Thanksgivings

I know it is already Thursday after the Canadian thanksgiving weekend but today has been a terrible day and I thought instead of focusing on that I would bring forth our Thanksgiving festivities as something to dwell on.

Sunday was spent with Dave's family. Unfortunately not everyone could be there. Thats what happens with bigger families... coordinating plans isnt the easiest task in the world. We left church and headed over to Russell and arrived just a few minutes before the family got home. Dave decided to build a large pile of leaves so Matty could play in them. He didnt actually think it was that fun... he actually cried that he wanted out of them. The thought was nice though. I know I always enjoyed playing in leaves as a kid. Maybe it was just a rough day for Matthew.

In this picture, I convinced him to stop crying and just say cheese. He was pulled out of the leaves seconds after the picture, however.

Once everyone got home, we went inside and just hung out. Had a nice lunch together and chatted and looked at pictures of their trip to Holland. Oh do I ever want to travel again. I have the itch... I have for so long.

Dave pushed Matty through the pile of leaves in the wagon and it sent the leaves flying all around.

Anyways, Dave's dad didnt get home until 10 minutes before we had to leave but we had a little visit with him and then it was off to church and then home.

Monday was thanksgiving with my family. I headed off to Almonte in the morning to meet up with my sister. There was an art crawl going on and we thought we could check some of it out. Not much was obviously open so we ended up only stopping at one place (mosaic) and then headed off to a pumpkin stand.

My sister had seen this place and thought of how nice pictures would be so we got there and started to snap away. It was neat. the farmer had just arrived and was unloading lots of pumpkins in different areas and we exchanged a few words on politics and the differences between the city and country.

I had no idea how bad I looked until I got to my sisters place and looked in a mirror. It was the first time I looked in the mirror all day. Should have thought to do that before leaving the house in the morning.

Once that was done, and a bit more driving was out of the way, we headed back to my sisters place and readied ourselves for thanksgiving dinner. Aidan was making beer can chickens on he BBQ and we has roasted veggies and asparagus with a lemon sauce. Oh boy was it good. It was a full house though. We had Josh and Karin, Tammy and Anthony, my Dad and Connor (mom was sick and was unable to come which was a drag), Daniel and Amanda and Dave and I. And dont foget all the kiddos. So many beautiful kiddos. 12 of them all together.

Josh and Karin made the pies for dessert and I did cheat and have a piece of pie (Josh makes a killer pie crust so you just cant say no, even when you're me and you really dont like pie). Then there was chatting and laughing until it was time to get the babes packed into the car and head home.

It was a beautiful time. So many things to be thankful for and so many wonderful people to be thankful with. I echo the end of a prayer we said on occasion as children: "Thank you, Lord, for everything."