Thankful, Thankful

Our Thanksgiving Day was quiet and lovely. Joel has been working through the typical insanity that surrounds grocery establishments at holiday times, and so we decided to spend the day at home -- just the five of us. We started the day with some special breakfast foods and a viewing of the Macy's parade. Corrie was enthused beyond measure to see Ariel dancing around on roller skates in her fantastic bikini costume during a performance from The Little Mermaid Broadway show. Jack glanced at a couple of balloons, but otherwise entertained himself by bouncing around the room. Wes, as he typically does these days, entertained himself by trying to climb on any stationary object in the vicinity.

After the parade viewing went by the wayside, we gathered the kids and had them tell us what they are thankful for this year. We started a "Thankfulness Book" with them last year, thinking that it would be fun to look back at their responses in the future. This year, the items included Mommy, Daddy, grandparents, and birds. This reminds me . . . Corrie came back from our home school co-op last week with a thankfulness tree. On each leaf she had written something that she is thankful for. I looked over the leaves, smiling at each sweet thing she had said, until I saw a leaf with "Corrie" written on it. I asked her if she was thankful for herself, and she replied, "of course." Can't say we haven't endowed the child with a good sense of self-esteem.

After some rest, and a viewing of the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a very tasty turkey and some nice side dishes, including one outstanding green bean dish with a butter and white wine sauce. The children ate very little of our exciting feast, though Corrie did eat a copious amount of cranberry sauce. We had pumpkin pie for desert, and we all watched Jack as he very meticulously ate all of the whipped cream off of his slice without tasting one bit of the pie.

We always miss being far away from our families on days like this, but it was a good time of laughing with our kids, feasting together, and pondering all that we have to be thankful for.

Corrie is currently fascinated by pilgrims.

Jack enjoying his breakfast. Or is he? And can someone please explain to me why my children cannot keep their food on the plate? Notice the runaway bacon.

Wes is happy and ready to eat.

Bring on the food.