Tree Set Up Day

Gone are the family outings where we piled in Mom's Blazer and chose a much-too-large tree for the car and house. The last few years involve unboxing the artificial tree at my folks' house and then decorating it. This might sound like an easy task, but the tree is probably 14 feet tall and already is loaded with lights. It comes in six or seven pieces but a couple of pieces were stuck together from last year. We are thankful that Randy lifts weights regularly and has been training for this annual event! He alone muscles the double section from the garage its location in the music room! No need to go to the gym after the Tree Set Up Day!
After, Randy, John, Mark and Dad got the tree set up and lights turned on, we decorated. Arthur had been practicing hanging ornaments and was very excited for the event. He even climbed a ladder to hand ornaments to John.

Thanksgiving

Randy and I have been talking about how blessed we are with great friends and family. November typically is the time when we count all our blessings. We really have so much to be thankful for and so it is nice to take a weekend and relax and enjoy and slow the pace of life. This year, we spent Thanksgiving in Oregon with the Burridge Clan. It was a nice day spent with younger (Arthur 2.5 years) and older relatives (Grandma 98 years! Wow!) The rest of the family is in the middle somewhere.
The day was memorable in that a dish broke in the dishwasher and so we had to do the dishes by hand. The little piece of dish were lodged in the motor. Its weird how a little thing can be enjoyable. My mind flashed back to past Thanksgivings with Grandma and how we always had to wash dishes after meals. This Thanksgiving, my brother John and I did the dishes and I actually enjoyed it. Weird, but true.