I love visiting with family, but it's also nice to come home (and sleep in my own bed--and have my toddler sleep in *his* own bed).
Up ahead: finishing up the semester and getting ready for Christmas! My favorite holiday.
We headed up to my parents' house Tuesday evening. We spent Wednesday getting ready for Thanksgiving--and shopping. In the morning, my mom took the kids to the toy store while I had a work-related phone call. (Dan went to Winco by himself, which I'm sure he enjoyed). In the afternoon, we drove to my brother Justin's house and the kids played with their cousins and I compared notes with my brother. We've both been busy writing, but while I've been working on a YA fantasy novel, he's been submitting the book based on his dissertation--currently under consideration at Oxford press! I think his news was more exciting than mine--and I'm tremendously proud of him.
Thursday, both of my brothers came with their families for dinner. I missed seeing my sister--I think this is the first Thanksgiving she's missed. (Living across the country makes it hard). We had lots of food: Dan made some kind of mayonnaise-basted turkey and Brussels sprouts with apples and almonds, my mom made stuffing and sweet potatoes, Jared brought rolls, and Justin and Lia brought pie.
The kids had fun running around with cousins (my mom arranged a scavenger hunt and Lia helped the kids make turkeys out of oreos, chocolate, and candy corn). Jared seems to have become the de-facto climbing toy of choice for the children. (Especially Oliver, who made it hard for Jared to play with the older kids because he kept trying to climb on at the same time).
My mom and I also hit some of the Black Friday sales and I'm happy to report I now have 3/4 of my Christmas shopping done.
Friday afternoon we drove south to Orderville for Dutch Christmas--what I always think of as a family reunion for Dan's mom's family, but what they think of as business as usual. There were around 60 people gathered at a lovely ranch managed by one of Dan's cousins. We stayed in the main lodge--each family had their own room surrounding a central gathering place, so lots of chances to talk with family. We also walked around the ranch, danced in the barn, looked at deer and turkey and pheasants, ate lots of food, exchanged white elephant gifts, and generally enjoyed ourselves.
Dan's aunt put together some great scrap books of Dutch Christmases past and I had a lot of fun looking through them, seeing Dan and his cousins as teenagers and then the next generation as babies (the first of the cousin's kids is now 17, almost 18, and planning on a mission next summer). I think it's a great family tradition--I hope that my kids grow to be as good of friends with their cousins as Dan is with his cousins.
Holidays like Thanksgiving certainly help with that goal.
It was lovely to see everyone--but now the introvert in me wants to hide from people for a day or two. :)
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