Sunday, December 1, 2013

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day dawned crisp and beautiful after a day of wild wind and heavy rain. We gathered up Sara and Samantha and were on the road to my brother, Sam's house where we were greeted by "Ed Weird", one of their fun and handsome Manx kittens, who led us through the door to this beautiful arrangement of dining tables. With 25 guests expected, Trish had done a spectacular job of accommodating a special place for everyone.
The center table by the fireplace was for all the teen boys who would join us, and was soon filled with lively conversation about cyclocross racing.
This table was where all the beautiful food was to be arranged in heated servers.
The chandelier was so pretty with its Fall decorations and when the sun came around while we enjoyed our dinner, the light danced on us in the prettiest formations.
The dessert table filled up as guests arrived...my cherry pie in the center. I'm continuing Mum's tradition of making Sam a cherry pie every Thanksgiving.

Harley discovered sneaking in a nap before dinner.

Ed Weird practicing his piano solo.
Birdwatching after practice.
Helping Samantha learn to play the piano
Sister Eleanor had flown in from WA .....she enjoyed seeing Samantha after many years...Sara in background preparing the relish tray....great job!
I was so happy to see Mum's beautiful old crockery bowl filled with fruit. It was always on the counter in the kitchen as we grew up....sometimes holding rising dough, others, cookie dough, dill pickles in brine waiting to be canned, and my favorite, watermelon rind soaking in a sweet brine of oil of cinnamon and oil of cloves.
Samantha was really happy to find a piano and LM acquainted her with the fun of chopsticks.

Ed sneaks in a before dinner nap, too.
Each place setting had a lovely hand-lettered placecard.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Ed was dangerously close to the cat thief and El's son John, as Sam, Trish and I worked on the dinner.
Ed is such a love bug, and he knows who needs love! LM was having an emotional day as he missed his children very much, especially Kristi.

Samantha and I got some love, too.
Sara enjoyed a lovely conversation with family friend, Gerri whose family always joins us for Thanksgiving.  A very large and loving family we are proud to call part of ours. Their boys participate in cyclocross racing with my nephew, Nate.
Our wonderful and very busy hostess, Trish, opening bottles of wine and cider.

El with my nephew, Danny, Sam's son.
This little one had such fun playing with Ed....

Just about ready to serve....
El and John (he is so tall now) serving themselves
Sisters
Blurry but special...LM and moi
Samantha having just been told it was time to eat!


Post-feast conversation was so nice...
So nice to have a visit with Gerri
El, son, Ian, and Trish
Ed Weird enjoys an after dinner nap. 

We really enjoyed the day and I felt so blessed to be surrounded by a lot of love and appreciation for life, and the wonderful family of which I am part.

4 comments:

Judy said...

When I first saw the pictures, I thought it was an fancy, elegant restaurant. What a lovely home!!! So glad you were with family!

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Beautiful
and you have many blessings...

Balisha said...

This was a wonderful post. I enjoyed the "tour" with Ed. He seemed to be the life of the party :) It looks like a good time was had by all.
I especially enjoyed seeing a picture of you.
Balisha

MsGraysea said...

Thanks, everyone. It was a beautiful day....Balisha, my brother and his wife adopted twin Manx tabbies earlier this year after their beloved cat, Bob died of heart failure. They are named Vin and Eddie after a restaurant, Vin and Eddie's in Abington, MA) my parents LOVED and took us to often. One of the boys is very outgoing, Ed, and Vin is shy. My brother decided his name should be Ed Weird! They both sleep on my brother's head at night!