Thanksgiving

I've been a little remiss on the blogging front. In my defense it has been fairly busy here, and I've been trying to fend off a cold (thanks to Jared who was sniffling through the Disney trip! Actually, he was a trooper on the trip as some of the rides and the hectic schedule couldn't have been fun when he wasn't feeling well.).

Thanksgiving was the Thursday after our Disney trip (27 November). In some ways, it was a little anti-climatic: we prepared some food at the Hobsons (Colin braaied, sorry, barbecued the turkey!) then went to a friend of Janet's for the meal (mid-afternoon lunch/dinner). There were three families there with a sea of kids and it was all rather chaotic. I was also struck at the lack of "ceremony", which seemed odd (I had expected some sort of discussion/reflection on what we were each grateful/thankful for, but it didn't happen). When I brought this up with Colin and Janet later, they said that it is usually customary to have some sharing along those lines, and they had felt that it was a rather "flat" Thanksgiving. Anyway, on the Saturday evening, we sat around the kitchen table in their home, rather than in front of the TV, for supper (which, appropriately, was Thanksgiving leftovers) and took the time to share together. That was a rather special event, which left me feeling a lot more positive about the idea of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Saturday and Sunday afternoons that weekend were spent putting up the Christmas decorations: various lights and a manger scene outside; and a Christmas tree and various other model scenes inside. It is all very American and rather over-the-top, and rather nice! The attached pictures don't really do justice to it all, and I still need to borrow a tripod from Colin and try to get some night-time pictures of the exterior lights.