A First Thanksgiving

Ruby made her first trip to the western part of the state where my grandmother lives in the farmhouse that goes to the dairy farm my grandfather farmed. It's been a rite of passage for each of the girls to visit as babies, and now Ruby has had her chance. She liked the cows, but not the barn cats (which were friendly, not scary, I thought). 

We walked back the lane, a field road that leads to the woods. It was chilly! The last morning of our visit a few flurries tempted the girls outside to try so make snow angels and snow balls out of 1/16" of snow.

We had a very nice time with family. Ruby did so well transitioning into a three night visit at a new place. Her sisters ate up the attention too.  They like to make houses out of blankets and Grandma's walker. Sapphire is already asking to go back, because we were only there a short time.

Here's Ruby's first Thanksgiving dinner.  The social workers always want to  know if Ruby's extended family is welcoming, and I'm so touched that she's been welcomed by every side of the family with such loving hugs.

During both of the long drives all three girls fell asleep for 1.5 hours--this was a real blessing!

Grandma & her youngest great-granddaughter

Sunday night we met with our 4-H group for a Christmas banquet and games night. I've been teaching Thursday nights, so I'm out of the 4-H loop, but it was neat to see the kids play together.

I've never seen musical chairs taken a seriously as at our 4-H, and they even have a live pianist to play. It gets a little dangerous, sort of like spoons in our youth group. With some early help and protection from a friend, and her own uncanny sense of survival, Pearl progressed through each of the rounds of musical chairs.  Pearl was injured in the second to last round (when she was playing against two big boys, one a 6 foot high schooler), but she felt cheered on and decided to make a last attempt. She may have won fair and square, or she may have had help, I'm not sure, but she took home the trophy, still a little tearful, but very triumphant. This morning she shined it up and displayed it to her little sisters very proudly.


On Monday we decorated for Christmas. This means my husband brings down the containers (that's all he likes to do), and usually I do the rest. Not so this year!  With two little girls who know what a tree is supposed to look like, it seemed to decorate itself. This was mostly Pearl's doing. She's very into decorating trees--she decked Grandma's tree and I think it was a highlight of her visit. Sapphire bopped around. Ruby was only interested in the tissue paper cushioning the breakables, but she, like the rest, was excited to see the plastic, play nativity set we keep in the attic until Christmas.

Tuesday was our co-op Show and Tell, a time for the kids to take the stage and show what they've learned. My husband's karate class demo was very impressive. Many of the 3rd-5th graders broke boards at the end, an event they had anticipated greatly. Pearl thrilled us all with her gripping portrayal of the Big Bad Wolf.  Sapphire had practiced one specific line during our read-throughs at home, and when it came time for the first little pig to refuse the wolf, a little voice from the front row drowned out the pig with "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!"  We enjoyed visiting with other homeschooling families during the reception.

And, finally, I sent off the manuscript of my book today--this has been in progress since Aug. 2011. I'm sure my editor will have suggestions for revision, but the big stage is over.  If you are looking for a great book about the historical/cultural background of the global, modern Christmas, just wait until next December for the final product.