A Quiet Thanksgiving

Shelley, Lissa and her girls came by for a short visit on Wednesday. We hadn't seen the little ones for several months and they have grown so much. What a nice gift of family.

Richard and I spent a very quiet Thanksgiving alone. Rick and his crew were scheduled to be here over night  and have breakfast, but he is sick. That meant his family was split up for the holiday and he spent it in bed. We are grateful he didn't try to make the long journey and that he has a few days to recover.

Both Rick and Amy called. We got updates on what all the grand kids are up to. "Things" are going well. We all have much to be thankful for.

I fixed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner using glutin free ingredients. Not exactly the same, but not too bad either.  Clean up was short, since there were just the two of us. We have lots of left overs for soup, turkey enchaladas, pot pie & ect.

Today I will also need to do laundry. There is a lot more of that than you would expect. I will also go to gleaners and start wrapping Christmas gifts. Christmas gifts will consist of family trees, dried fruit from our trees, and closet pillows made from a cedar we had removed. Most of it low cost (copy paper and ink are spendy) and on hand. But a lot of love and time put into it. More of what Christmas is supposed to be, I think.

Another month has come and gone. Not a whole lot happening around here that is new. We have been wrapping up the harvest (grape juice, dried apples, etc.) and I have been spending a lot of time working on geneology for Christmas gifts.

Since my tree is so dense, I am dividing it into two volumes of four sections each.  Two sections a year will be distributed to each of our children and to my three living siblings. Most of my family has been in America since the beginning. The last set of great grand parents arrived just after the Civil War. So this first 1/4 of Volume one (14 generations) is more than an inch thick. It will take about 8 years to put all of this one tree together.

In addition to a segment of my own family tree, I have completed a tree for one son-in-law and his parents, a segment of a tree for a granddaughter's husband, a tree for a daughter-in-law, a tree for one grandson (his mother's side), and a potion of trees for several other grandchildren. Yes, I have spent a lot of time at the computer doing research. It may pay off in an unexpected way.

Seems some of the grandkids may qualify for free or nearly free college due to their being of Indian heritage. It is something worth looking into, at least.

But I must put away my research for a bit now and prepare for the holidays. It will be good to see friends and family and to "catch up" face to face. Shelley spent several hours here yesterday. It is the first we had talked since she returned from her global travels. Rick and most of his crew will be here for a few days next week. We haven't seen him for since mid-September, his family since April.

Have a great Thanksgiving. Even though there have been some very real negetive aspects to 2012, it is no effort at all to count our blessings. May our God in heaven reign in your life throughout 2013.