Thanksgiving in Missouri with No Cooking! Yeah!!!

I spent Thanksgiving 2008 in Holden, Missouri (50 miles southeast of Kansas City, Missouri). My mother bribed me to come by promising she would do all the cooking for my visit! I couldn't pass up that offer.............

This is a picture above of my mom and (step)dad going to church in the snow..... It was icy cold!
Here they are again after debating the best way to build a fire... I'm not sure who won that debate. In the end, there was no convincing of the other. I think I heard same discussion multiple times during the few days I was there!
Clarence Crawford, my grandfather and my mother's father, is sitting in the middle. He will celebrate his 94th birthday next month!
This picture was taken in Odessa, Missouri at the church building. This is my dad's favorite picture. He was the Bishop when the building was remodeled 3 years ago so he choose this picture and others that hang in the building.
Beautiful snow on the 34 acre farm in Holden.... This is the view from my parent's back porch.

Now you aren't going to believe this but it is true that this is downtown Holden! The grain elevators are in the background. They store wheat, corn, and soybeans that are grown in the local area. This is a little country town in the heartland of America. People are very friendly and make you feel welcome. I wanted to take more pictures in the other directions from city center but my mom and I had too much fun at the local craft fair. Actually, I had a really hard time deciding what to buy since I was low on cash and most vendor were not set up to accept credit cards. It was dark by the time we ended our shopping spree so no more pictures until next time. We did have a great time.
While I was in Holden, I introduced my family to the coconut cream pie shakes at Sonic. We all loved them! I'm sure you are impressed that this little town of Holden has a Sonic! They even had their Sonic before we got ours here in Vancouver, Washington. (Subway is the only other fast food chain restaurant in town.) On the right, in front of my father, is my step-brother Alan. He is the life of the party and entertained us greatly while I was there.
My mother is standing in front of their house. She was disappointed that I didn't get her cat in the picture also. Poor Tiger sleeps in a box on the porch. The box has a rug flap so he can go in and out of the box himself. My mom says he keeps warm.
This is the largest of three ponds on the 34 acre farm. This pond is full of catfish. Ponds are man-made and are used to give animals water and also to grow catfish and bass. There are ponds all over the area on the farms. The water level is 8 feet deep in this pond. My mom says that you can make a pond on top of a hill in this area because the water level is so high. This was early morning the day I left.
This is proof that my mother did the cooking! She was making homemade noodles for turkey noodle soup in this picture. Prior to this she made her first, and one of my favorites, pecan pie. It was absolutely delicious! I could have eaten it all myself. I brought her a ceramic pie pan with the pecan pie recipe stained in the bottom. I'm hoping she'll make another pie the next time I come to visit whether it is Thanksgiving or not!

What a fabulous, relaxing holiday visit! I loved it. We watched Hallmark Christmas movies, talked, and ate yummy food. The good news was that I didn't gain any weight during my visit! It must be that healthy cooking! It had been five years since I had seen my grandfather so I'm grateful I was able to see him also! (He just moved to Missouri last summer. Before this move, he had always lived in Pennsylvania. He still misses Pennsylvania but my parents are taking excellent care of him.)