Thanksgiving, Part 1

For a long while, we were able to have annual family reunions at Thanksgiving. Agnes and I, our daughter and her children lived in NoVa, my sister, brother, and father were in Pittsburgh, and our son Jason and his family lived in Dayton, Ohio - close enough that large (if not totally complete) family get-togethers were practical in terms of travel time and difficulty. But now that Jason and the Munchkins live in Germany and Dad can't travel any more, it's a bit more problematic.

We've taken to having two (or more) Thanksgiving celebrations each year - one a week ahead of the actual holiday that's the "family" holiday; the "real Thanksgiving" for friends and those who couldn't travel; and - sometimes - a third Thanksgiving to catch everybody who didn't fall into the first two categories.

We had our Family Thanksgiving this past weekend, and a grand time was had by all. Here's the proof ...

My sister Lisa and her family drove down from Pittsburgh on Friday evening, braving monsoon rains and dense fog and arriving about 9:00 PM. We all sat up, chatted, munched, and sipped until about 11:00 before collapsing into exhaustion.

On Saturday morning, everyone was up early for breakfast. Leya made scrambled eggs ...

... while Lisa and I provided the entertainment. As the host, I wielded the Grand Scepter of Brussels Sprouts (that somehow magically appeared in the yard at some point) ...

My daughter Yasmin and granddaughter Elise were in the kitchen in the course of the morning when I looked out and saw two squirrels race up the deck railing and chase each other back and forth along the rail. "Look, Elise!" I said ... "Look at the squirrels playing outside!" Of course, by the time she looked ...

The girls were giddy for days at the thought of seeing their cousin Elena again ...

The boys ... my brother-in-law Ed, nephew Eddie (who, you may remember, occasionally feeds me cartoons for Cartoon Saturday), and I ...

The girls - Agnes, Elise, Yasmin, Lisa, Elena, and Leya ...

And the whole group. This picture almost didn't get taken, because I couldn't remember how to set the timer on the camera to take the picture with me in it. It was Yasmin who finally figured it out. I'm glad I have children smarter than I am ...

On Thursday I'll have more to say about my philosophy of Thanksgiving, and we'll feast on ... Agnes's marvelous creamed goulash. We're turkeyed out, and Leya and Elise absolutely love their Oma's goulash. If anyone still wants turkey, there's plenty of it left in bags in the refrigerator ...

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo