Thanksgiving 2008; 10 6 3 lunge

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Mostly because it reminds me how much God has done for me and how much He's blessed me, and then partly because it's always the same (tradition!) and we get to see people we typically only see once every year at this time (although this year we got to see the Koks twice since a few of them came to M&M's wedding). Good food, family time, and game time all combine for a wonderful weekend.

Robin, Jason, and I got there Wednesday, and AJudy arrived on Thursday around lunch (which never really happens on Thursday because we know we'll be eating good food relatively early in the afternoon). ALucy had already made a 20-lb turkey, so all we had to do on Thursday (after I ran a few miles) was cook another one (14 lbs) in the roaster and prep a few other things. Mom would always bring meat, cheese, and crackers for snacks, but she wasn't here this year to take care of that so Robin had to cut the cheese while I peeled potatoes. Then we made the corn and gravy and waited for everyone to arrive.

Aunt Lucy has a few aprons, and she let Robin wear this (slightly inappropriate and completely uncharacteristic) apron.

Aunt Judy brought pumpkin chiffon pie (and crawlers, breads, and malts for the family to enjoy later), Maryvon and Angela brought their green bean dish, Gaelle brought pecan pie, Clarence and Carol brought rolls (not nearly enough--they went very quickly and she couldn't believe everyone polished them away), and the Koks (Randy, Marilyn, Stephanie, Katie, and Gavin were the one 5 who came; Arthur and Jo, Brittney and David, and Susan couldn't make it) brought 3-berry tort for dessert. I think we ended up with 4 pies, the tort, cookies, and ice cream for dessert; we should have just had that!

After dinner, which we ate in about 30 minutes, we played games, including the Name Game, Catch Phrase, Cranium, Taboo, Mafia (I sat out of that one; maybe I'll play again next year, but it's definitely not my favorite since it basically requires lying), and Pictionary (a staple).

After the Acheson victory dance, Aunt Judy gave Uncle Ed this prize--the visor has blond hair on it so A) he looks like he has hair and B) he looks like a surfer dude. She's going to make him wear it on the beach in Siesta Key. It was absolutely hilarious!

Friday's tradition is to get up early (even though we're typically up until 1 or so on Thursday) to go shopping. Last year I was the only one who got up (sort of) early, and then only to get new tires on my truck. This year I again woke up early, but I just decided to read and study. We did do a little shopping, but we also just relaxed and did various projects around the house. Jason and UEd put up a railing and worked on some electrical thing, and Judy, R, and I put up the Christmas decorations. We had spaghetti for supper (another tradition) and then watched Monk, Psych, and House (instead of watching a movie) while we enjoyed the malts Judy brought.

Me, Jason, and Uncle Ed putting up the railing; it turned out well, and I was happy to be able to help. Since there are boys in the family now, I've been relegated to the kitchen instead of outside or in the basement.

Saturday I got up early again, but rather than freeze outside I decided to do the Yamuna body rolling (which felt really good, especially on my IT band, hamstrings, and back) and did 10 6 3 EDI lunge. It wasn't quite the same without the manual hold, but I definitely worked hard, since I was sweating and got my HR up (hooray!) after just that.

We hung out at the house, I neglected to even start my project (changing the laser assembly in a printer--it would have been really fun had I gotten to it), we went to Sam's Club, and then I headed toward Evansville for Will's game.

Saturday night, the IceMen played the Battle Creek Revolution. They came out looking like a completely different team than the last time we'd all seen them (the guy behind me concurred). Will had said that they'd played well the last weekend during their away games, and their playing like a team definitely came out during that period. It was 1-0 at the end of the first (Will had an assist for the goal), and then they came out flat (the Revolution had dominated the second period of the last game, too). It was 1-4 at the end of the second (3 quick goals), and although they played better in the third, they still ended the game losing 1-4. Will and Warren played well (Warren did have a few in the crowd upset with him, tho, because a few times he [a defenseman] carried the puck all the way down the ice and never passed; he should have a few times, but some other times he never had anyone to pass it to), but Will hardly played during the third period. He hadn't seemed to notice, tho, because when I mentioned that to him he was surprised (I knew because I was trying to get some pics and didn't succeed). I was actually able to fully enjoy the game because I wasn't thinking about the camera at all, but he might have been disappointed that I didn't take any others.

Will skating; one of my two pictures (the other one is even worse than this one)

Then I drove home, slept in, went to church, ran errands, ran, worked out, talked to the parents and grandparents, and now it's now. Fun weekend! I am glad tomorrow is my day off so I can hopefully clean my house and go through the stuff I brought from Ed and Lucy's house that Mom thinks she'll want. Two boxes of Beanie Babies? They'll be going on ebay. The race information? That I'll take to her. Five stockings? Robin ended up with those (we were thrilled to find them!), but they (and hopefully 2 more made by Allison) will be going to Hawaii with us!

Stockings, lovingly made by Mom back in the day (like when M was an infant); we might have trouble finding matching fabric for the two new ones for the boys in the family!