By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Creek View Elementary School kindergartener Anna Blocker, with a smile on her face, excitedly jumped up and down when she heard the answer to her question.

“Will you sit with me, Mimi?” Blocker asked her grandmother, Brenda Cates, while standing in line for the school’s Thanksgiving lunch on Nov. 20.

“I will,” Cates said with a smile, eliciting the excited reaction from her granddaughter.

“She’s thankful to have her Mimi here,” Cates said when asked what she and Blocker were grateful for this year. “I’m a retired lunchroom manager, so I am thankful to get to experience this side of it.”

Hundreds of CVES kindergarteners and their family members gathered in the school’s lunchroom on Nov. 20 to share a Thanksgiving feast a few days before the students were let out for the holiday’s break.

“My mommy,” kindergartener Ashlyn Mclean said when asked what she was thankful for.

“And your dad?” her father, Adam, said, drawing a smile from his daughter.

The school’s teachers also shared thankful thoughts as they helped their students and parents through the line.

“I am thankful for a wonderful class and supportive parents,” CVES kindergarten teacher Amy Wilson said.

The feeling was mutual.

“My school, my teacher and my friends,” kindergartener Brody Campbell said, looking up at Wilson.

“I’m happy for the Lord and for what he provides for us,” Brody’s mother, Cammie, said. “And for (Brody’s) brother, Brace, who will be playing in the 90-pound football championship against Hoover this weekend.”

Kindergartener Kaylee Jackson had more immediate thoughts on her mind when asked what she was thankful for.

“For food,” Jackson said as she took the reporter’s notepad to ensure her name was spelled correctly for the story.

Brenda Johns, grandmother of kindergartener Addie Stone, had reason to be especially thankful this year.

“Family, especially this year,” Johns said. “My son is in the Special Forces, and he is home right now, so we are thankful for that.”