I love November. It might be my favorite month of the year. Fall is firmly established, the weather is cooling down, we get a whole week of vacation from school (which means Cliff's on break too since he's teaching these days!). I love the Fall decorations in my house. I love all the fallen leaves outside. Christmas is close enough to be exciting, but far enough away to appear less stressful. Thanksgiving happens--I think it might be my favorite holiday--and we celebrate a most meaningful and possibly the least commercialized holiday all year (4th of July is almost as good except that here in CA we have no idea how to celebrate it cuz we're dumb that way).
November pics:
Will I ever get tired of taking pictures of the deer that come right up to our door almost? I guess I'll get tired of it when I stop feeling amazed at seeing these graceful, lovely creatures up close. We've been here almost 4 years and it's still: "Shhh! Come here! Look at this! Don't scare them! How many can you see? I can't believe they come so close!", every time.
My Daddy in the kitchen.
Early in the month, we made the Thanksgiving plan with my mom and dad. We wrote down what we would make for THE dinner, and we noted WHO would make it. My super-organized dad produced a spreadsheet for distribution. Shopping was done. Preparations were made. Generally, Cliff cooks tons of good things and Mom cooks tons of good things, with Dad and I as occasional contributors (this year I made the rolls). This year, however, poor Momma was sick on Thanksgiving! And whatever she had, Allegra had too! So my dad made all the Thanksgiving food that Mom was gonna make. Of course, amazing Mom had most of it made or prepped the day before, so Dad didn't have to do too much. But he's getting to be such a great cook! He has his specialties to be sure--just lately (it's mid January as I write this), he's seeking the perfect sweet roll (NOT a cinnamon roll, mind you, but a soft, gooey SWEET roll. We are enjoying sampling his many versions)--but he's pretty dang good at most everything in the kitchen. Who knew! So here you can see some of the spread he was responsible for.
And here's our lovely table and buffet. Pretty good effort, considering the lady of the house (she with the discerning eye for decor) was laid up! We always eat upstairs when we're feeding a crowd (which we thought we were this year until Mom turned up ill!), cuz of the mondo expanding table that Mom and Dad have.
Our Thanksgiving dinner attendees:
My beautiful eldest daughter
She and I together
The scruffy man (on vacation!!) with our youngest boy.
And that's it! Momma was ill, Allegra was ill, Chase is on a mission, it wasn't a "Galbraith" Thanksgiving (meaning all the Galbraith children spent Thanksgiving at their in-laws this year--or at home) AND the guests that were going to come bailed when they heard the flu was in the house. All except our friend Randi, who I didn't get a picture of. We had a fun time talking and laughing with her. AND she decided she wanted our last little guinea pig, Hades, so that was a very good thing. Having nothing to do with Thanksgiving, of course. Except that we were Thankful she wanted to give Hades a good home. He's been lonely since Zeus died and we were a little worried at the interest the kitties were showing in him. He's safely in his cage and all, but... you never know with cats.
Anyway, it was the quietest Thanksgiving ever. And very pleasant it was, too. Just different.
Towards the end of the month we woke up to our first frosty morning. Allegra found this jeweled leaf in the parking lot at the church after early morning seminary.
And the hills... so beautiful, still golden from summer and covered in white sugar frost.
I will never get tired of this view.
It's been a wonderful month. But the quiet times are over for a little while....Christmas looms ahead!
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