I love this time of year, it's my favorite. The music, lights, celebration, holiness. I have things I want to share about that, and about Thanksgiving, about my kids, what I'm reading, what I'm trying to figure out right now.
The blogs I read are churning out beautiful, articulate posts; I feel like at best I might be able to come up with a bullet point list.
So I guess I'll start with Thanksgiving. It was wonderful. Absolutely better than I could have wished for. We were guests in the home of some childhood friends, Rachel and Brandon. We watched our children become reaquainted with one another at lightning speed while we brought one another up to date at a very slightly slower pace.
It was interesting, back then, when one of my very oldest friends married a friend from high school, and is even more interesting now, as adults, to have so. much. history. It's sort of fascinating to me the turn that conversations take when a person knows who you were. When very few explanations are needed because they were there.
It was a precious time for me, of remembering why history is so special. Why being known is important.
Thanksgiving dinner was eaten at the home of Rachel's parents, Lester and Mary. I've known them as long as I can remember. In fact, I have no memory of before the LaBour's. Brandon's parents came as well, and there we were, feeling like family with those who aren't ours, and yet are part of our history.
We had a good laugh when after being sent outside to play, the boys asked for a rope and ladder (the girls were upstairs playing with dolls). Since none was available, Mary told them to play with the hammock. The could take it down, do whatever they wished with it.
A while later, Rachel went out to check on them, and came back laughing because Nathan had told her, in all seriousness, "I just don't know how we're going to use a hammock to get on the roof."
It seems they felt the need to check on the girls and were trying to find an alternate route since they were told not to go up the stairs.
Isn't it hysterical how literal children are? When you're thinking you just communicated that they need to stay downstairs, their understanding is they may not use the stairs.
It was a wonderful time. And to cap off the weekend perfectly, we made it all the way home on Friday, so we still had a weekend to unwind from the traveling.
The one thing I wish was different? I miss the leftovers!
Thank you, Brandon and Rachel, and Lester and Mary,
for a beautiful holiday.
We felt loved, and are so grateful.
