A Time to Gather

Thanksgiving in Canada comes at the perfect time.  The leaves are mostly down and crunchy.  The air is crisp and the sun casts long shadows after warming your back.  The colors in my soup thrill me: white yam mixed with a little beet and chicken stock looks like a slippery bowl of summer nectarines.  Golds, tangerine, burgundy, browns, and greens.  Weston made a wonderfully simple table centerpiece by putting one of our small garden pumpkins on a nest of green grass on a plate.  Donovan and David made pumpkin scones again from Auntie Michelle's recipe while Weston and I made cheese puff pastries with the autumnal cookie cutters Mom gave us: acorns, squirrels, apples, and oak and maple leaves!

I also cooked a big a ham and stuck so many cloves in the crisscrosses our whole house smelled like Christmas.  

It was good to work in the kitchen as a family preparing for the feast gathering over at the Hamm's.  We worked diligently and it was a sunny Sunday.  I know Dave would have liked it to be more restful, but I had great satisfaction using up all the old vegetables from my fridge and mouncing on fresh turnip with a touch of salt.  It was so sweet and crunchy!   I wish we had it more often.  After my garden this year and the spaghetti squash we had two nights ago, I have a renewed appreciation for vegetables I've avoided.  There's more to veg than green leafy salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and broccoli.  Here's to more root vegetables and squash this month.  (I can already hear my boys go "Yyyuuck!")

At the dinner we went around and asserted what we believed the person on our left was grateful for.  This was an interesting challenge because it gave you the opportunity to speak for someone else and honor them.  I found it less predictable than having to speak for yourself, and besides, we have been doing that exercise at our table for the last week already.

The boys were delighted to leave the table early and play with Leila out in the cold, then come in with rosy cheeks and eat pie.  OOOOHHH such pie!  Karl got the blue ribbon for his pecan cluster pumpkin -- the crust alone made my holiday.  Then the boys pounced on Alex and wouldn't let go.  He was a good sport.  Renita's home was filled with candlelight and we had plenty of food.  That part sometimes makes me sad.  I wish I could learn to do more with even less.  I'm sensitive to waste these days.  Dave teased me yesterday because I didn't want to toss something that had already been reheated twice.  "It's OK, Jeany,"  he said, "you can let that go!"

This morning the boys slept in until eight.  Great.  Better yet, Dave let me lie in bed while he played with the boys and the sun diffused through my red gauzy curtains and I rested my bones for another hour and a half.  Yummy.  I think that was my first and last "sleep in" since May.  Tomorrow, rehearsal begins.