Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Thanksgiving Recap

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is over and Christmas is quickly approaching (24 days, people!). We headed to the lake house again this year to partake in our regular holiday tradition of campfires and paintball, and we added a couple of new traditions as well. Stopping by Books a Million seems to be a new part of the trip since we stopped there last year to pick up some reading material for Little Clover and then we stopped in this year to pick up a book for Italian and me. Maybe next year we should just try packing better.
From Family


Xavier Guy came with us this year, and I think he rather enjoyed himself. He was a bit befuddled by the picture in front of BAM, but let it go as me just being a blogger. He quickly got into the mix of things with my family. I was a terrible hostess and failed to introduce him. Honestly, I see him all the time, so I just figured everyone knew everyone else. My family is big enough that knowing names is not expected, so he blended in just fine. He did join in our annual post Thanksgiving paintball tradition and headed out into the woods to try his hand at a little battle. Despite my cousin, Red Head #1, bailing on him twice because she ran out of air, Xavier Guy held his own and managed to come back to the campfire unscathed.

Little Clover being the pacifist that he is, contended himself with target practice, shooting tree leaves, soda cans, and a wine cork. He did venture out to watch the big cousins run amok in the woods, but felt no burning need to play. I sat by the fire the entire time knitting away on Italian's sock, managing to finish one.

From WIPs

The sock is the generic Wendy's Toe Up sock knit in Trekking XXL. I've forgotten how much I love Trekking XXL. The sock will be sturdy, yet comfy and soft. Italian tried it on and it seemed to fit him just right. It knitted up extremely quickly in straight stockingette, which yes, is a little bit on the boring side, but extremely portable. I've knitted this sock on the plane, in the car, in a dark movie theatre, while walking. With the holidays making life hectic, I think I'm going to really love the stockingette.

My knitting sparked stories about my great aunts who were avid knitters. I heard about them teaching one of my aunts how to crochet and knit and how they visited their own LYS every week, on the hunt for yarn. I have no idea what happened to their yarn or their needles, but I now have a few stories and shared memories to keep with me.

I shared with my family some of my memories of the things I loved about my childhood. I reminiscence about camping every weekend in Colorado when we lived there and how I ran through the wildflowers. I heard stories about my mom and what she was like, and I heard the story about my arrival to the States from the point of view of my family waiting by the airport gate. I was surprised by how many memories filled the air this past holiday and the sharing of the stories was more warming then the campfires that lit the conversations. I'm hoping one day, Little Clover will look back on the many things, both small and large, we have done as a family and smile.

I know this Thanksgiving will be a special one I will recall for many years. This was the year we watched "A Christmas Story" out on the deck under a night sky. Papa Clover set up a projector and a bed sheet and entertained us with a Fleetwood Mac concert until everyone arrived for the screening. We all huddled by a fire with blankets and coats to keep us warm. We popped popcorn and watched Little Clover play air guitar to Fleetwood Mac.
From Family


This was also the year Little Clover woke up before dawn to play Wii games with my dad on the screen left over from the previous night's movie screening. He watched the sun come up with my dad. Later when asked what his favorite part of the entire weekend was, he told me playing the Wii with Papa outside, adding one more memory to our collective story bank.

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