Black Friday, White Snow

The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally, in the States, the biggest shopping day of the year, known as Black Friday. Stores open at ridiculous hours and offer special incentives for people to start their Christmas shopping and get the best deals. Now if you know me, I am NOT a morning person and my enjoyment of shopping decreased rapidly with the arrival of children and the departure of money, so you will not find me at any store at 3am!

I have started my Christmas shopping from the comfort of my own home and did venture into one store yesterday for one particular item which was not available for the same deal online as in store, but yesterday was all about the snow. My poor kids...Arran is the only one who has ever seen snow, when he was still less than two years old, as it just does not snow in our area. In San Rafael though, a town half an hour from where we live, every Thanksgiving they bring in snow machines and provide free sledding for the kids. Then there is a mini-parade, when Santa Claus arrives and lights the town's Christmas Tree.

The lines were long, but they did go quite quickly and having cousins to stand in line with, the second time around helped pass the time too. They were all so excited, but when Asia got to the top she chickened out, it was just a little too scary, as each child had to go alone and could not be accompanied. Second time around though, she went for it and loved it.

We finished off the evening with hot chocolate, topped with marshmallows and whipped cream. Hopefully we will be able to have a visit to some real snow this season, but we shall see.

Thanksgiving

 

I think that this may be the first time that I am in the photograph for Thanksgiving, after twelve years of celebrating this holiday.  Apart from my first year in this country when we visited my friend Karen's family, we have spent every Thanksgiving with our good friends the Buschs and whomever else they took pity on invited. 

There have been some smaller gatherings, especially in our pre-kid days but this may have been the largest. They moved sofas and chairs to make room for the super extended table, so that we could still all sit at a table and feel civilized and like one big happy family. With twelve adults (another two had been expected) and six children, this was no mean feat.

As is our tradition, we went around the table and each person prayed or stated something for which they were grateful. With so many people rather than having free reign this year, each person was asked to keep it to one sentence, so that the food would still be moderately warm by the time we were finished. None of the children, other than Arran opted to say anything, but he said the sweetest little heartfelt prayer, thanking God for Thanksgiving because he had so much to be grateful for and he liked that it was a good reminder for him.

As usual there was way too much food, and too much dessert, but it was all so good. We have leftovers in the refrigerator for lunch tomorrow which is always a nice bonus and one less thing to deal with on another day. 

We have so much to be thankful for, on a daily basis. Each night before I go to sleep I reflect on my day, no matter how hard or tiring or fun it was and thank God for as many things as I can think of, but I love that this country as a whole sets aside a day to do that too. There is always something to be grateful for and the world would certainly be a better place if we all focused a little more time on those things than on the things that drag us down.

A glimpse of beaty!

First day of Thanksgiving break was to be a good day; we were going to see the cousins! There was much excitement and anticipation, and fun had by all.

As we drove home, earlier than the two older children would have liked, so that the youngest child could get her nap, I kept glancing in my rear view mirror. The battle is to prevent her from falling asleep during the drive as she is too old to transfer to her bed now without waking, so I had handed her a little ziploc bag of cereal to munch on. It did the trick, but Arran and Bryttain crashed hard, they were out cold. Arran very rarely naps any more and Bryttain about half the time these days so I decided to drive for just an extra ten minutes to maximize their little naps, taking the risk that Asia would remain awake and not have her chances of sleeping destroyed.

I am so glad that I did, or I would have missed the highlight of my day. As I did my U-turn on a quiet country road, preparing to head home finally, I caught, out of the corner of my eye, the end of a rainbow. I LOVE rainbows. They lift my spirit. Every time I see one it is like a little gift that God is personally handing me. It makes no difference that everyone else can see it, it is for ME! I will never cease to feel the excitement, they will never become just another sight to take for granted, it is an amazing feeling that is hard to put into words.

Sometimes we can get bogged down by the dreariness, the rain, the stresses and strains of this life, but all it takes is a small shaft of sunlight at the right angle and we can be surrounded once again by wondrous beauty. Without the struggles we would not be able to appreciate these precious moments. It was a much needed reminder, for which I am very grateful.

Pumpkin Pie Social

This week is Thanksgiving. There will be no school, for the whole week this year, which is very lovely; no rushed mornings, no messed up nap times for the girls and of course, extra time with Arran. As a warm up for the celebrations and festivities we had a Pumpkin Pie social at Arran's school on Thursday. Children from his class and the class next door sang us songs and each child got to tell us what they were thankful for (Arran was thankful that the celebration was not canceled and got a little chuckle from everyone). Then we all ate pumpkin pie, which the children had made themselves, Arran served us himself and was so grown up.

The girls always enjoy going to school, but Asia, for some reason, seemed to be having a hard time. I only took about six photos but when I stood up to move across the table to get a shot of her with her sister, she just fell apart. I seriously was about four feet from her, these are tables for little children after all, but I may as well have left the building. Fortunately it only lasted a few moments, once I was back in reach and able to give her a cuddle and a kiss all was right with the world again.

All three kids ate all....the cream and left the pumpkin pie, but I could have predicted that.