Chris' Birthday and Thanksgiving

Chris' birthday was two days before Thanksgiving, and since he isn't much of a cake person, but IS a pie guy, I made him a cherry pie.  The tart cherry kind, not from a filling can, because we're both snobs like that.  

A few days before his birthday, I took him to a Phil Keaggy concert (our second together) and it was great.  Phil had some technical difficulties, but he rolled with it, had a joke for it all, and it was a very enjoyable concert.  Wow, what a talented guitarist.  

Chris' actual birthday was fairly low-key.  The kids made him cards, I made a special (and now rather traditional) birthday meal for him plus the cherry pie, and we just had a relaxing evening.  

The following day is St. Cecilia's feast day (Kayla's patron saint and my confirmation saint).  

We celebrated simply that day too with a few prayers and a little family praise and worship in the evening since St. Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians.

              

  

 

Thanksgiving was mostly quiet.  The kids played games (inside and out since it was like 80 degrees!).  I found these lovely orange and red lilies to grace our table.  The kids' game of Frozen memory also graced the table for a time while they played a couple rounds. 

We attended Mass at the nearby parish, and saw many of our friends (some whom we haven't seen in awhile) there.  The "highlight" of Mass was when Sophie tried to burn the church down.  I had taken her and Kolbe who were being disruptive to the back of the church.  Sophie asked to go back and sit with Chris a few times, and I let her as I could see him and make sure she walked back to him.  But she was getting silly with that too, so I kept her back with me the next time she returned to the back.  Unfortunately, trying to keep tabs on both Kolbe and Sophie in the back was a pretty big feat and Sophie made a slick escape move and ran to the door to go back into church.  The sweet usher tried to reassure me that she was fine, but I smiled distractedly and tried to peer around him to see if Sophie had made it to Chris.  I didn't see her in the pew, so I kept scanning.  Meanwhile he keeps telling me she's fine; she just went back to her daddy. 

What actually happened was that she went to the little shrine cove at the back of the church and grabbed one of the sticks to light a candle.  And light the stick she did and then proceeded to wave it around (I assume she realized it was hot and that she needed to put it out...).  Fortunately a fellow Steubenville grad was nearby and grabbed the stick and plunged it into the sand before harm was done.  In case you were wondering....Sophie is definitely our live wire.  She's the one who both scares me half to death and humbles me as she runs off acting as though she's never been disciplined before in her life.  Jesus, fill me with love so that I can be patient and endure her craziness.  But with her craziness comes also a great passion to live fully.  She is always willing to help, she loves to snuggle up to us, she giggles with glee, and gets completely lost in books too.  I'm so thankful that her antics at church did not end in disaster and that God had his hand on it all.  Whew. 

 

Chris brined our turkey as he always does (it makes it so moist and delicious) the day before.  On Thanksgiving we simply had to stuff it and put it in the oven to hang out for the afternoon. It came out delicious as usual.  

  

I tried a slightly more fancy pumpkin pie this year; one with a crumble on top.  It was yummy though I messed up cutting the crust, so it cracked a lot.  oh well.  

Some homemade cranberry sauce, rolls, sweet potatoes, and a mashed potato recipe from Chris' childhood and our meal was complete.  While we finished all the cooking, the sun set the evening sky on fire with color.  Wow, what a show God gave us.  

And the sunset colors were still blazing as we sat down for a quiet (well as quiet as it could be with 5 kids) Thanksgiving dinner with our family.  I'm so thankful to be doing life with them.  It is often humbling, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately beautiful and absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to me.  

Kolbe's first taste of Thanksgiving food since last year he was on the Mom's milk diet only.  He loved it.  He didn't really enjoy my camera in his face while he indulged though.  ha.  

And then he got the privilege of licking the spoon from the beaters when I whipped up some whipped cream for our pie.  Mmmmm

Our friends invited us to their place for dessert which was really sweet.  We met his parents, several brothers and wives.  We are so grateful for our community here that is always so caring and open.  God has blessed us indeed.