha! Wow- what a Thanksgiving!

Elizabeth said...

oh, so funny. My husband had a stomach virus and was puking in the hotel. But the kids and I had fun. That's quite a gag reflex. Do you have him signed up for stupid human pet tricks? What a cutie:)

Lisa-Jo Baker said...

This is so affirming in every way. Mother - resident barf catcher. Been there, done that.

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