The minute Thanksgiving was over we switched into Christmas mode. We changed the display on the mantle by adding Christmas village pieces to it. We kept the trees as we really like them and are experimenting with what color the lighting should be. In this picture they are in the multi-mode where they change colors randomly. We now have enough batteries to get us through the holidays. Katie has put out all her trolls, as she calls her Santa collection, all over the house. With all the snow outside it really does look a lot like winter around here.

Thanksgiving

Libby arrived home on Saturday before Thanksgiving. Such fun to see her after three months. It actually feels longer than that because she was gone from June 10th to August 10th and then left again to go back to college early as an Orientation leader. We haven’t seen much of her in the last six months so it was wonderful to welcome her home and have time with her before Jack came home.

Jack was scheduled to come home on Thanksgiving Day, getting in at 4pm. That was the day of the “big” storm here in New London. We received over 9” of the white stuff. Luckily we had the snow tires put on our car on Monday and new brakes installed so we had one car that was winter ready. Katie drove to Manchester and said it was the worst drive of her life. She did drive out of the snow about halfway down 89 but the snowy part was terrible. She did get Jack and they drove back, slowly, once they hit the snow again. They arrived safely about 6pm. It wasn’t easy for us who were waiting at home either but Libby and Jack share their location with each other so we knew where they were. A huge sigh of relief once they were in the driveway. We had a very joyful dinner!!!

Thanksgiving Pies by Libby

Libby spent quite a bit of time baking for the holiday. Her specialty is pies so she made a pumpkin cheese cake and an apple pie. Not just simple pies but creative ones. Her pie crust for the apple was made from scratch. It was fun to have her back in the kitchen baking for us.

Early Birthday

Since we had both Jack and Libby home for Thanksgiving we decided to celebrate Katie’s birthday on Saturday night before they went back to Colorado. Sunday was December 1st and the first day of Advent. We had bought an Advent Calendar for Katie as her birthday present. A tad unusual but rather fun, it is a wine Advent Calendar with a different 4oz bottle of wine assigned to each day. Percy was helping her to unwrap it. Aussie’s are very nosy and very curious about anything that is happening, this being no exception. Sunday morning Katie drove them to the airport at 4:30am. A very early but very much better drive than Thursday’s.

Asheville Crew

We missed these guys. They had a wonderful time in Asheville with Hadley’s parents and all their many friends gathering together. Edie went to see her first movie in a movie theater with her buddies and loved it. Quite a different experience from watching a movie at home on the tv or iPad. I really miss not being there at this time of the year. Last year we went down to meet Orin and we took Edie to see the Christmas trees at The Biltmore which is one of my most favorite things to do. Maybe next year we will go and be able to take both of them to see the trees. It is so special and so worth it.