WOW! What a week. So busy. I'm actually writing this from Massachusetts at this place. Dave and I have been here in the king suite which includes a king sized bed, living area, desk area and kitchen. There's also the master bath. It's gorgeous and brand new and only a mile down the road from where his youngest sister Paula lives who was our host for Thanksgiving Dinner. Our oldest daughter also has a suite here in the same hotel and our youngest daughter drove to the south shore of MA to stay 3 nights with Dave's brother and family.
It's been a busy week but one in which I have been able to find little blessings. Here are five to share with you. I'm doing this with other bloggers and we all link up at Susanne's site.
- New Flavor: I discovered a brand new flavor of dark chocolate in the brand we love. We love this brand because they are organic and fair trade! This is so good. I have been savoring a square with Dave several evenings this week. I'm thankful we can spend a little extra on good quality chocolate that was not produced by exploiting people, and it's a company that gives back 10% of all of their profits to various communities and projects around the world. If you're not familiar with this company, click here.
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| image courtesy of Endangered Sp*cies Chocolate website |
- OCC BOXES DELIVERED: Our church is a collection center for Operation Christmas Child shoebox ministry every November. Everything was due back to church on November 20th so I packed a box for a young elementary girl and brought it with me to church. This year I registered with the QR code so I can track the package and see where it ends up! Last year we collected over 2500 boxes! We won't know the final count until this weekend. I'm thankful for this ministry of Samaritan's Purse/Billy Graham Association and that my family has been participating in it since 1990.
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| Operation Christmas Child Box |
- CHRISTMAS TREE: We have never, ever put our Christmas tree up before December 1st. I don't turn on candles in the windows or the outside pole and tree lights until the evening of Dec 1st. BUT....Dave knew we would be busy after Thanksgiving vacation with laundry, grocery shopping and auditions for the church Christmas choir, that he surprised me Sunday afternoon and brought the tree up from the basement, set it up and said "here ya go...happy decorating". I was actually ok with it. It's up, we light it at night and the rest of the house will get decorated a little bit each evening after work next week. And a bonus: he brought home a gorgeous red poinsetta and said "happy early birthday". It's so pretty! I'm thankful for the beauty of the tree and the symbolism it represents (that Jesus' love, like the evergreens, is everlasting).
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| Christmas 2022 |
- SARATOGA SHOPPING: Last Saturday I woke up, did some chores around the house, ran an errand, and then dashed up to Saratoga (about a 20 min drive north) to do some Christmas shopping for oldest daughter and my nephew's birthday/Christmas. After getting them the items on their wish list, I dashed into this place for a yummy cafe mocha to go and then took a walk in the downtown park before heading home. I'm thankful for items checked off my to do list and for some relaxing outdoor time with good coffee!
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| Congress Park is still in bloom with amazing fall foliage 19 November 2022 |
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| Congress Park Creek |
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| Saratoga Springs is dressed for Christmas in all its old world charm |
- THANKSGIVING BREAK: Mine and Dave's break for Thanksgiving began Wednesday. We packed and headed out to the west/north part of the greater Boston area where his younger sister lives. She was our host this year for the Feast. We stayed in the above mentioned hotel and went out to dinner Wednesday night. Thursday was sunny and a high of 50 degrees F so just sweaters were needed for the day. We arrived at his sister's around 10 am and stayed until about 6 pm. We had a great feast that everyone contributed to. It was so good to see all the cousins (minus the oldest nephew) gathered around the table. Later today we will head to the south shore to do some hiking and visiting with my inlaws and whomever else decides to venture out of the hotels. I'm thankful for my husband's side of the family.
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| from left to right: my youngest girl Claire, my niece Liz, my niece Hanna (from Scotland) and my oldest girl Courtney at their Aunt Paula's house (missing from photo: paula's 2: Ronnie and Debi) |
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| Apple Pie baked by my niece Hanna |
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| beautiful dishes and centerpieces |
That wraps up my week!
I hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving (those of you who live in the States).
8 comments:
Hi Faith! Wow, looks like you have had a lovely Thanksgiving in MA with Dave's family and your daughters. So good. So glad you could go up there. Wow, you got a lot of stuff in your OCC box! OCC boxes are so fun to pack and give. I got boxes for next year when I dropped off this year's boxes and I have already started to get a few things to put in the boxes. I love this tradition and Samaritan's purse. What a great organization! I haven't seen that kind of candy around here, but I will look for it. We are off to do just a bit of Christmas shopping today, but I admit to doing most of it online. I love the convenience. Have a great weekend. See you again soon!
Of course no Thanksgiving here, as our ancestors stayed in Europe ! I haven't done any Christmas decoration, it's far to early. Usually I put a wreath with 4 candles on the table to celebrate Advent. Each Sunday a candle is lightened and when they are all on it means it's Christmas. You had a nice family gathering ! And luckily good weather too !
Hello! What a wonderful Thanksgiving! The pie is beautiful, and I imagine it also also also tasted delicious. Your Christmas tree is lovely. We have our tree up too. I enjoy the lights in these early evenings. Have a cozy weekend!
What a lovely Thanksgiving you had! I love reading your posts where you mention places I know about from growing up in upstate NY. Brings back so many memories! And it's so nice to spend Thanksgiving with family.
I really love the idea of Operation Child and I wish my church participated. Such a lovely gift for that little girl!
And that pie! So pretty!
Have a lovely weekend decorating your tree. Mine is up now as well.
Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you! Lovely weather for Thanksgiving in Massachusetts. Your family gatherings are always fun and always have lots of people.
Our tree is up and a few of the decorations are out. That is going to be our task for this weekend. I love Christmas!
Thanksgiving dinner was at our house and I didn't have any fall decorations, so my daughter lent me a bunch of hers. It did look nice.
Happy weekend to you as you travel home again.
Wow sounds like you had a great Thanksgiving and a good week. I'm usually very late putting up our Christmas decorations but we have some things to put up in the loft this week so I might get hubby to bring the Christmas stuff down so I can make an earlier start this year. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Happy Thanksgiving! Looks like a wonderful holiday time for you. Saratoga looks like a lovely town. What a cute box you packed. Some child is going to be very happy to receive your thoughtful gift! I always Christmas decorate the first weekend in December too, but it's happening this weekend because we'll be at the OCC processing center volunteering to prep the shoeboxes for shipping.
We just did our Christmas decorating today. My husband would rather wait, but since the whole family helps, it's nice to do over Thanksgiving break when everyone has some time off. With everyone helping, we got most of got done in 2 hours.
So glad you have a great time with your husband's family. That pie is gorgeous!
Early happy birthday!
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