We seem to do something different for Thanksgiving every year. Some years we go hiking and pack a picnic. Some years we drive to Georgia to be with family, and some years we have friends over. This year we cooked a big meal with all of our traditional Thanksgiving foods and spent the day with only the ten of us (ha-only the ten of us!) Jonny did most of the cooking, and I was very thankful for that! We took our time and didn’t eat until nearly 5 p.m. We ended the day with a new puzzle, one that turned out to be more challenging than we expected. The kids eventually abandoned Jonny and me to it. It felt cozy and good to sit around our old table watching “Babe” and working on the puzzle. We have so much to be thankful for this year, and our quiet Thanksgiving was just perfect for reflecting on that. (Okay-it’s never quiet here, but you know what I mean.)
We do have one guest right now, but he stinks to high heaven and wasn’t invited in for dinner. His name is Duke and he is visiting for a few weeks in hopes that Tilly will take an interest in him. We’d like a baby goat this spring and milk for goat milk soap! I’m very excited about this and super hopeful that everything works out. Do you remember how adorable Tilly was when she was a baby? It’s hard to believe that she’s over three years old now and big enough to be the mama this time.
I hope that those of you that celebrated Thanksgiving today had a good one. We had a bit of excitement just before dinner when Seth discovered a nest of baby rat snakes while metal detecting in our yard. They were cute, I promise. I decided not to take a photograph for you guys, thinking that many of you would prefer not to see a nest of snakes, no matter how cute. Even with the snake warning system in place, some things are better left to the imagination. Or maybe that’s worse? Anyway…
We won’t put up a Christmas tree for a few more weeks, but I am excited to start pulling out some Advent things this weekend. I had a question about our Advent traditions, and you can read more about them in this post and this post. I’ll be re-reading those posts as well!
One last thing: I’ve mentioned Larkspur’s gerbils in the past. There was the story of that time I saved Captain Whisker’s life and thus saved Christmas. Or the time I agreed to breed gerbils in order to continue a noble gerbil bloodline. Sadly, of her original trio, Captain Whiskers is the only one still with us. Cream of Wheat passed away a few days ago joining his brother Crooked Ear. Larkspur would want him memorialized here.
R.I.P. Cream of Wheat
karen says
sorry for the gerbil loss, so very sad. Your thanksgiving sounds lovely and full of goodness. I was with family and met my son’s girlfriend (!). We had a great time together and she will be with us for a bit over the holidays for more getting to know you time.
Jen says
The tree swinging reminded me of Robert Frost’s poem “Birches”. And thank you thank you for the links to your Advent traditions! They were very helpful, I also liked your idea for Christmas for the Animals.
Maria says
So sorry about the gerbil! The little buck is very cute. By the way scrubbing your hands with mint toothpaste works great to get the lingering buck odor off your hands!
Theresa Boedeker says
A quiet Thanksgiving is just what we ordered too. And thanks for not including photos of the snakes. We once uncovered a nest of snakes and it was freaky. They were in their white, milky soft shells and then right after we uncovered them, they started hatching. Quite the experience, but not one I want to replicate. A frightening thing for any one with a snake phobia. Luckily, that was another family member, and not me. : )
Melissa Lessard says
We had a wonderful time with extended family visiting Great Smoky Mountain Ntl. Park! Had a close encounter with a black bear, though he didn’t care a whit about us; Phew!
What a generous giveaway! I know my daughters would love to play with many of these gorgeous toys! Fingers crossed!
Joan says
We had a quiet Thanksgiving just the three of us.
Joan,Marilyn and Marion
Bee says
That does sound like a wonderful Thanksgiving! Happy for you 🙂
Those pictures of Beatrix climbing the tree are so fantastic. They actually made me laugh out loud (in a “wow, would-you-look-at-that!”-kind of way 😉 ).
Earless Tilly (I know she has tiny ears…) never fails to bring me joy, but I’ve got to say I’m loving Duke already as well, even if he’s there only temporarily. One can only hope for baby goats with long beards like that.
Much love to you and yours, Ginny!
Becky says
Ginny, I love you. Your blog is such a truly beautiful window into family life…it helps me see the beauty in my family life too. Poor cream of wheat. May his memory live on. I loved that snake warning system because it made me laugh so much. I told my husband about it when it was launched and he said “which blog? The one with the knitting and the animals and the kids? It has a snake warning system?!” The tree climbing/bending pictures are amazing! I thought that was Larkspur at first! Wow, babies grow up fast!
Winwick Mum says
Those tree-climbing shots! They’ve just made my day! 🙂 xx
Shelley says
Your photography, Ginny. Just so so good.
When your domestic load is a little lighter, you should definitely think about more commercial work. Or have you thought about entering competitions now? You are just so good.
Of course, it’s perfectly fine for it to be a really enjoyable hobby. Your photos bring such joy and celebrate all the good things. Thanks.