Giving thanks!

This year we had a very short Thanksgiving in St. Louis, due to ticket prices being extremely high if we wanted to fly back on Sunday. To save a LOT of money, we flew back on Saturday instead, early in the morning. However, we still had a great time, filled with lots of fun things to do, and delicious food to eat, and most importantly, wonderful family to be with.

We flew out of a gate that was down a hall at SFO that we had never noticed before - it was like going to Hogwarts. There was some art.

We had a connection in Denver, and after that we were on a small plane with 2 seats on either side of the aisle. We let Charli and Buster sit together - which means Brian and I also got to sit together, and I got a window seat! Wow! Another thing to be thankful for!

We got to St. Louis just in time for dinner, and there was snow! We couldn't play in it that night, but we went to the playground on Thanksgiving morning.

Charli and Buster had a great time playing in the 1/2 inch of snow, although the gloves were hard to work with. And it was cold. Our kids don't know how to handle that really.

Here's Charli showing me the eensy weensy snowball she made. Right after I took this picture, she threw it at me!

Then it was turkey time! We did some serious eating, but you can't really tell from this picture, because the tremendous amounts of food are all in the kitchen, with only very reasonable amounts actually sitting on the table. Peter roasted a non-GMO organic free range never-been-frozen giant turkey; it was incredible. Buster ate 3 servings of pink stuff. Also, if you don't want your cast iron pans to be washed with soap, then don't give them to Bernie to wash.

It was also Katy's birthday! Happy birthday, Katy! Also, if you don't want your super precious family heirloom dessert plates broken, then make sure you serve dessert to Dave on cast iron plates instead. Fortunately, these dessert plates were neither super precious nor family heirlooms!

On Friday it was time to hunt the wily Christmas tree!

John couldn't make it to either Thanksgiving or the Christmas tree hunt, because he was busy quelling riots in Ferguson. Peter had to step up for the hewing of the tree, aided by Buster. Timberrrrr!

Katy also couldn't make it to the Christmas tree hunt, due to work, thus we have a smaller family picture than usual. Jim was there, though, having come back to visit shortly after moving to Wisconsin.

Our family picture is the same size, though.

After another successful tree hunt, it was back to Kelly's for delicious Christmas tree soup! Man, I love that stuff. Charli does, too! Charli is my partner in soup loving - I'm so happy!

We had to leave super early on Saturday morning, but that actually ended up giving us a full weekend at home to accomplish things - like another Christmas tree hunt (not nearly so wily). We will address that elsewhere, though, dear readers.