oh what joy!

 

Jonathan and Camille...

They get along well, he's a nice big brother.  

We went around the table and all said something nice about Camille...Jon said that Cam has his same sense of humor, and thanked her for always siding with him when he argues with Charlotte.   I've found this to be an excellent way to bring meaning into celebrations, kind words are good gifts.   Sometimes we are together, and randomly go around the room and say what we're thankful for, it's extremely uplifting and encouraging.   Believe me, the kids tease me and give me flak when I suggest it, but they've gotten use to it, and now they see it's worth.

Only eight of the kids were able to be here for the birthday (Emily, Abigail, Mariel, Margaret, Sonja, Jonathan, Charlotte, and birthday girl Camille.). These days, if someone has even the sniffles, well, because of the dreaded Covid, they stay home, and one of the grandkids is in quarantine because of an exposure, and one of the kids had plans, and then 3 of them are out of state, ect.  

Samuel is in town though, he arrived last evening, he's in New York for his last ever Army Reserves week before exiting the military.   He has served eight years, and is done.  He was forced to have the vaccination, which I don't want to argue about, just the fact that he had no choice, they threatened him with all sorts of things, just so they could check a box.   He arrived here late last night, I waited up to see him, and we talked for too long, stayed up for too long, but it was so nice.

Anyway, Camille is fourteen now.

This fine morning, Sonja K. went out the door and headed to college, nursing school, she had a big test...and oh no, she forgot a paper that HAS to be handed in today, so yeah, I trekked to the college and put it in her friend's car.   A fifteen mile drive cannot just go to waste, so to Walmart I went, to wander around all by my lonesome.  I don't mind doing that, I found a good Christmas gift for Jon, and a few birthday presents for my oldest son Benjamin, he's turning 33 on Veteran's Day.  Oh dear, I am old.

Our turkey dinner was really really good, nice tender turkey, a Butterball from Aldi.  One pan of stuffing had apple chunks and pecans on top, which got all toasted and yummy.  I made about eight pounds of red skinned mashed potatoes, and a pan of roasted broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and acorn squash from the garden.  There were brown and serve rolls, and there was gravy, and cranberry sauce.  It was a proper Thanksiving meal, it was so good, it made me look even more forward to the real holiday.  

Ah well, we're having some sunny weather, maybe I'll plant some tulips today....