A Day Like This One: Thanksgiving

I realize this post is a bit dated (it being Christmas eve-eve and all) but if only for my sake I wanted to document my first Thanksgiving home in 6 years. It was heaven.

Dad loves it when the son-in-laws come into town. It means that he can snag more people for manual labor projects. My prego belly got me a "get out of manual labor free" card. I didn't even haul in wood for the stoves the entire time I was there. That is a first.

The first morning home Dad came inside to inform me that my husband was standing on top of the chimney. Dad looked quite happy about this.

Both Keith and Darren had been volunteered to clean the chimney. That's what son-in-laws are for. Right? At least Dad gave him a harness and tied him in.

Mom later volunteered Keith to install the new light fixture in the dinning room.

It is a good thing Keith doesn't have an aversion to tall ladders because the third task (which encompassed several days) was to cut down a tall cedar tree bit by tangled bit. The offending tree had broken off at the top twice over the years (most recently landing on a tarp shed that covered a truck, oops) and had worn out its welcome. After sending Keith up a ladder with a chain saw to give a whack at it (which both Keith and Dad seemed to enjoy) Dad decided to bring in a professional. The tree had made up for loosing its top (twice) by growing a large tangle of trunks up in the air.

Dad and Keith stood back and manned the ropes below.

The loggers. Keith is wondering when the turkey is going to play into this whole Thanksgiving break thing.

Mean while I stayed mostly inside and kept busy watching Northern Flickers out the window.

Just kidding. Kind of. I did other more productive things too. Like Tuesday, when I spent about 12 hours making 12 pies. (We were expecting a really big crowd). And sang along to "Oklahoma," and munched, and stayed warm.

Sun setting out the kitchen window.

Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous. All the important things were there like Mom's yams and cranberry sauce (yum!), not to mention: family. The majority couldn't make it due to a big winter storm, but Ray and Janet and family came.

This was the first Thanksgiving in a very long time that we have all been home.

Alex was very happy about it. Apparently he doesn't like being an only child and likes it when the siblings come home (even if it does mean that he sleeps on the floor).