A Thanksgiving with no family drama?

What kind of holiday was that, anyway? A pretty spectacularly amazing one if you ask me. I lasted almost six hours, surrounded by twice as much family as usual!

Willow and LittleBit had to work, and Middlest was on the East Coast, but Lark came over after going to her mother’s (a/k/a The Egg Donor’s). Said mother is on my short list for having inquired of Lark or Firstborn as to when we would be having our feast, then setting hers for an hour sooner, ensuring that Lark would miss the appetizers and barely make it in time for dessert. (We told Lark to eat her dessert first and then see what appealed to her amongst the leftovers.)

Given that it is easily an hour between Firstborn’s house and Younger Twin’s, I am not overly amused. Granted, Egg Donor may not have known how long a drive it was and may have thought that Lark would have plenty of time to enjoy both dinners, but given the chaos Egg Donor has wreaked over the past twelve years, I look on that with love and suspicion.

The children’s father was there, and he behaved himself. Didn’t call me “Beautiful” this time, not even once. I behaved myself, too. Older Twin’s wife’s tummy has become delightfully rounded, a good thing because the baby is due in a little over two months. She looks even more radiantly beautiful than usual, which is remarkable because she feels yucky most of the time. I am hoping that difficult pregnancy equals thoughtful and obedient child. (I had easy pregnancies and gave birth to the Wild Bunch!)

Tried some new foods as well as the old standards. Squishy made a casserole with quinoa and sweet potatoes that was way better than OK at room temperature, and I would be interested in trying it again fresh out of the oven. (Beloved or Mel? not so much.) And he found a new recipe for pumpkin pie with a little molasses in it, that we agree is nothing short of amazing. Really adds a depth of flavor.

I got to help make our two black bottom banana cream pies. And lick the bowls, because the surplus was far too tasty to wash down the drain.

Beloved and I were home and in bed at 7:00 or so. I was up again around 1:00 and out to the living room for some knitting. For a break, I went into my studio and started sorting the contents of one of my Rubbermaid storage bins. Took two armfuls of stuff out to the trash in the kitchen and gathered an impressive stack destined for the shredder. Also found a package of Christmas ornaments, congratulatory cards and invitations to baby showers around the time of BittyBit’s birth. That all went into the scrapbooking pile.

Back to bed around 4:00, napped for another two or three hours, then more knitting and more sorting. I have about five minutes’ work to finish cleaning out that storage bin, and then I can open what may be the last two cardboard boxes in my studio and see what they hold and if it is worth keeping.

Beloved is napping out in his chair. We are agreed that the project du jour is to clean off a couple of shelves in the garage and get some stuff moved onto them and move a few things to the window in the dining room preparatory to setting up the Christmas tree.

But first, I think I have earned another small sliver of pie. Time, too, for a walk-by smooching if Beloved is awake and reading. He’s just so doggone smoochable.