OUR PREVIOUS THANKSGIVING FOUR YEARS AGO

This was our state-side family four years ago, and precious Caleb and Penelope were not even in our wildest dreams. And Gabriella was not even a month old (and already gnawing on a turkey leg--kids nowadays are so precocious.) And we all were so young and beautiful.

MY 1ST OF TWO THANKSGIVINGS

It had been a long four years since I'd had Thanksgiving in the States, and this year was no disappointment. It was a comforting Thanksgiving meal complete with lefse and cranberries and my State-side kids, Michelle and Michael, their wonderful spouses, my Mom and Chris' Mom, plus three precious grandkids. The food was special and sooooooooooo good, thanks to Michelle's delicious turkey basting (even though we almost set the oven on fire, but due to Chris' finely-tuned olfaction (good nose) he decided to check out the smells coming from the oven and averted a serious fire. You see, the aluminum discartable roasting pan had sprung a leak and the precious turkey juice was slowly dripping onto the bottom of the oven.) PTL for making Chris' curiosity get the best of him. By this time, Michelle and I had already collapsed back into bed, but unfortunately Chris had to awaken Michelle with his clarion call (scream?)of : "There's a turkey emergency! A turkey emergency!!" So, there they were mopping up turkey drippings by the bucket while I slept on peacefully dreaming I was floating on clouds of mashed potatoes while playing my harp with a turkey leg (I made that part up).
Later we all went to Michael & Cari's for scrumptous apple and pumpkin pies. In the planning stages for this meal, however, I think we were all suffering from Biafratic Starving Syndrome because for the 7 adults and 3 small children we made 10 pounds of mashed potatoes, stuffed a 24 pound turkey, made three times the recipe for the traditional green bean casserole, bought 8 liters of pop and rolled out 4 pies. Chris was dreaming of all those leftovers, but I'm afraid he only ended up with a big turkey drumstick and a slice of breast meat. Whatever happened to all that food????????? Sorry, Chris, now you'll have to wait 'til next year!

Marilyn and Mom found much to talk about while paging through my bird calendar.

Cari brought the 10 pounds of mashed potates and three recipes of our green bean casserole.

Grandma insisted on peeling the apples for the pies with a paring knife, not the indispensable veggie peeler while Michelle painstakingly cut out umpteen pie-crust leaves to cover one of the apple pies. She's so artistic!

THE WONDER IS THE SAME

Whether one is 94 years old, like my Mom, or just two and a half, like my

granddaughter Penelope, there is a similar look on their faces that is "wondrous" to behold.

ELF LAND AT MACY'S

The smell of gingerbread was in the air.

An escaped ent from Tolkien Land.

P.S.

These pictures didn't show up on Linda's blog so I felt compelled to include them here...

Love is a many splendored thing...

Weddings bring back wonderful memories...congratulations to these newlyweds!

Cherished Moments

I will take back to Brazil many special memories with my grandchildren, and thankfully, for people like me who have poor memories, a picture will stamp that memory on my heart.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

This is what I found when I stepped outside...but it didn't last under that strong

November sun.

The new Guthrie Theatre is a must-see!

The Guthrie Theatre is an experience I'm glad I had today! My "favoritist" place of all is the "amber box" that gives one such a warm, buttery, welcoming feeling on depressing, winter Minnesota days! (Hats off to award-winning French architect Jean Nouvel .) I felt a few butterflies in my stomach while walking across the glassed rectangle in the middle of the floor of the amber box giving one a view of the ground several stories below, but I reassured myself that if the glass weren't safe to walk on it wouldn't be there. Period.

The "endless bridge" is my second most favorite place and the design of the windows leading to it unique and intriguing. The walls and ceilings are splashed with scenes from theatrical plays in subdued tones and good taste. I loved it all. It was a wonderful day. Thank you, Michelle!

Put the Guthrie on your "must do" list. You won't be sorry.

Lefse Making Again!

This year I had the fun privilege of making lefse with some special people, namely, my daughter Michelle, my niece Tricia and my friend Marci. We got off to a slow start mainly because when we were almost at Tricia's house (where we were going to make this God-given manna) I remembered that I had forgotten to bring along the lefse grill and all the paraphernalia that accompanies it! There was also the case of Tricia's missing lefse rolling pin and the Tupperware container of sugar that fell on the floor. But when we started rolling, there was no stopping us! We rolled and rolled and rolled some more. (Twenty pounds of potatoes makes a lot of lefse!!)

It tasted sooooo delicious warm from the grill and we even had visitors drop by who sampled our lefse and one of those visitors proclaimed our lefse " The best he'd ever tasted!!!" (And I believe him!)

Yeah for lefse!!!!

TWO SPECIAL BIRTHDAYS!

Happy 4th Birthday, Gabriella on November 9th and to her daddy, Michael on November 10th. You are two of my favorite people. I love you!!!!!

LIFE WITHOUT PAT

My life without Pat began on Oct. 30th with my last glimpse of him walking away on the other side of check-in at the airport. Initially it meant I could decide my own schedule, go where I wanted to go, do what I wanted to do and be my own boss. That all sounded good until I started my new single life. I discovered I didn't like driving myself places, nor making decisions all on my own. I missed his daily love afirmations knowing he was taking care of me. There was no one with whom to share my confidences or snuggle with after lights were turned out. Frankly, when one has been married 40 years, being separated like this feels a little like being handicapped or like driving a car that has only half the pistons operating.

On the other hand, I have my wonderful kids & their spouses to hang out with for a whole month and my favorite thing to do with them is to linger over a meal and talk. That's when I realize how much I miss their humor and insights for they help me see a different slice of life. I am proud of who they are. Then I have three precious grandkids to play with and observe and that makes the sun shine even on gray November days. I'm soaking up precious moments of listening to their special words: Gabriella's hosipal (hospital), Caleb's loloach (milk) and Penelope's "you go me". We play house, doctor, having babies, and read stories.

God did a good thing when he invented families.

LET IT SNOW!

If you hadn't seen snow in four years like me, what would have been your reaction this morning when you looked out your window and saw the white stuff falling out of the sky? My reaction was, " How gorgeous!" I felt like I'd been transported into a fairy wonderland and I stood transfixed as the lazy flakes softly fell to earth. Every itty bitty inch of twig on the trees was covered in snow and it was like I'd stepped inside my personal snow globe. My two grandkids got right out there and played in the white stuff.

Isaiah 1:18 says, "'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow...'" If we have confessed and forsaken our sins, asked Jesus for cleansing, but continue to feel like dirt, we are calling God a liar. I am humbled, but so thankful for the power in His blood to completely cleanse us and for complete forgiveness and I want to emulate his example.

My cute li'l pumpkins!