1) It was at somebody elses's house!
2) Linden did ALL the cooking. This was a serious departure from her typical list of responsibilities.
3) The meal was served at the appointed hour. (Have you ever heard of such a thing?)
4) The turkey was moist. (What's up with that??)
5) The day included great games with the kids and the traditional Thanksgiving Day walk.
I had to shoot this turkey (with my camera, that is) because not only was it perfectly pleasing to the eye, but also for the done-on-time and still-moist reasons listed above.
Jude kept snapping pictures of his mother in the kitchen. She posed for him because she said the child has never seen such a thing!
Two days later we had our annual holiday baking day. This tradition is 35 years old and was started by the children's great grandmother. It began with two little boys going crazy in the kitchen, licking beaters and sneaking cookies. As the little boys grew up the tradition continued throughout the years and I can remember when it was a very productive event sometimes resulting in nearly 20 batches of Christmas cookies. But we have come full circle now, times two. There are four little beater lickers and cookie sneakers. And the holiday cookies are secondary to the upholding of the tradition.
Jude, wearing a determined look and a holiday barrett in his hair:)
Aunt Kathy comes to spend a day with the wee ones. Her participation is one of the highlights of the day. She's a peach:)
Ada likes to eat sugar, but she's not much into wearing it
Total delight - Brady and his cutouts
A rare shot - 4 in a frame
Ada in her apron - a perfect fit:)
Drew helping make the pizelle
Jen supervising the icing of the cut-out cookies. Wait a minute, where's Ada?
Aren't they beautiful? Check out the one with an entire jar of green sprinkles on it!
Oh there she is. Playing foozeball!
The baking bunch. What? No Ada?
Need I say more?
I have to mention that everyone (with the exception of the children) would like to drop this annual event from every calendar and all memory. But it continues on each year and I have to hand it to my girls (daughters-in-law Linden and Jen) who probably groan at the very thought of it but arrive with smiles on their faces and jump right smack into the action.
And I have to smile when I notice the fine layer of powdered sugar 3 rooms away.....
This event is the kick-off of the holiday season. Now we're just waiting for a partridge to land in my pear tree.
xo
