AFTER THE STORM

I am not refering to a literal storm...but the flurry and hurry of cleaning, organizing, cooking, and anticipation of having the family all here for Thanksgiving. As I have repeated to myself a hundred times..."it didn't get in this condition over night". For the last 11 years we have been going to Texas for the winter. All the extra treasures I would bring home and the duplicate food items from the RV would wind up in the dining room for handy repacking in the RV the next fall as we would prepare to go again. Somewhere along the way, it all got out of hand and there was no place for the extra "stuff". This year we were at least able to utilize the table for the eight of us and it was nice and cozy eating that way. My children, the two grand daughters and Sujan (our daughters guest) were all very gracious accepting that it wasn't perfect yet. I just need to go through some cabinets and weed out items we no longer use and put in the items I want to use. Ahh, the joys of owning too much. This is my public confession of having too much! And my desire to want to have less and and be able to utilize more of what I really want.

The grand daughters were delightful. They loved the pink leotards and tutus that Beth made for them. I provided a new game which kept them occupied for hours. It is the "Princess" "Memory Game and even at their ages, they are able to do the simple version of Memory. They also loved watching (several times) the Disney movie "Cinderella". You can see by their enrapped gaze that they couldn't hardly take their eyes off the childrens classic on theTV.They did try out a couple of dance positions that their "Tia" Beth taught them (I knew those ballet lessons when she was 5 would come in handy). Even Jack the cat wanted to be in the middle of the dance rehersal. The cats tended to be in the middle of everything and no one minded. Sujan was able to observe the three distinct personalities and pronounced Jack as his favorite, even saying IF he could have a cat like Jack, he wouldn't mind.

Our family ate out Weds night before Thanksgiving at a Japanese Steak House and Grill. It was fun sharing the meal and watching the chef do his "grill" tricks. Matti and Emma are mezmerized by the flames. The Thanksgiving meal was enjoyed by all. Beth made a marvelous Cranberry Orange Upside-Down cake. I had two Pumpkin pies (one never would have been enough). On Friday all but Jodi and the girls went to see the latest James Bond movie.

The quiet after the storm is deafining. Everyone has gone back to their homes in Oshkosh, WI. Waco. TX, and Knoxville, TN. Even the cats are missing the extra people around. We were happy that all three cats seemed not to mind having all the noise, converstion, and occasional crying. They seemed to respond to the love from the extra people who would pet and brush them.

We are blessed and I am so Thankful for our family and the provision of our loving God.