My Thanksgiving Weekend

Well, it started on Wednesday. Mom was angry. Lots of things were bothering her, not the least of which the furniture store that held her newly ordered "chair and a half" wouldn't deliver it until Friday - but she was having us guests Thursday! This burned her stuffing but good and the nasty stench of the smoke was quickly beginning to permeate the festivities. So I suggested that Stan and Dad go get it! Sometimes I am a flippin' genius. So Dad drove down in his truck (I mean, what does a man have a truck for if not to rescue his princess from mean furniture stores???) and brought back a chair. Notice I didn't say 'the chair'. So, over the river and through the woods once more and the new chair was carried into the house without incident and Mom was upholstered in HAPPINESS! Okay, so now, Enter Thanksgiving.

I brought the mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, cookies and the pumpkin pie and cookie eaters. My sister brought a lovely apple pie and a wonderful dish of roasted root vegetables, my favorite dish of the day. My mom prepared a very moist fresh turkey, homemade cranberry and orange sauce and some other traditionals. The kids played crokinole, a game sent to my brother in law from his birth mom in Canada. We had a great day and not one of my children marred the new chair in any way.



The next day we layed low and relaxed, thankful that the soccer tournament Seth's new team had entered was postponed till Saturday and Sunday because of the rain. The next day I volunteered to drive him up, an hour away, to his games bright and early. Seth just made a new soccer team that will play in tournaments and presumably has the possibility of getting scoped out by colleges. He's not really concerned with that yet, he's the youngest on the team, he just wants to play good soccer. So we arrived at 7:30am and his games began soon after. In the first game he had two assists, in the second game he had a goal. Neither of the teams were that good...as a matter of fact, the second team didn't show up with a ball on hand and the kids started playing football on the field as they waited for their coach. That's when Seth's team was pretty sure they could win this. :) And they did. The coach told them that the teams on Sunday would be better examples of the kinds of tournaments they'd play in the future. On the way home, Seth told me he needed new cleats because his were ripping and he has heel problems. So we stopped at the sporting goods stores, three, and came home with a pair of cleats (the price of which I will not mention because it hurts, but think - nice restaurant for two), a bag for all his stuff, a hat, a pair of underarmor pants, a pair of nice sweats and partridge in a pear tree.

~"Meerrrry Christmas!!" I exclaimed to him over the dressing room door.~

That evening our town held its annual Santa parade. It consisted of all the teams in our town that won district or state level competitions this year, riding on our firetrucks which were decorated with white Christmas lights, banners, trophies. Luke and Stan were on one because of their recent win. Sean came to the parade with a grocery bag to pick up all the candy the people would throw. I told him that it wasn't going to be like The 4th of July parade, he might only get a few pieces, but he was undaunted and walked all the way to town with his bag aflyin'. There was no candy thrown until the end of the parade. He sadly watched one truck go by throwing candy, but he couldn't get to it in time. Then another came and he pushed out into the street with the throng of children and found a piece laying on the ground. There he stood, head hanging down looking into his opened palm which held a tiny cellophane bag with a candy cane broken into seven pieces. He was crushed. Then came Daddy on his fire engine. I yelled to him that Sean needed some candy in a big way. Daddy had saved some for his boy and he threw it over the other children's heads and we were able to scramble for two more pieces. I gave them to Sean, scooped him up, and carried him to the curb. He collapsed on my shoulder and cried. He had wanted more candy and now all hopes were dashed, Santa's engine was going by and the parade was over. When we got home I told the story to Seth whose heart went straight out to his brother's pain, "I would run to the store and get him some candy if he were my kid!!!" He told me. Daddy came home and called Sean to the bottom of the basement steps and tossed the rest of his candy down the steps to him and his cousins. They scrambled for their treats and there was much laughter. Whew! ;o)

My sister took the kids overnight so Stan and I could go to the second day of games together and enjoy. These teams were tougher and had experienced tournament play before and Seth's team ended up losing both games, but played very well. After the second game, Seth came to the van, took his seat and fell asleep. When we got home we found that he had a high fever, headache and chills. It frightened me a bit, how fast it all came on. He slept all afternoon, with me bugging him every once in a while to make sure he was okay.

Yesterday he stayed home with a bad headache and gave me a list of things he wanted when I went to the grocery store. Fruit popsicles, Tostitoes (for the salt, of course), salsa, green grapes, Chunky beef stew. He is back in school today (which is good for my pocketbook) and all is well.

Today Luke and Sean are trying to get me to put up the upstairs Christmas tree. They just delivered a note that says, "I love Mommy" and the word "Please" over a small drawing of two stick figures decorating a Christmas tree. Clever little ones, aren't they?