Monday, November 28, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

Above: My entire family! Back row: John, Mary, Anne, Liz, Jim, Mike Front row: Hubby Mike, Me, and favorite son-in-law Zach

Thanksgiving was wonderful here. I hope it was for you and yours too!

We had everyone home! Zach and Anne came in from Atlanta on Wednesday, a surprise to most of the family!! Mike and I knew. And Jim was filled in at the last minute so he could help with airport trips.

Mike, Jr. had only been home about 15 minutes when I had to ask him if he minded if I went out on an errand with Jim to pick up something special for dinner. I said that Jim knew what it was and that he could just run in and get it. Mike said "Sure, no problem," and Jim and I were off for the airport.

The airport was very crowded and it took longer than usual. On the way back, as planned with Mike, Sr., I called and asked if we could all meet at Potbelly's for dinner. (For those of you who don't have Potbelly's where you live.....this is a very tasty, reasonably priced sandwich place that Zach likes a lot. They don't have any in Atlanta.)

Zach, Anne, Jim, and I arrived before everyone else and came up with a plan. Zach and Anne would sit at a high-backed booth so they would not be seen from the door. Jim would start videotaping as soon as the family came in the door. They would notice, of course, but they would also know soon enough why he was videotaping. When the family came in we expected they would go to the order counter and we would just wait for one of them to turn around and notice Zach and Anne.

That is not what happened. Liz walked in, came straight across the restaurant for some reason and sat herself down right next to Jim. This put her directly across the table from Zach and Anne. She looked up. There were her sister and brother-in-law who were supposed to be in Atlanta. I was watching this from the side, actually feeling a little bad that Liz was going to get a shock of this magnitude. All the blood drained from her face as she looked at her sister two feet in front of her. I thought she was going to faint. She had no expression on her face for a couple seconds. Then, Anne, smiling, gave her a little wave. By that point Mary had already spotted Anne and screamed, "Anne!!" Liz then realized that this was not a dream or her imagination and all pandemonium broke loose.

Fun times.

9 comments:

Mary said...

The longer I know you, the more I love you =)

Maryellen said...

Rosemary, what a heart-warming holiday tale! Your commentary was well done. I almost felt I was there watching the surprise unroll.

Great photo of the family. You will have very happy memories of this.

Mimi said...

Wonderful photo! Happy Thanksgiving!

Salome Ellen said...

I saw you all after mass Sunday, and would have said hi but we were hustling out with the twins. I know exactly which booth you mean at Potbelly! ;-D

Rosemary said...

Mary O., is that you? :-)

Mary Ellen, thank you so much!!

Mimi, Thank you. I hope yours was happy too:-)

Rosemary said...

Salome, Ellen! I saw the twins with your daughter on the way out. They are adorable!!! So sorry I didn't get to say hi to you. If you know the booth then you know exactly how hidden they were. I thought Liz would die sitting down right in front of them like that! I actually have a video I would love to post but haven't been able to get it to work.

Suzanne said...

Wow...that is so neat!

Denise said...

Your family looks lovely! I just love having an expanding crowd at the dinner table. Bringing family together is the highlight of Thanksgiving.

Rosemary said...

Sure is, Denise. Can't wait for ours to get bigger.