I'm so excited for Thanksgiving in Tennessee... =)

from becca, my old, good, Tennessee friend:

so, i'll tell you about the farm since you are going! it is kind of interesting there. i maybe should have told you before you decided to come, but i don't think you'll have a problem with anything. its in the middle of nowhere in McEwen, TN, west of Nashville. the town has no traffic light. There is a Dairy Queen that has everything you could imagine. Like everything. They have meat and three stuff and all sorts of craziness. There is a little Catholic church and school. Maybe 1 other restaurant, a pizza place... that may be it. Oh, there is a new gas station that has pizza and has Baskin Robbins! Oh, and there is a new Sonic which was a big deal. But no McDonalds! How fun is that! The farm is maybe 10 minutes from town. We have a couple hundred acres I think. The farmhouse is kind of old. The original burnt to the ground in I think 1925ish and the neighboring farmers all chipped in materials and help to rebuild it. It looks and seems older than it is, I guess because of that. There is the house, a barn, and some other little buildings like a smoke house, outhouse, wood shed, and a couple more that had old farmy purposes. Inside the house, there are beds everywhere. We added a bathroom a few years ago, so there is now a toilet that flushes! and a shower! and a sink outside of the kitchen! before that we used the outhouse, which some people still do cause there is always someone in the bathroom, or go behind a tree. When I was little we would all go down there for a week with the moms and we would take baths in the creek. Anyway, there are 2 front rooms. one has a big bed where my parents sleep, and the wood burning stove for heating the house is in there, and some chairs. it is the hang out room often. the other front room has three beds- i sleep in one that i have slept in forever. everyone else (of the cousins) decided they had to sleep upstairs b/c there are several adults who snore downstairs, but i just bring my ipod and deal with it. My Aunt Marie and Uncle Pete have a bed in that room, and there is another bed that is not really designated for anyone. We have this cousin, Anne, who is around my parents age and she stays sometime and sleeps there, but she doesn't seem to like to stay a lot. The bathroom is off that room too. There is the back bedroom where Uncle Jerry and Aunt Beba sleep. There is a dining room and a kitchen. Off the dining room are the stairs that go up to the loft area, which is full of beds. Tons of beds. My cousins sleep up there (Angela and her husband Jessi, Ab and his girlfriend Raven if she comes, Lori and her husband Jake, Josh, and Lindsey, my sister and her husband and the babies if they stay there, and friends if anyone else brings friends which they usually do). You'll probably have a bed up there, or if Anne is not going to stay overnight then you can sleep in the other bed downstairs if you want. Outside we have a fire pit and seats and stuff around it. so, there will be probably 16 people, 17 if cousin Anne stays, and 4 more if my sister and her family stays. I think they will stay with Jason's family though and just hang out at the farm some cause Jason's family has a modern house in town. Oh, you can't drink the water cause it is well water and we don't know if it is safe. So we always bring bottled water, but the water is fine for showers and cooking hot stuff and teeth brushing, and I am sure would be fine if you didn't drink too much. But we bring water. There is always a lot of food. We'll probably just be there for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, which will hopefully have enough veggie stuff for you. We usually have sweet potato something, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce stuff, rolls, and then turkey of course. If there is something else you want me and you can make something and take it down to contribute.

can't wait. =)