When I think about the Thanksgiving holidays from my childhood, there are two things that stand out in my memory for my family – yard work and interrupted blessings. We had both this year. As usual, I have photos of the weekend:

* Thanksgiving 2005 Photos

I don’t know if Thanksgiving weekend was the big yard waste pickup day, or if Dad just took advantage of the day off, but Thanksgiving just seemed to be when Dad spent the day trimming the ficus hedge that separated our backyard from my elementary/ middle school playground. Dad also gave the blessing each year. However, it was almost always interrupted by the family breaking out in giggles -first my brother, then me, then my mom.

The past 4 years or so, I haven’t been at my family’s house for T-day for one reason or another, but this year, I hosted Thanksgiving for my family at my house for the first time. I think it went wonderfully. Thankfully, I had the help of my mom in the kitchen, my dad on the house, and my brother for entertainment. Everyone helped with the yard work. Thomas was able to join in the fun after his on-call shift ended.

The food was delicious, and the company was great. This year, I started the giggling during the blessing, but I couldn’t hold back once I started. Mom gave me a beautiful set of silver serving pieces and glass candlestick holders. On Friday, Thomas and my brother visited Frys, Mom and I checked out some antique stores, and Dad watched the game.

The big excitement of the weekend was that a squirrel got stuck in my attic when he was startled by my dad. Dad had gone up there to patch the woodpecker holes, and the squirrel got his tail stuck in a crack while trying to escape. By the end of the weekend though, and after tearing down several boards, Thomas and Dad rescued the squirrel and patched the roof back up.