Thanksgiving at the Andersons'

The holidays are all about family. That is what I am most thankful for. We had dinner at Ryan and Andrea's house, as is becoming our custom. It's far more interesting and convenient because it has toys and kids' rooms and Mason's bed for naptime. Janie posed with a tie that is as blue as her eyes. I love her smile. Here are Abby and Mason with their bright eyes and smiles. Mason did finally fall asleep after dinner. While Bob conked out in a recliner and most of the other adults played board games, I played a puzzle game with Abby, Janie, and Kayla. What fun! After playing until we were worn out, the girls went back to playing with costumes and I joined the adult games.

Nolan created a dessert Pilgrim's hat of the family Reese's peanut butter bars recipe. It tastes just like a Reese's candy, I swear! Nolan decorated it with candies for the unmistakable hat band and buckle sported by the Anglo men at the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Ginger and her fiance Gerald brought baby Janice and Kayla to the celebration. Janice hardly made a peep. She loves being held, and other than nursing and getting diaper changes, that kept her happy. Kayla wore a ballerina dress and pioneer bonnet--which I got her to take off so I could see her face in this picture.

It was a fine day with family. We are thankful to be so richly blessed to live in this great country with all of our needs met. We have more than enough. We missed family who were not with us, but they are always in our thoughts and prayers. And we are blessed with the phone system and the internet so we can easily be in touch with them.

And AFTER the gathering ended, Andrea and I took Nolan and Abby and went to see Twilight, the movie. I'll try not to go into raptures over how much I enjoyed the movie, but what a surprise it was to have Andrea ask me if I wanted to go when I expected to simply go home with Bob. I had been wanting to see Twilight since it opened. Surprising how I was able to flip from the peaceful joy of spending time with family to the laughing-out-loud happiness of suddenly going to TWILIGHT, at last. And now to tie it in to Thanksgiving, I must say I am thankful I was able to go to an exciting movie that had an imaginative story with very little violence, no graphic violence, no sex, and great (though unknown 'til now) actors.