Giving Thanks

Despite a lovely, five-day weekend, I didn't find much time to post anything on Thanksgiving. So here it goes ...

Tuesday we began celebrating with a Thanksgiving luncheon at the kids' school. All of the children except the youngest infant/toddlers participate, but I snagged Ryan from his class so he could eat with me and Brendan. Parents and teachers brought a variety of dishes and we gathered in the Artium for lunch. I discovered Brendan loves swedish meatballs -- not your typical Thanksgiving dish but certainly his favorite of the day. Ryan happily ate anything I gave him.

Thursday we enjoyed a lazy day at home while preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. The weather here has been freakishly warm -- in the 50s and nearing 60 for almost a week now. So picture this scene around lunchtime: All of the kids in the surrounding houses are outside playing together, with the fathers gathered around our neighbor's fishing boat. The wives, of course, were inside cooking and (in my case) cleaning. I admit, I enjoyed the quiet time to get things in order. (And I didn't hear my hubby complain!)

Around 4, the Newmans arrived for dinner. Terry and Christine have two little girls, 22 months and 9 months. We agreed to feed the kids early while we finished cooking dinner, so perhaps we'd have a chance of enjoying dinner. Our plan worked. We enjoyed 45 minutes at the dinner table with very few interruptions. I think we actually carried on a few conversations! (Any parents out there understand what I'm talking about here.) After a short break, we even sat down for dessert. All in all, the company, food and evening were great.

The rest of our holiday weekend was spent playing outside and decorating the house for Christmas. We avoided the malls, though I made one visit Sunday evening just before closing. It was a good time to go; no one was there!

I hope everyone else enjoyed Thanksgiving as much as we did. Now, for the most wonderful time of the year ...

(P.S. -- We did talk to Brendan about the meaning of Thanksgiving and told him the many reasons we are thankful. His response: "I'm thankful for Blankie." We asked if there was anything else? "No, just Blankie." OK, I'll give him until next year to mention at least one of his parents!)