Thanksgiving Traditions

Traditions. I wrote about family traditions last summer when I was feeling the effects of traditions changing. Change makes most people feel a bit discombobulated (did you know that is a real word that spell check can correct? I never knew!).

Thanksgiving has always been at Grandma and Grandpa's but last year Pat and Linda hosted a blending of her family and his. They combined relatives and cuisine for a twist on the classic Thanksgiving meal. The time together was great fun, deliciously diverse and voted a resounding success by the guests. There was talk of this being our new Turkey Day tradition (which pleased Grandma greatly; she said she was ready to hand over the hostess reins :))

Thanksgiving 2010 at Pat and Linda's Home

Pat and Linda opted not to host the festivities again this year as they would be spending it with Linda's family. That meant the hunt was on for a Turkey Day 2011 location. As much as Joc loved the idea of playing hostess, their small apartment wasn't an option.

I offered my house; but we acknowledged it is seating challenged, kitchen cramped and canine corrupt. Glenna offered her house; but it was determined two turkey dinners in three days was too much to expect of one person (us on Thursday and the whole Diefendorf clan on Saturday).

James voted for dinner at Red Robin. Papa said Chinese take-out sounded deelish. Just typing their suggestions cracks me up :-)

Grandma said her house made the most sense and we should just move it back there (hard to argue with such a wise woman!). We agreed to her plan if she would promise to simply set the table, cook the turkey and let the rest of us bring everything else. She agreed.

• Tess made 3 different dessert bars that quickly disappeared; many before dinner :)
• I brought sweet potatoes, veggie appetizer and green salad 
• Glenna contributed fruit, twice-baked potatoes and pies (mmmmmmm)
• Jocelyn provided a green bean casserole, and her mother-in-law's broccoli salad and corn biscuits
• Grandma cooked the turkey, stuffing and gravy (the stuffing and gravy sorta went with the turkey prep)
• Grandpa served his infamous shrimp cocktail. I mean seriously, what would Thanksgiving or Christmas be without Grandpa's shrimp cocktail? Grandpa of course complained about the shrimp not being quite the right size or flavor ;) but I didn't see anyone else complaining and there were but a small handful left at the end of the night. 

It ended up being a cozy group of 11: Grandma, Grandpa, David, Glenna, Tyler, Jocelyn, James, Tess, Daniel, John and me. We were in touch with our out-of-town kids Anna, Ben and Shannon via texts and calls - which is always great fun! We missed having Pat and Linda there. It left us feeling a bit discombobulated.

Daniel assured Grandma he was still the same sweet and wonderful little boy under all that hair. She said she'd watch and see :)

Tess' jaw was locked up and she was on meds to relax the muscles and ease the pain...can you tell :)

This picture was taken before Tess' meds kicked in.  LoL - she is a trooper!

Recently it was noted that I'm not featured in these posts. Of course not. Why do you think I do the post? I don't like to be featured :) But when Glenna said, "You'll be just like Aunt Jody and we will think you were adopted too!" I decided a self portrait now and again was in order. 

Grandma lamented that she didn't set two tables in the family room so we could all be together. She thinks she'll try it for Christmas.

Joc preparing her broccoli salad in the silver bowl Aunt Jody gave her.  This is her mother-in-law's recipe that the adult table proclaimed a winner - not sure how the kids feel about it ;)

I didn't realize how monochromatic our meal was until I looked at this photo. We needed a parsley garnish to liven up the presentation - where is Martha Stewart when you need her :)

James and Joc stopping at the salad bar on their way to the table. 

Uncle David had the honor of carving the bird (and nibbling on all the tasty tidbits as he was going :)) The turkey was fall-off-the-bone tender making it difficult for David to slice nice neat pieces for the serving platter. But in the end he won the battle!

All five kids (kids. hahaha. not so much so) cleared the tables and loaded the dishwasher. Grandma, Glenna and I did pots and pans and put away food. Many hands make light work (as Mother used to say!).

After dinner Tyler, Joc and James played a new favorite board game in the Marth household called Settlers of Catan. James dominates most of the time but Tess, John and I are getting stronger at game strategy and make him work for his wins!

John, Daniel and Grandpa wrestled the Christmas tree out of the carport storage. After finding the right plastic and plywood base, up went the tree. A lot of the pre-strung lights have long since burned out so Glenna strung lots and lots of new white lights to fill in the dark gaps. Grandma smiled when it was all done. She does love the tradition of getting her tree up on this day.

Grandpa cracked us up. He didn't like that the new lights saying they were much brighter. He kept suggesting ways to tone them down. Next time we go there I won't be surprised if they are all wrapped in tissue paper to mute their glow :D  

I didn't have any snapshots of papa (must have been too busy chatting - who me? no way!) so I asked papa to smile. Papa was being papa and this is what he provided for me to photograph. I think all of you who know him will agree...oh, so papa!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ONE AND ALL!!

I am so thankful to have a family that loves me unconditionally...even when we are driving each other nuts :) YOU complete me!

