Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas?
Thanksgiving was punctual; Christmas came early.
Thanksgiving Dinner
We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents' house, as always; and the stars aligned for just about everyone to make it this year:
- my parents (2);
- me, Kitten, and the Molerat (3);
- Kelly, Steve, Olivia, and Hannah (4);
- Uncle Roy, Aunt Sue, and Karen (3);
- Dave, Angie, Alexis, Natalie, and Kayla (5)
- Laura, Matt, J.D., Ava, Crawford, Maya, and Cole (7);
- Pete, Alissa, Liam, and Ellie (4)
So... 28 of us? Not too shabby!
I didn't take a ton of photos, but I got a few...
Riley hung out with Ava all night—and actually even ended up eating out in the dining room, separately from her mom and me!
Kitten and I set up shop in the living room and ate with Dave, Angie, Pete, and Alissa: It was especially nice for Angie and Athennia to get to chat for several hours and actually get to know each other—since we're usually lucky to exchange all of 10 words with any given person at gatherings this large. (Also, Dave and Angie have such a crazy schedule between touring with their respective orchestras, plus all the activities the girls are involved in, that they often can't make it to most family events besides Thanksgiving and Christmas to begin with!)
Dinner was awesome, and dessert was probably even better: Kelly made apple cider muffins, Angie made pumpkin pie, and Kitten made a cherry danish shaped like a candy cane...
So, when Angie commented on how good it was a few minutes later, I was like, "Yeah! It's Athennia's Amish grandmother's recipe!"
Black Friday
We've finished all our Christmas shopping probably five weeks ago; so, Kitten took advantage of the empty laundromat on Friday instead.
On her way out, she snapped this pic of our neighbor Ruth ("Barnyard") illegally parked in the handicapped space—and apparently dressed to show her equal-opportunity support for the local street gangs...
Saturday
After Friday came Saturday, believe it or not—but, after two days off already, it felt like a second Sunday.
And, at any rate, we had a full dance card...
Merry Christmas!
Taylor, Ahlina, and Ahlina's sister Damiante stopped by briefly while they were down from Connecticut for a concert in Reading; so we took the opportunity to give Taylor her Christmas presents so Athennia could watch her open them in person.
But first, a quick emergency broadcast from Odin...
— Odin Sigfrid
— Reality
Riley Had Another Date
Eventually we had to say our goodbyes to Taylor and company, because Riley had already made plans to spend the afternoon at Taaro's mom Nina's house down in the city—and Kitten and I were responsible for dropping her off.
Completely forgetting to change into 50% red, 50% blue, we jumped in the car, hopped on Roosevelt Blvd, and drove to the 'hood.
That went something like this...
— civil engineers, apparently
There were exactly zero places to park—which I suppose technically qualifies as a perk, if you're the kind of masochist who would choose to live in the city and just get @#$%ed every way imaginable by everything imaginable.
But it also meant that Kitten had to stay in the car while I walked the Molerat up to Nina's door...
...Just as it meant that my conversation with Nina got cut short all of 11 seconds in, when a pickup truck came up the street behind Kitten and we had no choice except for Kitten to drive around the block by herself (not happening!) or for me to run back to the street and jump in the car to be in our way.
A Lazy Afternoon
Kitten and I had a free afternoon with not a lot planned. We ended up stopping by my parents' house for a couple hours; and then we stopped at the Philly Pretzel Factory in Richboro, grabbed some pretzel bites, and sat in an empty parking lot and made fun of bad drivers that went past.
Then we decided we needed some booze; so, we hit the Wine and Spirits store around the corner from our apartment. We were hoping to grab some of mint chocolate chip whiskey we'd had at Pete's chili cookoff, but the store didn't have any.
We decided to try Cookie Dough instead...
Nina and Taaro brought Riley home around 9:00 and they came up and visited for a little bit before they headed back.
And that just leaves...
The Cats
