Thanksgiving Weekend

A hand-me-down jumper from Tammy.  Madeline wore it all weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!  As the youngest child of a family of six (whose 5 siblings are relocated to various states) I would have loved to have family visiting us this weekend.  This was not in the cards this year and, consequently, David, Madeline and I spent a quiet Thanksgiving together.  Yet, we have so much for which to be thankful and it was nice to share the holiday together as a family to reflect on all our blessings.

The Thanksgiving table

We enjoyed the standard fare: turkey, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, butternut squash, cranberries & pumpkin pie.  I do have to pat myself on the back for the yummy cooking skills....if I do say so myself, everything was delicious!  My absolute favorite is my zippy (not spicy, just zippy) stuffing.  I make it with cornbread, onion, celery, yellow peppers, chorizo, diced green chilies and cilantro.....yum.  A definite tradition! And speaking of tradition, I continue my mom's tradition by making pumpkin chiffon pie.

Rodeo Drive candle snuffer

Happy Thanksgiving!

Along with all of this, my mom is part of the action when I place my candle snuffer on the table.  The candle snuffer was actually my mom's.  When we visited my brother, Marty, in California (when he lived there) in 1984, we went shopping on Rodeo Drive.  My mom was determined to buy something on Rodeo Drive and not "break the bank" (She paid $8-something AND kept the receipt to prove it).  Mom bought the candle snuffer in a little shop on Rodeo Drive.  Every time Mom made the table for a special occasion she would pull out that candle snuffer and re-tell the story.  It became a joke that we would tease her about.  Now, I set the table and proudly display the candle snuffer (I was with her when she bought it).  Somehow, I feel as though my mom is there with me, celebrating whichever special occasion with me. 

"Tangled" in 3-D

Friday, we worked on our Christmas decorations. I will post some pictures next time I blog.  We also took Madeline to go see "Tangled"  (Rapunzel) at the movies.  Oh, such an innocent movie and, in general, under normal circumstances I would say it was good.  Yet, it opened up all kinds of questions and interesting conversation for adoptive parents of a child who grasps only a small portion of the concepts of adoption.  Grrrrrrr....let's hope this doesn't confuse her understanding.  As my friend Terry (who adopted two children from Russia) said, "Gotta love how all the Disney movies have either orphans, children freshly orphaned, bad adoptive situations, or the wicked step-mom, etc".  Soooo true!

Decorating the tree

Saturday afternoon we went to a 1st birthday party for Henry, the son of our friends/neighbors/co-worker of David.  On Sunday, we went to another birthday for Dani, the daughter of one of my MOMS club friends & a playmate of Madeline. Madeline enjoyed partying her butt off and, now that Madeline is somewhat independent at a party, David & I enjoyed socializing with friends while Madeline played.  The remaining hours of both Saturday and Sunday were spent trying to get our house back into shape after unearthing boxes upon boxes of Christmas decorations.

Setting up the manger

Like it or not, Monday came and David had to go back to work.  Although David loves his job, who doesn't love hanging at home better?  And so...we now make the most of our evenings in front of the fireplace and Christmas tree while we wait for a long weekend together at Christmastime.