My 2nd Annual Molbak's Trip

Oh what a great, great time Glenna, Jocelyn and I had at Molbak's!

It took us 4 hours to wander through the nursery from corner to corner. There was so much to see, so many ideas to explore and way too many things calling out "buy me, buy me, buy me"!

It was such a beautiful blue-sky-sunshiny day that we were squinting through the brightness in the greenhouse area.
I needed my sun glasses! $

Jocelyn's mom-in-law Cathy loves owls. This one was awfully cute and he reminded us of Aunt Dorothy's sonekin's :)

There were poinsettias in every shade; each one more beautiful than the next. We were struggling to decide which one to buy. Our solution? Compare all our our favorites side-by-side. Through the process of elimination Joc decided the white ones would be perfect for her home. She chose a soft muted pink variety for her desk at school.

I fell in love with these decorative pine cones. I don't have a good spot to hang them but we decided they would be stunning in Glenna's house all along the beam between the family room and table area. The problem was they would have to be shortened...and we couldn't quite see a clear easy way to accomplish that.

Not really sure why I snapped a shot of this wreath. Although pretty and entertaining there were far more magnificent pieces to photograph. I was certainly too busy looking at all the magnificence because I don't have too much on my camera to share with you :/

We spent a fair amount of time watching a never-ending line of pets get their photograph taken with Santa. The antics of the humans trying to get the canines to sit perfectly, smile nicely and look into the lens was just as entertaining as the dogs themselves!

Of course no trip to Molbak's would be complete without pictures in front of the poinsettia tree.

This funny one is for Ben :}

Lunch was delicious at Panera Bread. I think this is more my favorite place than theirs - but since we were running so late they were troopers and opted for a quick bite across the street instead of making our way to Ooba Tuba as planned.

In the spirit of full disclosure, that is not a snapshot of Joc standing in front of Panera Bread. That isn't even a photo of the Panera Bread we dined at. The Internet is full of all sorts of "filler photos" when you forget to snap one of your own!

I haven't quite yet caught the holiday spirit of Christmas. I think I need to get on the other side of Thanksgiving before that happens. But years of experience (not that I’m old, mind you!) have taught me that once the holiday season is in full swing it becomes difficult to take in the magic of the moment and the importance of the people around you. 

All three of us had places and people tugging at our shirtsleeves. It would have been so easy to say, "Let’s do this another time". I'm thankful we didn't. I must remember to refer to this post whenever I’m tempted to bug out because the chaos of life is closing in around me. Spending quality time like this with family and friends is a jillion times more important than scrubbing toilets and doing laundry :) 

Love, love, love you two!

Mini Honeymoon

Papa and I spent last weekend at the beach with Lenny and Dakota. I know, mini honeymoon sounds like a silly title for this post but amidst the sweaty, dirty, long days without showers...we really have enjoyed our time together.

Now that I think about it, it's been quite a bit of time. Papa has spent 8 out of the last nine weekends working on the fishing cabin at the beach. WOW. We stayed home the weekend of his birthday - but it was so hot in town I think we were wishing we were in the cool breezes off Puget Sound (well, at least I did :)).

What was going to be a 2 or 3 weekend project took on a life of its own. Every time he made one more saw cut or pulled up one more board he would find one more thing that needed to be done. We will be out there again this coming weekend. There will probably be a week 10 too.

I can't say it is all work and no fun. Quite the contrary.

Hot cup of coffee at sunrise with your dogs at your feet and a view of the sound for miles. Doesn't get much better than that on a sunny Saturday summer morning.

We've had some excellent weekends out there by ourselves, lots and lots of time with G&G and Glenna, and more time with Jody than otherwise would be possible. Even Daniel and James have gotten into the act along with Lenny and Dakota. Sometimes papa is exhausted, burned out and wants it to be over but for the most part there is a lot of pride in mastering all the odd problems this structure throws at him - and being a cunningham-product, it is odd in every way from a builders perspective.

I do love his attitude when someone laments all the time he's put into the fishing cabin...he tells them he won't have to touch it again because when it next needs attention, he'll be an old man sitting around the fire pit enjoying his Guinness and watching the next generation work hard ;)

Spraying Tim-bor; the bug killing, beetle destroying, ant crushing insecticide.

New Tuckpointing

Shaun's brother repaired the leaking chimney at the big cabin. All 4 sides and the top are secure and drip-free. Bring on the rains. It's ready!

Unplanned Work

Repairs had to be made to the wall, threshold and door jamb of the front two rooms. Groan. Lost a full day on that unexpected project. Ended up replacing flooring that was put down new last week...but as with everything else, the more he replaces the better things look and fit.

Temporary pole gets temporary fix

Day in and day out the blustery north wind has snapped and pulled at the flag until the straps around the pole were finally loosened. John put a temporary fix in place so our flag could fly straight and proud on 9/11.

Turns out we make a pretty good team

I've really enjoyed working side-by-side on this project. Will I be glad when it is over? Yes. No, make that a double yes. Will I miss it. Yes again :)