Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Giving Thanks

We had an absolutely beautiful Thanksgiving Weekend.  The middle of November got really really cold up here but by Thanksgiving our valley warmed up and things were just lovely.

The holiday began for us on Wednesday.  Not only did Peter and crew come up from St. George that evening, but we had a day off of school.  This hardly seems worth mentioning except that I was really excited about that.  I'm just going to say that our school-day afternoons lately have been homework-packed from 3:30 - 9:00.  With three kids needing homework guidance and two kids needing practicing guidance and one of those kids being in fourth grade (that's turning out to be a pretty serious homework year in our neighborhood) I have felt like I have been trying to sprint through deep sand.

This was my family's year to gather and we decided to skip the traditional hanging out all day while we all cook like crazy and then sit down to eat and then feel sleepy for the rest of the day.  I really actually like that tradition, but this was not the year for it.  We began by gathering at my house in the morning and then walking to the school playground to join in the neighborhood football game.  This was so fun.  I sat with my mom and baby Iva while everyone else played, including my dad.  I know he was sore for a few days afterwards, but it was so fun to see him happily playing with everyone.

Sheri ran around in boots because nothing scares this woman







Next came our feast.  I know that most people eat their Thanksgiving turkeys in the afternoon or evening, but when you forget to make your restaurant reservation until 2 weeks before (I guess you need to call a month in advance to get a 2:00 table) you end up with either 11:00 a.m. or 7:00 p.m.  We went with the 11:00 time and it was great.  We once again chose to go to Bucca di Beppo - why wouldn't we want to get Italian food on Thanksgiving?  The reason we picked that fare is because Bucca serves both their full Italian menu as well as traditional platters of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes.  The funny thing is....no one in my entire family wanted Thanksgiving dinner!

We all arrived at the restaurant and got seated at one giant round table which sported the bust of Pope John Paul III in the center.  The kids were a little weirded out by that....as well as some of the replicas of Italian art....which include some very bare-breasted maidens....

What can I say?  She couldn't help herself.
ANYWHOOO.....my daughter is going to hate me some day for posting that but...I just couldn't help it.  So we gathered around the table and all anyone wanted to eat was fried calamari and chicken marsala and ravioli.  So that's what we got!  It was awesome.








It was awesome that is until poor little Siena, who had been looking slightly green and only nibbled at a little bread decided to regurgitate upon the floor.  Poor baby.  She felt awful all that day and most of the rest of the next...she described it as The Worst Thanksgiving Ever and I told her that everyone has one of those in their lives.  Mine was in college when I had the worst case of the flu I've ever had and still had to work until 10:00 the night before.  So that kind of put a damper on the feast, but we were almost done anyway.  We got a lot of help from the staff in cleaning up and left a very big tip indeed.

After dinner we drove to Memory Grove to go for a walk together.  We enjoyed a nice stroll with lots of stopping along the way to chat with friends we bumped into and let my niece Kate's little rabbit Howell sniff things and nibble grass.



















After all that hearty exercise we were starving!  Okay, maybe it wasn't that hearty and maybe we only just barely had enough room for pie, but that was reason enough to head home and eat up some yummy apple-cheese pie courtesy of my sister and some pumpkin cheesecake I made that was not pretty but was delicious.  We watched Singing in the Rain and snuggled up and made our feast last until the late evening.  That was when everyone headed home and Sheri talked me into joining her in a crazy black-friday 10pm run to Target, which was actually pretty fun.

I loved spending the whole day with my family and hope we make this kind of day of outings a regular tradition.

3 comments:

elyse said...

Love it! What a cute post. Glad you had such a great Thanksgiving. :)

Linda R said...

What a great way to celebrate!! Love seeing all your pictures; I so remember you and Margaret being little girls, dancing around the family room. I also remember when your mom brought Peter home right after he was born.

Cullen said...

Great post. The picture with Skippidy is priceless!