Thanksgiving

Whew, I've been behind! First, an update on Thanksgiving...

The Harndens came up on Tuesday night. They came bearing gifts, since we will not be seeing them for Christmas. Blane was given his main gift that night, primarily so we could all enjoy his reaction. It was a thing of dreams--a silver, remote-controlled Camero, bigger than any car he currently owns.

He stood back from it for a few moments after he opened it, almost too overwhelmed by the size of it. Papa and I loosed the thing from its wire shackles and euphoria settled on my youngest child. With his cheek on the rug, he ran it back and forth on the wooden floor. He was in love, even without the remote control. The battery pack had to be charged, so we plugged it in for the night.

The next morning, we loaded the battery pack in the control panel and let him try it. It was apparent after a few seconds that we would have to keep the controls somewhere far, far away from him until he was bigger. The poor Camero hit every wall and obstacle in its way. We took it back after a minute and Seth had a try. Any guesses as to how that went? Anyway, over the week, we let Blane have it for a few seconds at a time just so we could laugh. The Camero suffered a scratch on the hood and took a chunk out of the baseboard before it was all through. But Blane was not upset with no controls. The happiest moments he has are spent making motor sounds and running that car over the floor by hand.

The subject of gifts leads us to the remaining two boys. Papa and Nana got them a basketball goal! Papa left at 5:45 am on Black Friday to score a great in-ground goal that was heavily discounted. We rolled it out at about 10 am (I apparently messed up the timing of the reveal because I went to Michaels a little after 9 to get some Christmas decorations--whoops!) But everyone was excited, and Papa and Scott spent the rest of the day installing it. Papa dug a hole and poured the concrete around the base, which we have to let cure for a week before we can hoist the top onto the pole. Cousin Ty will be coming over to do that--I ain't touching it!

The rest of our visit was wonderful as always. We had a fine dinner at the Zanders with the all the Z's, Grandma Joanne, Rachel's boyfriend Norman, Michael's secretary Debbie (who attends church with us) and Tea, a German-Jewish lady who is part of the local "group" of friends who fled the Holocaust in their teens. We are blessed.