Counting My Blessings: Family and Friends

Wednesday afternoon my niece, Jennifer, and her husband came by to visit on the way to my sister's house for Thanksgiving.  I used to see them almost every week at my Mom's house, but since they moved down to Richmond our visits have been few and far between.  I haven't even seen them since  their new baby, Lindsey, was born last May, so it was great to meet her and to see the whole family again.  The weather was heavenly so Jennifer and I visited outside while all the kids played on the swing and zoomed around the circle on the scooters.  It was fun to see how much their father, Dan, enjoyed playing with them, and I appreciated the chance to chat with Jennifer.

Yesterday Ben's brother, John, and his twin boys came over to spend the day since Dawn had to work.  We had another beautiful day so we spent some time outside.  Paul showed John how he had learned to build a fire like one builds if they are in a "survival" situation, using one match and a minimum of twigs to get things going.   Paul and John had some Nerf gun battles before moving inside to join Michael watching TV, building with Legos and Halos,  and playing Mindcraft.   Our friends Sandy and Gina and Gina's son, Gun, joined the party mid-afternoon and it was great to see them again.  Although Gun is about twenty, he was great with the kids, gamely playing flashlight tag and watching Spongebob.

We had a fabulous feast, including a pre-baked turkey and ham which John brought.  I wasn't so sure about how the turkey would turn out, but it was great.  It was a Butterball cooked turkey the came all wrapped like a frozen turkey.  You just unwrapped it, carved it, put the pieces in a big pan, covered it with aluminum foil and and heated it up in the oven for an hour or so until it was good and hot.  Honestly, I think it was one of the best turkeys I've ever eaten.

But of course it wasn't the food that made the holiday so special, it was spending happy times with our family and friends.