What I am thankful for

Family and friends of course. Nothing is better then spending time with the people you love. Helen and William came over very early Thanksgiving Day. She explained to him that it was tradition to watch the Macy's Parade in your pj's. Later you change into sweatpants to be still comfortable. For the feast you change into nice clothes and after the meal you change back into to sweatpants because you ate so much that the nice clothes are not comfortable any more. I don't think he cares much yet what he wears.

It was a nice relaxing time. Not much to do. James did most of our part. For all those years he always cooked the Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys and the Easter lamb roast. Roast potatoes, bread sauce ... not a problem.
We had to make the table larger and used the "place mats" from William's preschool.

I was sure William's Mops and GeeGee would like to see them too. The older children in the preschool were quoted on how to cook a turkey.

 William tried a bit of everything and enjoyed it very much. What a big boy! He wore his Indian headdress from the preschool Thanksgiving feast

After the meal we had fun just talking. We always enjoy spending time with Ben's family. As Helen says "William likes it when ALL HIS PEOPLE are together".
It really had been a feast. Everybody brought something. Joy brought her sweetheart salad and cranberry sauce and Ben had cooked several southern specialties including a very special from-scratch stuffing.

And then later dessert, the pies. But by then we had moved into the living room. Grandpa and William were most comfortable sitting on the stairs. 

The boxes had been used as stair blockers but really are not needed any longer. William minds so well when you say NO.

Don't worry, William likes to help cleaning up his toys.

Haha, somebody is worn out.

And then we still had Friday.










And on Saturday we drove back to Virginia. The sun was shining and the sky was blue but it had turned cold. COLD.

Sarah and Wade had been gone too. His family always gets together for the long Thanksgiving weekend and there are long standing traditions like the Virginia Tech football game. They came back Sunday afternoon and invited us to dinner. While Sarah is preparing the dogs are waiting in case something falls down.

That made for a busy day. Church in the morning. A matinee at the Carpenter Theater (Fledermaus by Johann Strauss operetta) was super. Ah, that music ... and the memories. It's so German. We had bought the tickets a while ago. And then family time in the evening again ... including two games of bananagram.

And then Monday. Happy Anniversary to us! 37 years with this wonderful man. How lucky I am! Well, he too, ha-ha. I sent him for some groceries because the cupboard was empty and he comes back with two dozen roses. He laughs and says that they might not last (at this time of the year they usually don't) but at least our marriage does.

And since the cupboard still was a bit empty we went out for dinner. James wanted it to be very special and made reservations at "Buckhead".

Complimentary dessert. How nice.

Time of Thanksgiving

Oh, yes, ... I know I am blessed with so many things and try to give thanks often. But this is the time and holiday when we are especially aware of it. And what I feel most blessed with is family and friends.

There is plenty to be thankful for in nature too. This is a tree in our back yard. James took this picture from our bedroom window.

We really like the 55+ community we live in. This was the Harvest Festival in the club house on Sunday afternoon.


And here is a sample of the music.

And then last Wednesday (Nov 14) we drove to Nashville again. Helen and William were there to great us when we arrived. Unfortunately the bad news was that Ben most likely was suffering from the flu. So William stayed the night in case Ben was contagious.

William was a lot of fun. He loved his bath, he slept through the night and next morning was happy to cuddle a little in our bed. He is so easy.

But it was time to get up soon because Thursday (and Tuesday) is his preschool-day. Mommy came soon to take him.
But they came back in the afternoon!

Friday Helen invited us to brunch to "The Pfunky Griddle". Too bad I couldn't eat much. You get unlimited pancake batter in a jug and cook them to your liking. Lots of different toppings to choose from.








Guess what topping William likes?

If you guessed blueberry, you are right! How did you guess? This was after I wiped his mouth a little, ha-ha.








Sunday we met Helen and William at their church St. Philip's. Everybody knows William and it is obvious how much they like both. James took this picture at the children's sermon. He now goes forward too and afterwards the children go to children's chapel and come back after the adult sermon.

After the service Helen showed us around a little in areas we had not seen yet. Have not seen this before: every member has a mail box.





And this is the children's chapel. The panorama photo shows things a bit distorted because it shows three walls but gives a good idea.

On the left from the door was the altar even with a railing and pulpit. On the very left in this picture you can see the priest's chasuble.

Close-up.

On the shelf opposite were all the different colors of it.

And there were many "props" which help explain why we do what etc.

This was a "puzzle" of the liturgical calendar on top of a table. James discovered a mistake and corrected it after I took the picture. The outer pieces are the52 Sundays in the year.

Sunday afternoon Grandpa stayed with William (very happily though). A lady from Helen's church had invited everybody who wanted to see her quilts to come to her house. That was a very nice outing for us. We met nice people and saw lots and lots of beautiful quilts. Eye-candy!

On the very left a quilt with lots of different appliqued Santas.

Close-up of one of the Santas.

The sewing machine in her workroom had a cover made with all the fancy stitches her machine can do. Clever.

A baby quilt made like paper-dolls.

A close-up. The backs of the clothes pieces are fuzzy and stick to the dolls. The quilt has a pouch for all the extra pieces.

Every room had lots of quilts.

She had attended a class to make this sampler of different appliques.

I have found now (11/30) that you can see some better photos here!

Monday morning we picked William up  early because Helen was scheduled to work. We decided to go to Cheekwood but when we arrived there we found that it is closed on Mondays. Bummer. The weather was so gorgeous! But there was a park close by so we went for a walk there.

He found stones (ock, ock) and leaves (eaf, eaf) and told us that this one was red.

He was twirling this one by its stem and was so fascinated that I could not get him to look up.











We went home, had lunch and William had his nap. After two hours we had two wake him. Helen had arrived and James had gone to the gym. When William went to the window and saw that grandpa's car was gone ... this was the result. A little melt down.

Ah, Tuesday! James and I were invited to William's preschool Thanksgiving Feast. We were supposed to be in the gym a little before noon. When we arrived his teacher was taking a class picture. He is on the very left.

She only got one picture though because as soon as William saw us he came running. The children were all little Indians ... and so cute!

William took us to his room. We had heard a lot about the fishes (ish, ish).

We were impressed with the facilities and everything.

Back in the gym the little Indians were gathered to sing the table prayer.

William, one of the youngest and newest, was not so sure what to do.

Now the feast. Grandpa is in line and William is waiting. When James gestured that he couldn't carry three plates I asked William to sit nicely and wait and Omi was coming back quickly. He was soooooo good and didn't say a peep.

The line.

After lunch the children performed a little dance.

William is a little shy and the older children were not very "inclusive" but he had a lot of fun.

I made a video

and another one.


Did you hear his laugh? Yup, that's our William!