Home for the Holidays

Several weeks ago I watched my new favorite movie, "Dan in Real Life." I enjoyed the story, but even more so, I enjoyed watching the family-interaction in the movie. Dan and his three daughters joined their large, extended family for the holidays. The family spent time preparing meals, eating meals together, competing in crossword puzzles, playing football and performing in their annual talent show. It was so much fun to watch a family come together like that and truly enjoy each others' company.

I may have had a touch of that this weekend. I spent Thanksgiving (and the days surrounding it) at my parents' house in Kansas City. My brother and sister and their families were all around as well. My parents are refinishing their upstairs, so there's been lots of painting to do. When some were painting, some were watching the girls and others were preparing meals. My parents have a new hot tub, too, so we all took turns relaxing after all the hard work.

Some of my favorite memories from the weekend include the following:

Going to Grandparents' day at my eldest niece's (Erin's) school. She had written and illustrated a "story" about the time she and I went to see a movie. I'm apparently "Ant Cerest." (She's still working on her spelling.) But my head grew a bit when her teacher mentioned hearing a lot about Erin's Aunt Krista. :)

Playing with my fifteen-month old niece, Ember. She has a smile that can melt your heart. I tried to get some pictures, so I'll try to post one later. She's generally a very happy child... mainly getting upset when her mom is away or unable to hold her for some reason. I was happy to play substitute for mom from time-to-time. There's something unbelievably touching about when a young child like that prefers you over every other person around. They look into your eyes like they're looking into your soul. That may be love in its truest form.

Baking two pumpkin pies with Erin. She's just learning how to read, so she helped by reading the recipe and then helping me measure out the ingredients. She also did a great job preparing the pie crust. We also painted together this afternoon. She kept telling me I was "fake painting," because I was just cutting-in (planning to roll the walls later). The section she was doing, she did all by hand... "the old fashioned way." (I'm not sure anyone told her that she was painting the wall that would be covered up by the washer and dryer!)

Painting along side my sister, my brother, my brother-in-law and my Dad. We shared stories of old and quite a few laughs. Some of the highlights were Michelle leaning back into a wall David had painted and leaving a nice butt print. David scolded Avery (3) and Natalie (4) at some point for rough-housing in one of the newly painted rooms. He said to them, "and if you mess up these walls, are YOU going to want to repaint them?!" To which they both replied, "YES!!" :) That kind of backfired on him. John and I enjoyed some nice conversation and mended some fences that had been knocked down a long time ago.

Cooking dinner for the fam. Though I would have enjoyed painting more yesterday, I baked a couple of pies (with Erin) and then made chili for lunch/dinner. At some point Michelle pitched in and made some scrumptious cornbread to go with it. We also spent some time cleaning and straightening the house. With eleven of us packed in here, that was an unending task.

I think what I enjoyed the most was just having the whole family together and seeing everyone chip in to help out. No complaining, no whining (from the adults, anyway)... just a great sense of gratitude and thankfulness for the time together. There was also a sense of wanting to honor Mom and Dad by helping with the upstairs project. They've done so much for each of us over the last thirty-five years. They give and give and give... and, unfortunately, don't always get much back. It really was a meaningful time being able to serve them in some special ways.

So... in summary, it really has been a Happy Thanksgiving!! Maybe the best one yet!