Happy American Thanksgiving!

This is the weekend of American Thanksgiving. I have been here for five years now and it is still hard to get used to how late it is. For some reason, this year I haven't been thinking as much about Christmas until now. In previous years I have been playing Christmas music all through the month of November and getting excited for Christmas, but this year I have been less excited. I guess there has been a lot going on, so I have been keeping myself busy with other things. Greg and Amanda, my brother and his wife, came to visit during the week of November 11th. I have been making large amounts of apple butter and canning them for a fundraiser for a friend. I have also been quilting a little bit, just for fun.

Despite all the busyness, I am now getting into the Christmas spirit and playing Christmas music and David has been cleaning out the garage in order to get it organized and to get our Christmas lights out of storage so that he can put them up. One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is the romance of Christmas lights.

Okay, first things first. Our visit with Greg and Amanda was wonderful. I can't be certain, but I kind of think it was Amanda's idea to come all the way out here. I love that they came. It was great to get to know Amanda better and to spend time with Greg again. We didn't do much, but I did take them to one of the first things a person who comes to Seattle has to see - Pike Place Market. We ordered drinks from the very first Starbucks and got a picture or two there and we we saw some fishermen tossing huge fish or crabs to each other. Dave and his company have moved into a new office building, so we showed them the office (even though it's still a bit messy from getting settled into it) before going out to lunch. On the last weekend that they were here we went to Bellevue for some shopping and to stay overnight at one of the hotels there. I think it was a pretty relaxing week for them (even with a 13 month old running around) and we had a great time hanging out together.

The apple butter that I am making is for a little fundraiser entitled "Jam for Sam". We know a family through the home group Dave and I are a part of who have a 4 year old boy with an immune deficiency and has had to undergo 2 bone marrow transplant surgeries. Another couple in the home group has come up with the idea of Jam for Sam and started selling different types of jam at his workplace. I wanted to help out, so she put me in charge of making the apple butter. For one thing, it reminds me of Ontario because of the Wellesley Apple Butter and Cheese Festival. I have never canned before, but I am enjoying it. Plus, it's a great cause and it's nice to be able to help out a friend.

For Thanksgiving, we went to David's sister's house. We had dinner there and actually stayed overnight. We were going to go with Micah's cousins in the morning to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in downtown Seattle, but Micah didn't sleep much during the night, so consequentially, neither did we. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, as always. Mike and Danielle had ordered a smoked turkey and only had to reheat it for a couple hours. It was definitely a different taste, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. I wish I had taken a picture of Micah and his cousins because they all had brown and blue sweaters on and looked so cute. Sorry!