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| Thanksgiving dinner. |
At the beginning of the week when all was quiet and Thanksgiving still a few days away, I sat and pondered on things I'm thankful for. I started a list and as I reflected, it grew longer and longer and even then did not begin to cover the depth and breadth of my gratitude. I have a lot of things to be thankful for. I won't attempt to enumerate them here. They mostly fell into four categories: family, religion, nature, and health, with an overarching common factor of recognizing God as the source of all my blessings. I'll summarize.
First there is my family. I'm thankful for a family that has filled my life with love and happiness. I have a wonderful family. I've known six generations of my family personally -- great-grandparents, parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, aunts and uncles and cousins, and many more generations going back in time through my genealogical research -- and I love them all. I feel so blessed to be a part of them.
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| At our reunion in August. |
My religion, my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the greatest influence in my life. Because of the church's impact on my family, beginning two generations ago with my grandparents, I am who I am. My understanding of the gospel, my faith in my Lord, my striving to be His disciple, has had an effect on every aspect of my life. I cannot begin to comprehend the blessings that have filled my life because of it.
I think I have always been especially attuned to the natural world. Even as a young child, I was very aware of the beauty around me in the world. I thrill to see the staggering complexity and exquisite design in creation from the smallest particles to the incomprehensible vastness of the cosmos. I am continually filled with awe for what God has made and for my place in it. To be alive in this glorious world, surrounded by family, enjoying freedom, pursuing happiness, and knowing that God loves me makes my heart overflow with gratitude.
And as for my health, Tuesday morning I met with my doctor to go over the results of the last test I took. This test involved taking a blood sample and sending it to a special laboratory in Greece. They cultured the blood to see if there was any cancer. The test came back positive, but it looks like the cancer is not aggressive and is treatable. So now we are in discussions to determine what the next steps will be. So, I have much to be thankful for. Things could definitely be worse.
We had several Big Events last week. Tuesday was Hannah's birthday. We had a nice birthday dinner for her. The Fosters and the Shilligs were here. We had meatloaf and smashed potatoes. Miriam made a birthday cheesecake. We sang and she opened presents. It was a fun evening.
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| Hannah's birthday dinner. |
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| Birthday cheesecake. |
On Wednesday the weather was clear and cold. Despite shining brightly, the sun seemed to have no power to warm me. We spent much of the day preparing for Thursday. In the morning I made cranberry sauce. Miriam went down to the Foster's to bake pies with Sarah.
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| Grinding cranberries for the sauce. |
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| Apple pies right out of the oven. |
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| Pumpkin and pecan pies going into the oven. |
The weather service issued a Winter Storm Warning that afternoon. The snow was due to arrive at 10:00 p.m. The Thayns were driving up and we were worried they would encounter snow, but they arrived at 9:00, just ahead of it.
Thursday morning, we awoke to find the world transformed into a glorious winter wonderland. The snow had fallen all night through a windless sky and settled three inches thick on every surface. It was unbelievably beautiful. I went out to do the morning chores and had to take a walk to see it all.
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| Russell. |
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| When the house is full. |
The biggest Big Event of the week was, of course, Thanksgiving. We gathered at the Foster's house at 2:00. They had a long table set up in their living room with nice decorations. There were fifteen of us -- the Howes, the Thayns, the Fosters, the Shilligs, and the missionaries from Olean. The food was laid out on the dining room table. There was turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, zesty carrots, macaroni and cheese, rolls, corn pudding, jello salad, and green bean casserole. Sarah made special things for me to eat -- a quiche and creamed cauliflower. We filled our plates. It was all so delicious. After the main meal, we sat and played a game together and after a while, commenced with dessert. There were apple, pumpkin, and pecan pies, cheesecake, peanut brittle, toffee, ice cream, and pumpkin panna cotta. Sarah made a special sugarless panna cotta for me. It was a great feast. I'm thankful for the wonderful cooks and bakers we have in our family. After the feasting was done and everything was cleared away, some played games, some worked on a jigsaw puzzle, some took a little nap. And then we came home. It was starting to snow again as we drove home. We had a fun and festive day.
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| Before the meal. |
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| The main courses. |
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| The desserts. |
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| A festive dinner. |
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| After dinner jigsaw puzzle. |
The Friday after Thanksgiving always seems like a strange day. The festivities of the day before make it feel out of place. When I wake up in the morning, I have to think for a moment about what day it is. It is a leftover sort of day. Leftover food. Leftover mood. I woke up at my usual time. I didn't remember that Stacey had the day off and I couldn't understand why she wasn't stirring. Hannah and Miriam went to work for the morning. I could hear them moving around upstairs. Then the children began to wake up and the house came to sudden life. We had a late breakfast. It was cold outside so no one wanted to go out. I only ventured out to do the chores. Everyone lounged around all morning. Some played games. I spent most of the time reading. Black Friday is not a thing here. We are not big shoppers and there aren't any big stores near us to tempt us even if we were.
Friday afternoon some of us went back to Fosters for Thanksgiving leftover lunch and to work some more on the jigsaw puzzle. Tabor and Tosh spent most of the day scouting out places to hunt. It started snowing again in the afternoon. Hannah made pizza for dinner and everyone came here to eat. The Murrays arrived late on Friday night.
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| Friday night pizza -- the adult table. |
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| The children's table. |
Saturday was the first day of deer season and Tabor and Tosh were out early to try their skill (luck?). It was a very cold morning 16 degrees with a wind chill of 8. They weren't successful. But they were cold. Stacey and I spent the morning running errands. When we got back, we went down to the Foster's where most everyone was already gathered for lunch. We had Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole. We spent the rest of afternoon there playing games and watching Christmas movies.
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| Sunrise on the first of December. |
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| Lunch today - the children's table, plus aunties. |
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| Lunch today - the grown ups table. |
Today is the first of December and it felt like it. It was 15 degrees when I went down to do the morning chores. It is fast Sunday. Church was good. I love it when we have family visiting and it boosts our attendance. Being the first Sunday in December, we began singing carols in sacrament meeting. After church, everyone gathered here to break their fast. The Thanksgiving leftovers are gone now so we had burritos. In a few minutes I will head down to do the afternoon chores. It's still cold, just 20 degrees. In a little while the Thayns and the Murrays will leave for home. Then the house will be very quiet. But with December here, the house will be festive as we start decorating the inside of the house. Tomorrow I will do some post-guest cleaning and then bring in the boxes of decorations. The countdown to Christmas is underway.
