Giving Thanks

We returned to The Happy Valley for this, the best of holidays. Unfortunately, I am too exhausted to adequately describe the experience. A small crowd of seven: Oma, Pop Pop, Uncle Scott and the four of us. A lamb, root veggies, mashed potatoes, pie. Games, conversation, music, stories, ping pong, dancing. Time by the fire, time outside, a project under way (David was digging a drainage ditch that needed to be completed before the frost). The usual revelry, over the river and through the woods at Oma's house.

Jasper and Josie love being there. The home, where Peter grew up, is spacious, orderly, and peppered with new toys and experiences. Oma and Pop Pop fill them up with more love than they know what to do with. They didn't want to leave for even a minute, not even to go see Santa.

We did drag them to see Santa, however. Antonia and Peter left on Friday for a two-day Buddhist meditation retreat (her generous treat), leaving Pop Pop and I to hold down the fort. We decided to do things that Antonia and Peter would hate, so they wouldn't feel like they had missed out. So we headed to Yankee Candle mega-center to see Santa arrive by helicopter. It was, indeed, hell on earth. Large crowds of shoppers huddled in the parking lot watching the high school pep squad dressed up like Elves and singing Christmas carols. Even Jasper could tell that they were not "realistic." After seeing the only slightly more realistic Santa (as if Santa were real) from a distance, we packed ourselves into the store with the rest of the throng and pushed past the Christmas displays. We tore out of the parking lot, giddy and feeling as if we had survived a rite of passage. Then we tempered the experience by going to the local children's museum and carousel. We felt mostly cleansed.

Peter returned from his retreat centered and refreshed, more so than he has been in years (a decade?). After a quick supper with his father, we made our way back home in time to crawl in to bed at 10 o'clock.

It's been a good week of counting blessings. We are so thankful for health, home, house, food friends and family. Not to mention two gorgeous kids who are getting more hilarious by the day. We are in the thick of the good ole days, I do believe.