I was born two weeks before Christmas, and baptized on Christmas Eve, and I've gravitated toward Christmas ever since. I love the color and the lights and giving gifts and the special scents of the season and getting together with friends. But after Christmas I love Thanksgiving best of all. There's no pretension to it. Oh, a lot of people try to turn Thanksgiving into a picture perfect magazine thing, or they go into the same old tiresome Pilgrim and Indian thing, which isn't even really true and isn't the basis for the holiday we celebrate. It's about getting together with special people, whether family or friends, eating together and feeling gratitude for our blessings, even if it's been a rotten year.

 

After October's debacle, I am very thankful for November, even if it wasn't the November I wanted.

 

This Thanksgiving was spent, as it has been for years, at the Lucyshyn home; they have a great big open space kitchen/dining/living room area just perfect for hosting guests. There were two turkeys, Clair's wonderful pot roast, lots of veg, including our carrot/craisin salad, cornbread, and other goodies, and of course homemade pies and other goodies for dessert. James got slightly wobbly heading back out to the car, but we made it okay. It's a pretty long haul out to Lawrenceville and back, but the company is worth it, and Butch did his best, except for a few minutes when I noticed that the car was in low gear. I couldn't figure it out, until James noticed the second time it happened that his portable oxygen bottle had pushed the gearshift down! Thank goodness it isn't something I need to have fixed again. (There's another thanks for today.)

 

I posted a short Thanksgiving fanfic in my series and gave thanks for that, too, for keeping me sane through four hospital stays. I don't really want to be writing any more stories from the hospital, but am thankful I can.

 

On Saturday, like hobbits, we had Second Thanksgiving at Alice and Ken Spivey's house. Yet another yummy turkey and more veg and warm friends.

 

We are both still down from the October hospital stay, and, although this weekend was the first Sunday of Advent, I really had to push myself to put up the lights. I actually did it Saturday night because rain was expected Sunday, but got no joy out of it. However, I was rewarded for my promptness by being able to program the pesky timer with no mistakes the first time!

 

On Sunday I put up the candoliers and the door wreaths, including the front door wreath and the flag.

Labels: Christmas, Christmas decorations, Christmas lights, food, friends, holidays, Thanksgiving, writing

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:27:00 PM

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