With a new daughter-in-law in the family, this will be our first year balancing in-laws over the holidays, and unacquainted as we are with this process Marti inadvertently invited us all over for Thanksgiving dinner. Assuming all three families would be together, she just jumped in when she found out our in-laws were planning dinner out with the newlyweds. “What a great idea!” she had said over the phone. “Where are we going?” It wasn’t until after the conversation that she realized we might not have been on the original agenda.

What compounds this situation is that the Fischers for Thanksgiving is an ever-expanding proposition. Our seats at the Thanksgiving table are never really solidified until the moment arrives.

For instance there’s the single man Marti is working with whom she found out is not in a relationship right now and has no where to go for Thanksgiving. There’s one more. Then there’s the woman from a homeless shelter who’s company we have enjoyed. Then there is Annie’s friend who has nowhere to go whom we want to have even though Annie will be spending Thanksgiving in E.R. and sorely missed. As the life of our parties, I wonder whose table she’ll be gracing tomorrow. That’s potentially two more seats. And then, would you believe Marti ran into our godson and his family in the shopping mall, which is a little unusual since they live in Idaho! Add four more. See what’s happening? That’s three Fischers plus seven.

I feel for our in-laws who no doubt wonder how this happened.

It comes from a history of doing this at our house. Marti just has a way of finding out who is alone for Thanksgiving, and it doesn’t matter what your lifestyle is or if you are homeless or off the street, if you don’t have a family you can go to for Thanksgiving, well… you do now.

It just never occurred to her to check in first about this. This is simply an “of course” about Thanksgiving dinner. I’ll never forget the year I drove into San Francisco when we lived nearby and picked up an eclectic homeless gentleman with his terrier (they both had identical hair) because we always like to talk with him when we were in the city. I wondered if I would find him there, and though the streets were empty at the time, he was right where he said he would be.

I probably should call up the in-laws, assure them they will not be picking up the check for these folks, and warn them that there is still 24 hours to go and there probably will be more; should we check and see if they have banquet facilities at this restaurant? That’s why, when Thanksgiving’s at our house, Marti always has me get the largest turkey we can fit in our oven because you never know who’s coming to dinner. And that’s why, for the last three years, I’ve cooked a 28-pounder in our Weber barbeque because that’s the only place I can fit it.

I used to cringe at these developments, wishing to have more of a quiet intimate time with our own family, but I have since learned that these “uninvited” guests are indeed our family. How like heaven to keep adding to the numbers. How like God to want more. How like the Gospel of Welcome to keep welcoming.

As for an update on the status of our home (many of you have been asking) we are still in it… for now. I will share more details with you over the weekend. In the meantime, we so appreciate your prayers.