THANKSGIVING 2010

Thanksgiving was pretty wonderful this year. Chris, Jackie and our newest member of the family, Evelyn Rose, flew in from Iowa on Wednesday afternoon. They left 20-degree weather behind, and California welcomed them with 65-degree weather. Chris was wearing a light T-shirt in anticipation of our weather, while I was bundled up, he thought that was funny.


Their plane got in around 4:30pm, so as is tradition when they come out, we left the airport and went directly to Jack-in-the-Box (they don't have them in Iowa). We took the food home and Jack finally got to meet his granddaughter. He held her most of the time they were here, and he loved every minute of it.


Thursday was Thanksgiving, so I made my bacon (which they all love), eggs and toast for breakfast, and spent the rest of the day relaxing, taking in some movies, and just resting up for the main Thanksgiving meal happening at 4:30 at Andrea and Alex's house. Everyone but Barry was there this year (he was in England visiting his mother), and all were anxious to meet little Evelyn Rose. Mom got to hold her for the first time, and Andrea took plenty of turns holding her too. Cheryl's not the maternal one, but she held Evelyn a few times, and Sue, having children and grandchildren of her own, was most welcome to share in the enjoyment of Evelyn's arrival.

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful; we brought our usual mashed potatoes and gravy/mushroom gravy, and accompanying that was turkey (of course), creamed cauliflower with bread crumbs, Cheryl's strawberry pretzel salad, Mom made a corn dish, stuffing, and dessert was pumpkin pie, pecan pie, Jenny made a pear torte, and Allen, my nephew, made pumpkin pie muffins.

Shawn, Xander and Ashling had a fun time playing together, and once we put Shrek in the DVD player, all eyes were on that. Aisling was quite taken with Evelyn and just stared at her. I wonder if she was remembering how it was when she was that small...

The adults sat back and had conversation after conversation, and it was really nice just to relax and not have everyone want to leave right after dinner. We normally hand out Christmas gift ideas at Thanksgiving, but thanks to Amazon, everyone already had their lists online, and were already being bought for, so that made things easier for everyone.


The next day, Friday, I was treating Jackie to a massage at Massage Envy in Brea. Jackie had never had a massage before, so she was in for a treat. It was a one-hour massage, and that hour went way too fast.

Jackie has been through quite a bit this year. She graduated from college in May, she got married in June, and had a baby in October, so I figured she had a bit of stress to let go of, and she loved it. They have Massage Envy salons in Iowa, and even one close to where she lives, so this won't be her last massage!

Coming up on Saturday was her baby shower, and I was a bit nervous about giving the shower, but it turned out better than I thought it would, and thanks to my friend, Donna, she helped me put it all together. More on the shower later....