Thanksgiving past - TOG Year 2 Unit 1 Celebration - Medieval Feast

With all the hub-bub surrounding Christmas and preparing for my parents to visit, I never got a chance to share about our Thanksgiving trip.

We headed up to TN as my sister and her family headed down to TN :) My brother lives next door and...well..they walked over.

Anyway - we decided to forgo traditional fare this year and instead celebrate Medieval-like with a Medieval Feast. Our 3 eldest children as well as my sister's 2 eldest are all studying the same time period in history this year and we had just completed Unit 1 of the year - The Medieval Period - so it seemed like a good, fun way to do things - together.

The preparation ended up being a bit more than I'd bargained for (ie, took me a lot longer than I'd thought it would!) - a lot due to the fact that we had to transport a great deal of stuff up to TN - but we managed.

All of the "students" participated in many ways - we had jesters, ladies, a young maid, a page or two and a squire who would be knighted at the end of the feast!

Here are a few pictures....

My sister, R, began as Surveyor of Ceremonies (I picked this task up about halfway through - she was better at it, and should've just done it the whole time, but I'd agreed to split the job in half and, so, I did)


She was announcing the King and Queen - here they are.....trumpets blow......
Dad (King Grandpa) really got into his role and spent some time working on his costume - too cute! Love you Dad! (you too, Mom - great job finding the crowns!)


We had many ceremonies and presentations along the way.....

Our niece, Lady CF



Her sister, Maiden CA


Our eldest, Jester E making money appear out of "thin air"!!!


Our second in line, Jester A juggling scarves


Our third, Squire E



Our eldest again, back from jestering, she is now Lady E



And, our second back from jestering, now Lady A



Methinks the Queen has had too much "wassail" (apple cider, really) - here, the Queen is enjoying the antics of the Squire as he approaches the King for knighting....you had to be there.



A few ceremonies....presentation of the upper crust to the King

Maid C is ready for the presentation:

and here she goes...


The laverer for the King and Queen to clean their hands....


Time for the knighting!

King Grandpa really got into his role and at the request of the squire, the King brought his military sword down from the attic to use in the knighting ceremony....





At the end, King Grandpa presented all of the children with banners heralding the Order of the Renaissance (the next period of history we're working on) - it was a lot of fun to see how much my parents got into their roles of King and Queen!



I don't know that we'll attempt something like this away from home again, but it sure made for some good memories!

Here are a few shots from the end of the feast - all the students are in this picture (and one extra, not an official student, but he will be soon!)


and a few candids of most of the group during the feast....CKB took Miss Baby inside because it was getting colder and colder outside and she'd about feasted enough :) Oh, and that empty chair there at the front...that's mine...I'm never in any of the pictures, imagine! :)





We'll leave you now with a shot of the littlest lady who came on over to the feast from next door, my brother's oldest, niece N