More Christmas stuff for youse guyses....

On Friday, the day after Chritmit, we made our way down to Mass to see my mom and dad , et al....

Sorry for the lack of writing...it is going on eleven and I am tired from a night of bowling with the Fitzpatricks...haha. I will let the pics do most of the talking...

Late Friday night, opening gifts at Nannie and Upbob's...the kids wanted to get their bath first and get into their PJs...Callum says that opening gifts is SO MUCH MORE FUN when you are in your pjs....haha

#typical #mass #nannie #nanniestwin #probablyorderingstufftheydontneed #dontbothermewhenimonmyscreens

Then on Saturday morning I got my all important blueberry coffee from Honey Dew....

Maira was not feeling well on Saturday, and she kept complaining of an earache....so she stayed in her PJs when we went over to Papa and Grammy Goldsmith's to open gifts. Below, Papa (like the rest of us) is absolutely stymied as to how to get one of Callum's Transformers together....back in MY day, transformers were made of metal and fit with surgical precision....

Later after Papa's it was off to Cheng Du's for our annual Chinese food luncheon with the Goldsmiths, the Bolgers, and the Favrys. The kids were tickled pink at the cool cups Sonny (the owner) served their fruit punch in (little pandas!). Callum and Jackson always pick up RIGHT where they leave off...they have a blast together....and Maira always joins in the fun. In a few years,, Annabella will join the Gang-of-Nannie-Stresser-Outers for sure!

Here's little Annabella, enjoying some lo-mein with Auntie Amanda....

And here she is with me (is it just me, or do I look like Doctor Evil? haha)

And before heading back to Nannie's house to open gifts from the Favrys, we stopped at CupCakeTown to pick up cupcakes to  bring back to Nannie's for dessert...they make some fine darn cupcakes!!

Merry Christmas 2014 from the Goldsmiths!! A wonderful Christmas, as all Christmases are wonderful. I couldnt possibly go into every detail, and I will let the pictures do the talking....this is part 1 of Christmas....I will do a couple more blogs, as our Christmas entailed Christmas eve celebrations, Christmas day celebrations, and day-after-Christmas-Massachusetts-Christmas!

On Christmas Eve we hung out and cooked and snacked and did last minute running around. I did a ChristmasEveSwim before all the craziness started, and then I worked on my fish chowder and my EnglishChristmasSausage (a new recipe this year!) in preparation for Christmas morning breakfast. Jon and Kelsey came over to visit on Christmas Eve, and then after they left we went to church for Lessons and Carols. I performed a solo for "From Heaven Above to Earth I come" that the congregation alternated with "O Come all ye Faithful." Christmas day was grossly hot and rainy and the weather just sucked. But we made very merry with a great time opening gifts and eating a wonderful beef tenderloin made by grampy. The rain stopped and the sun came out and Maira and I even went for a Christmas day bike ride since it was so warm. She got a new bell for her bike and wanted to try it out...haha. Now for the pictures. I am sure Amanda took great pics too, but she has never uploaded them to the computer for my usage on the blog...she must have a batrillion pics on her phone...

Christmas Eve fun....opening up some legos, dolls, and more before church!

I love this pic...Callum was the first one to make his way downstairs...he is 'sizing up' the gift situation...haha...slippers, robe, hilarious!

the chaos begins....haha...

The kids got several games and puzzles (Jenga, Headbandz, HelloKittyScrabble, and Twister--to name a few....below, the kids get into Twister!

The kids finished the gifts from us (and Santa!) and then Lin and Gorge came up from the downstairs den and the chaos began again...haha! Maira was getting basically drowned by presents....

Callum got a ton of legos--UncleJon and Aunt Kelsey got him a 2K piece tub of 'freeform' legos, and we got him a few sets (the big one, in particular, was an 'Arctic Substation' with dogsleds, oil drillers, snowmobiles, research stations, etc). Callum was as focused as could be, at the table, putting stuff together...

And the end of a long, tiring, merry day.....

Yesterday afternoon we went over to the Huesers' house to hang out for a bit and honor some Hanukkah traditions and have some fun. Katie's dad is from Germany, and for a gift years ago (I think she said it was for their wedding) they got this traditional 'Glockenspiel.' It is a gorgeous piece of art (yes, I guess you would say art...haha) to put out for Christmas. There are candles to light, and the heat from the candles works the 'turbine' at the top around and around, and the whole 'scene' spins. It is quite beautiful, and very "Christmasey.' 

