So here we are heading into December, with Winter soon to begin, and Christmas just around the corner. But for now, I'll pause and look back over the past two weeks and share FIVE of my FAVE blessings. How about joining in? To read the guidelines, head to Susanne's site.
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| First snow for the school year 2018/2019 16 November |
- FIRST SNOW DAY! The Friday before Thanksgiving, most of the NYS schools were either delayed or closed due to our first snow storm of the school year. Where I live, in eastern NY, we had about 4 inches total, but where I go hiking in the summer months, the mountains had about 8 inches or more, depending on where you were. It was fun to have the snow day because I had all day to do some online shopping and I made the first 2 batches of Christmas cookies to freeze! Baking done, shopping, and not a lot of shoveling to do is what I'm thankful for. And the first snow really is pretty!
- "JUST BECAUSE" GIFT: On Wednesday evening, when my husband, oldest daughter and I walked into my in-law's house, Claire, our youngest, was already there and handed me a Raspberry-Blueberry Jam she bought from a local vendor at a fair that the University had last week featuring locally made products. She said she got it for me, just because I love those two berries and just because she knows I love jam. I'm so thankful this girl got down to Plymouth County safely, from NH, and that she thinks of little things I'd like. It's very special.
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| One of the three Thanksgiving tables at my sister-in-law Paula's house in eastern MA |
- THANKSGIVING! Well, out in MA, it was in the single digits on Thanksgiving day!! VERY cold but sunny. We left Plymouth County after a relaxing morning of reading and chatting, and went to Berlin, MA about 45 minutes north, to my husband's youngest sister's home because it was her turn to cook. What a fun time! There were 16 of us. Paula, her husband Robert, and their two children, Ron and Debi, (18 and 16) made a wonderful feast for us. Debi even made a delicious vegan sweet potato shepherd's pie for me and my vegan daughter. Oh my goodness, how good it all was. After dinner we sat around chatting and we each had a piece of pie that Claire, my niece Hanna and my niece Beth made the day before with Dave's mom whom they all call Grammy. In the evening, my daughters and husband and I went back to my in-laws where we had popcorn and drinks and watched the first Christmas movie of the holiday season, Miracle on 34th Street (the original version). It was a day to be thankful for!
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| the girl cousins preparing the dates! (Karen, Dave's oldest sis is to the far left) from left-right: Claire (19), Courtney (25) (my two daughters) Debi (16, Paula's daughter), Beth (Dave's brother's daughter who is 28) and Hanna (Karen's daughter, age 27) It's so hard to believe these girls are all grown up! |
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| my sister-in-law Kathy who's married to Dave's brother Peter and me at dinner in Boston |
- BOSTON!! On Friday, we all slept in and had a big breakfast. Then we all piled into 2 cars to head to Quincy to hop on the T. The good news is, my Charlie card hadn't expired and still had money on it so I added more to cover the 9 of us. The gang from Berlin decided to drive in to the city. They met us at this restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner and we had a blast! After drinks, we ordered dinner family style and sampled so many good Italian food choices. There were 16 of us and we were there for just under 3 hours! Boston has always been my fave East Coast city. Then we walked over to the Theatre District and saw the 5 pm showing of Shear Madness at the Charles Playhouse. If you've never seen the play, you really must! It first started many years ago in Lake George, NY at the smallest performance art theater in the USA, which is just an hour north of my home! Then it moved to Boston where it has been playing continuously for 39 years!! It's the longest running non-musical in the world and every night there's a different ending! I'm so thankful we all did this. My daughters loved it, the nieces and nephew loved it and even my in-laws, who had seen it before, were thrilled to go again. Having all of Dave's siblings and their spouses and children was just so special. This was on my bucket list for years and I'm so thankful Dave's sister Karen treated all of us to this very fun day/evening.
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| my husband Dave, his youngest sister Paula and her husband Robert Boston 2018 |
- FRESH AIR AND SUN! On Saturday morning we woke up to sunshine and warmer temperatures! In fact, it was so warm I only needed a sweatshirt to go walking in.....no one wanted to walk with me and I was craving some work out time so I ventured out while the girls hung out with their cousin. I walked 2.7 miles......down the road from my in-laws is one of the oldest cemeteries in the state.....it has a bunch of Pilgrim settlers buried there apparently. It was first established in 1683! It was so much fun walking around town and I'm thankful I had that time to my self before the long drive back to NYS.
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| The Old Cemetery West Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA |
That wraps up my faves from Thanksgiving weekend.
This past week had some special moments as well...the students came back to the classroom all healthy and happy and good work is being accomplished with their goals, etc.
My small group wrapped up our semester although our book study isn't done...we will pick it up again at the end of January.
and my tree is up for Christmas, thanks to Courtney working hard on it on Sunday!
Enjoy the weekend and look for the blessings!
4 comments:
What a great week! So glad you had all that good family time. That was so sweet of Claire to think of you when she saw the jam. I'm glad we haven't had snow yet. :-) Glad you were able to get out into some sunshine this week.
Your snow day sounds perfectly lovely! What a great week you had, so much family time packed in, and that walk around the cemetery sounds fascinating. I love that kind of thing. Happy Advent to you, Faith.
Wow, that sounds like so much fun to have so many family members together! It has been decades since we've had that many siblings and family together for a holiday.
When my parents lived near Boston, we visited and it was fun to visit the older areas of the city.
But that cemetery sounds like it would be really interesting! And to add a walk to the exploration--perfect!
It sounds like a wonderful Thanksgiving that you had. Family, city day trips, togetherness and enjoying each other is a blessing indeed. Snow is beautiful. I really don't mind it at all.
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