 |
| Sunrise on Thanksgiving morning. |
November is almost over. One more day and December will be here. The holiday season is already underway at our house. We had a great Thanksgiving. We began preparing food for the feast on Wednesday. I made cranberry sauce. Stacey made pumpkin pies, zesty carrots, and sweet potato casserole. On Thursday morning we kept on cooking, making pureed squash and mashed potatoes. At 2:00 we walked over to Shillig’s house for the feast. They made the turkey, dressing, rolls, green bean casserole, and gravy. It was all so delicious.
 |
| Kurt carving the turkey. |
 |
| The feast is ready. |
 |
| We are ready to feast. |
We like to try and make as much of the food for the feast from things we have grown or could grow ourselves. The turkey was not one of ours this year – we’re hoping next year’s will be. Almost everything else – pumpkins, squash, green beans, potatoes, carrots, horseradish, onions, celery – either was or could have been from our gardens and animals. Flour for the bread and pie crust, cranberries, and oranges were the only things we can’t provide for ourselves. I could grow wheat and cranberries if I had more land. I’d need a greenhouse to grow oranges.
 |
| Musquee de provence squash I grew that went into the feast. |
Thursday was also Hannah’s birthday. She turned 20. I can hardly believe that. After the Thanksgiving feast we celebrated her birthday with gifts and cheesecake.
 |
| Hannah with birthday cheesecake. |
For months now we have been anticipating the next Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, that will be released at midnight on December 17th. We’ve always been big Star Wars fans in our family. It started with me and the first movie back in 1977. My children are even bigger fans than I am. For the 7th Star Wars installment, Geoffrey decided to host a gathering of some of his siblings to attend the premier performance at midnight on the 17th at a theater in Harriman, Utah. He and Joni bought theater tickets for Josiah, Hannah, Miriam, and Daniel. Hannah and Josiah bought airline tickets to Utah. Miriam and Daniel planned to drive up to Geoffrey’s from St. George. There was a lot of excitement building as the day drew nearer. Then last week we realized that the high school Christmas concert is on the 17th. Josiah is very involved in the concert. He’s in the band, jazz band, choir, and show choir and has solo parts to perform. At first we said he should just skip the concert, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. So the flights are canceled. He and Hannah won’t be going to Utah. Everyone was disappointed, but that’s the price of duty. Daniel and Miriam are still going up to Geoffrey’s but we will see the movie at our local theater instead.
On Saturday we began decorating the house for Christmas. We put up the garlands, the nativity sets, and other knick-knacks. While decorating, we decided to move the bookcase in the living room. Josiah took all the books off the shelves to make it easier to move and in the course of doing that found a surprise. Remember the rodent wars from several weeks ago? The hazelnuts that were stolen by some small creature? We found the rest of them. They were neatly piled behind the seven volume Comprehensive History of the Church – hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, and a few pieces of pasta. I hope the little pest has relocated to some other place. If it’s still here, we’ve confiscated its hoard and I hope it starves.
The house looks very festive with the halls decked. We won’t get our Christmas tree until the week before Christmas. Speaking of Christmas trees, Hannah is working on Saturdays from now until Christmas at the Wending Creek Christmas tree lot. She runs the cash register. That’s where we get our tree. It is owned by the people Stacey and Hannah work for and they give all their employees a free tree every year.
 |
| One of our nativity sets. |
 |
| Christmas knick-knacks. |
 |
| Another nativity set. |
We began our Christmas movie viewing last week with Miracle on 34th Street (the 1947 version). Then moved on to Christmas With the Kranks and While You Were Sleeping. Our movie list is long. Most years we don’t make it all the way through it.
Tomorrow is the opening day of deer season and there is no school. We don’t hunt and with all the shooting going on, I’ll spend the day indoors. Stacey and Hannah will go to work. Josiah has homework to do. I have five barn quilt orders I’m working on and that will keep me busy. Tuesday we’re back to school and the next break will be at Christmas.
 |
| Sunrise over the beaver pond on Friday. |
