Everyone agrees....

...that Thanksgiving is the best. Think about it - no stress over presents, cards, or family newsletters; not too much overblown media hoopla; just family time, good food, and being grateful! I realize I'm glazing over "Black Friday," but my family usually stays out of stores on the worst shopping day of the year. In fact, that was the day we had our feast. I hitched a convenient ride with Olivia & David from Lancaster to arrive in Goshen on Thursday night. Mom & Dad came in from Des Moines at the same time. On Friday morning (until 2 PM), Mom, Olivia, David & I worked on the meal. That was more stressful than I anticipated, but I learned my lesson: prepare as much food the day before as possible. We had a wonderful meal of turkey, gravy, pumpkin soup with curried pecans, roasted rosemary vegetables, sweet potato fries, fresh bread, cranberry & orange & apple puree, green salad with lots of goodies in it, and an amazing fruit salad. (Did I miss anything?) For supper we had dessert: apple pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate pecan pie, ice cream. Pat and Hermann came over in the afternoon with the salads, we ate the meal, and then I don't know what happened because I took a long nap. I've decided these are the necessaries for Thanksgiving: 1. food 2. nap 3. walk. Some people cleaned up, some napped, some walked. Then we all gathered and played Apples to Apples. It was so nice to be sitting around the table with everyone, playing a game. Then we ate pie/supper, then we watched Wall-E. It was a wonderful day.

On Saturday, we went over to the Kauffmanns for another great meal and game playing. I feel so rich, seeing two sides of the family, and spending such quality time. This is just what I was hoping for at Thanksgiving. Sunday morning was a little stressful because I was trying to go through all of my storage to choose things to bring back. I had a list, but some things you just have to paw through. Jenna & Bethany calmed me down with chai, a warm fire, & a good chat. Seriously, this weekend was amazing. David, Olivia & I took off Sunday afternoon to Lancaster. I felt really ill in the car, which didn't catch up with me again until Thursday later that week. We listened to a great book on tape, though, called Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. As David said, it's like listening to Monty Python. David drove most of the way back! On Monday I slept in, then we drove to Philly. At 5 PM, I caught a bus to DC, and was home by 9. Note to travelers: don't pack a wheel-less suitcase that's too heavy for you to carry. Inevitably, you're going to have to carry it for at least a little ways. That's probably common-sense to most people, but apparently not in Anika-land. I went to work the next day, and except for taking a sick day on Thursday, and feeling ill on Friday night, all seems to be back to normal.

On Sunday I helped my housemate bake her first yeast bread, and helped a co-worker move (she rewarded me with food). Do you sense a theme here? Maybe I should rename my blog to something dealing with food. My housemate, Carly, who I helped with bread, is the one who makes wonderous creations out of fresh pumpkin puree. She and I have decided that we would make the perfect couple. We will get married, and I will garden, and she will create delicious makings out of the fresh produce, and in the winter I will make bread and she will make jam, which we will sell at the market. She calls me "wifey." Now all we need is to fall in love. (Claire, if you're reading this, please forgive me. I have another wife.)