Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was quiet and lovely. An older couple in the ward, Don and Phyllis Higgs, invited us to join them, the missionaries, and a few others couples for dinner. We were in charge of just rolls and pumpkin pie which made for a wonderful, relaxing day. We watched the parade, chatted about my love of the Rockettes, cooked a bit, and Hazel dressed herself and Orson as pilgrims. 

Then we joined the Higgs and others for an AMAZING dinner. It was delicious!

I've been thinking a bit about being far from family on holidays. It is hard that we can't be with our families for every holiday. We miss them for sure and miss those big, loud gatherings. But at the same time, these is something truly special about holidays spent with friends instead. For one thing, each year is novel and exciting. There are new faces, new foods, different traditions, and new twists. You also have the opportunity to meet and get to know so many different people! I honestly can't think of a single holiday growing up that included friends, neighbors, or ward members because we always had so much family near by. But now we get to spend our holidays with tons of different people. We get to visit with them and hear their stories. We get to learn about theirs lives and enjoy their examples. It's very different, but also very wonderful!

The day after Thanksgiving we got the house all decorated for Christmas. I love this house so much at Christmas time. The charm of a 110 year old house all decorated just gets me every year. I know I will miss it dearly when the time comes for us to move. And now we're officially on to Christmas!!!