The party's over!

We really had a nice day with our children and grandchildren gathered here at our house. It was a busy day...starting out quite early...Woody and I got up before 6am to start the turkey cooking and then to get the other dishes prepared and the tables set. Melany, Wade, Erin and Alex arrived mid-morning. Nathan, Kathy, Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther-Noel, Elijah and Kathy & Nathan's 6-year-old nephew, Emerson arrived closer to noon, as they were saying good-bye to Kathy's parents who had been here celebrating Thanksgiving with them. Nathan did "talk" Alex into blowing leaves before lunch...I think that Nathan used a sort of "Tom Sawyer method" to entice Alex to do it..."Hey, Alex, we have this neat leaf blower...you really need to try it out!" Or something like that! Well, it worked! And, once again our yard is blown clean of leaves...but for how long!? Melany carved the turkey. Wade mashed the potatoes. Woody sat with the younger children at the table in the kitchen. The rest of us ate in the dining room. Woody said that he was still a child...but...really sitting in the kitchen put him closer to seconds! After lunch, Woody sat to work doing the dishes, Melany cut the rest of the turkey off, I put away dishes, later Wade took over doing the dishes. After lunch, the children started putting out the Fisher Price Nativity scene, Wisemen set, and Inn set that we gave them last year. I had the coffee table all covered and the boxes awaiting them...and several noticed them when they came in and I told them that they could set it up after lunch. They enjoyed doing that...of course...we have a couple of sheep on top of buildings or trees and other objects in odd places...but they had fun and that is what matters. And, hopefully it got them thinking about the reason for Christmas! Last year Woody and I made the decision not to decorate for Christmas due to his broken arm...and, then, we were really glad that we had made that decision, when we learned about his melanoma recurring...so the new children's nativity scene sets put Christmas in our home. I'll probably blog a picture of it during this Christmas season. Oh...and, Alex had so much "fun" blowing leaves before lunch that he did more later in the afternoon! Everyone was busy either playing or working or visiting!

Today I posted a picture of a nuthatch that Woody and I spotted yesterday on our walk...I guess I should say that we heard...as we heard him first peck, pecking away...and then spotted him. We both have realized that our "photography walks" have made us much more observant of our surroundings when we walk. We are sometimes amazed at all that we see (or hear).

At the moment, Woody and I are both ready to put our feet up and rest after our day of celebrating Thanksgiving with our family.