a nice day....

 

Paul and I with six of our daughters...that's Paul in the back, then Emily, Evelyn, Camille...then me, Sonja in the middle, Mariel in the pink with the lovely braid, and Miss Charlotte Claire, group selfie taker extraordinaire.  We went for a nice walk in the afternoon, while waiting for Molly and Josh to arrive with Lydia and Ophelia.

Emily, Evelyn, Camille, Sonja, Char...(Mariel didn't want to get in pic)

Paul and me...

We had dinner at Emily and Mariel's house.   Mariel made such a nice salad with a maple dressing, pecans, green apples...mmm.

Camille, Evelyn, Sonja, Emily...

Molly's husband Josh makes the BEST bread! He was slicing it, Paul carving the turkey.  I can't believe I don't have a pic of Molly...the only ones I have, her eyes are closed....:)

It was so good...I had the end piece...I don't usually eat bread, but...I did.  :)

Little Miss Ophelia, isn't she cute?  

She hugs Grandpa!

...with big sister Lydia.

Ruth and Rhys, friends and cousins, had dinner at Kathryn's house...with these crazy boys:

Achilles and Grant, and Wulf and Tennyson...(and their parents Margaret and Adrian, Kathryn and Darius, and Sam and Grace)

(Ben and Ashley and their three little ones had dinner at their friend's house)

So, we split up a bit for our Thanksgiving dinners, and survived.  Tonight though, Friday Pie Day, with appetizers then pie galore, at Ben and Ashley's house.  I am bringing the apple pie, the rest of the lemon meringue, and I'll be making a pumpkin, maybe a blueberry, in a little while.  

Camille and I made that lemon meringue from scratch...it called for two cups of water, I substituted some of that water for more of the fresh squeezed lemon juice, and the pie came out delightfully and refreshingly tart, a mouthwatering contrast with the sweetness of the meringue. Oh dear.   Mariel made a chocolate pie from scratch, it took her almost an hour to make, but it was out of this world....I had a bit of both those pies, then some of Mariel's coconut cream...I felt awful afterwards, but mmmm.  

Our dinner:  I made the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows and pecans, and the stuffing, with lots of celery and onions, Emily made the mashed potatoes, Mariel the salad, Emily made a roast beef with gravy, I made the turkey gravy, and seasoned the turkey before putting it in the oven, and Josh made the bread.   

It was a peaceful day, a fun day, a relaxing day, totally an enjoyable experience.  I went over early to the girls' house and got the turkey into the oven, then went home around noon and picked up Sonja, Char, and Cam.  Paul was out hunting, and came a bit later.  Abigail stayed in Delaware for Thanksgiving...and Aaron and Riley didn't venture east for the holiday.  

Ah well, today I'm washing the Christmas tree flannel sheets, and soon, we'll go cut down a tree....life seems to go faster and faster...the holidays are upon us, already, phew.