thanksgiving

on wednesday, i went out with the kids to do some last-minute thanksgiving shopping and to do some errands. while we were at the grocery store, william decided he wanted to use some of his money to play that mechanical claw game they have at every grocery store across america. i told him it was a bad idea, a waste of money, that they're engineered to always make you lose, etc. but he wouldn't listen. he wanted to use his money to give it a try. on his first try, he went for a seemingly easy-to-grab stuffed animal, but (obviously) the claws didn't come up with it. then sierra had to have a turn. i told her certainly this was a waste of her money. she could barely see up over the hand-device into the bin of stuffed animals. but again, my warnings were to no avail. she had to give it a try. she went for it, and again the claw came up with nothing. then william tried it again, and this time he actually got a stuffed rabbit. i couldn't believe it! he then tried again and came up with a jester's hat (with light-up balls at the ends). i was shocked! seeing william come up with so much booty, sierra had to try again. and little sierra, who could hardly see what she was doing, came up with the biggest stuffed animal in the bin. all on her own! i was at a complete loss for words. i've never seen people win at that game--let alone kids. so for $3, william won 2 prizes. and for $2, sierra won 1 prize. not bad. it turns out this time (this one time), my motherly advice wasn't any good.

on thanksgiving...we decided to do it on our own at home, which in many ways was quite nice. brian and i cooked for a couple hours in the morning while listening to several of our old records. it's amazing how much good music helps you feel happy. it was a lot of fun. once the cooking part was done, we each made a thanksgiving day shirt. the pictures show our creations.



william likes turkey but not mushrooms.



b's mommy dearest, daddy merest shirt.


my cute as a button mushroom shirt.


sierra's turkey day shirt. the little girl in the picture is her.

we had a lovely meal, which included turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, wild rice stuffing, baked brie, fresh pineapple and pomegranate seeds, rolls, b's cranberry sauce, and (for desert) blueberry cheesecake with lemon curd. it was so good!

after dinner, we played some pingpong, watched yellowstone cubs (an old disney movie) and flash the teenage otter (another old disney movie that i took a nap during), and we read a little.

today, friday, w, s, and i cleaned the house and then set up the christmas decorations. it's a little early still, but today was a good day to do it (ie, there was lots of free time). so the house looks nice and festive, and i only broke 1 old glass ornament in the process.