One of Callum's favorite things to do over at their house is make his 'special' root beer with Tom--Callum loves using the soda stream machine!

We were originally going to make some potato latkes to eat....and then we thought about making knishes....but we settled on making some cheese/fruit blintzes. My Nana Goldsmith used to make blintzes a lot (but I dont remember them too well) and so we used this Jewish cookbook my dad gave me to make blintzes (well, we used 'ingredients' suggested by the cookbook...we didnt use the cookbook itself...sorry for that misplaced modifier....EnglishTeacherProblems....). Blintzes are akin to French crepes, but since French things suck, blintzes are so much better. They are very thin 'pancakes' that one makes (by frying) and then one fills them with a cream cheese sort of filling...or they can use blueberries or fruit or something....and then one 'fries' them again. We used Nutella and the cheese mixture...but we also used some strawberries that we had canned from previous summer.

I think they look great! And they were mighty tasty!! And, for probably the last time ever, we had some delicious takeout pizza from Michelina's....the restaurant is closing. Boo. Whatever. Very sad.

But these two dudes are NOT sad....Callum just loves his buddy Jake....Jake is such a great young man. A class act.

Today would have been my Nana Courtney's 94th birthday. For most all of the time I knew her, she lived in Quincy Mass, and Quincy Mass has got to be one of my favorite cities. I have been thinking of Quincy a lot lately and how much I love it and how many memories it has for me...this is funny because I am sure when people read this (like my mom and dad etc) they will say "huh? I've never heard you talk about QUincy!" But it is true. Quincy was a special place for me.

My grandmother lived in this apartment building on Copeland St that was one block away from a huge Catholic church (she walked to mass like every day) and a rectory with an enormous parking lot where my cousins and I used to play catch when we would all visit for her parties--especially her Christmas party. This apartment was so small, yet each year it was absolutely jam packed with warmth and bright sweaters and TVs playing Patriot games (back when the Pats sucked!) and hard-as-a-rock brownies and sweet and sour meatballs and this green 'monster' that made up my Nana's 'stocking.' Does anyone remember this?

But beyond merely the Christmas party, I had a lot of great times in Quincy with my grandmother. We'd go to Brighams for ice cream sundaes. We'd do her errands at the Osco Drug (which used to be a 'roundabout' or something) and she always knew the other women working at Osco. We'd go to Star Market to get Moxie and Pringles chips and Sanka and M&Ms--these things were perennially on hand at my Nana's. But beyond just the 'errands' I'd do with my Nana, there was just something special about the 'city' of QUincy. It just had a very special feel to it--a feeling I just cannot explain. It was RIGHT on the outskirts of Boston, and it had a lot of culture and depth and richness--yet it had a very 'calm' feel to it for a city; it didnt have a rushed city feel to it. It always seemed like a peaceful place, and I dont know if it is because it 'was' because most of the traffic was a bit north in Boston...or if it was because I had such warm times there with my grandmother.

Anyone who knows me knows I am an awful driver--and this is even more exacerbated when I am driving in the city. But I would never be afraid to drive in Quincy. When I worked in the city--and when I would go into Boston with buddies--I would never be afraid to drive to Furnace Brook Parkway or whatever exit it was; I'd never be afraid to get off the exit to park at the Quincy Adams or Quincy Center 'red line' subway station. Isnt that funny? I always felt safe in Quincy.

Geographically, Quincy is awesome. Right next to Boston, and right next to Braintree, where most of my Friday night adventures led me with Jay, Jawn, Tim, Kevin Pray, Bryan T Maher, and more. Newbury Comics and Barnes and Noble and the South Shore Plaza were all in Braintree, right on the outskirts of Quincy. Quincy has beaches and suburban neighborhoods. Quincy has great restaurants like "The Hollow" and this amazing Chinese restaurant (I cannot remember the name, but it was on 'sea Street). I used to go into Quincy with my dad to go to the eye doctor at Dr. Brackley. Quincy had the world's best supermarket--Roxie's (they specialized in meat!).

Anyway, just reminiscing about Quincy. And reminiscing about my grandmother. My Nana and Papa on my dad's side died when I was in elementary school and high school, respectively, and my Nana Courtney was the last biological grandparent I had. I had many good times with her, sleeping over her house, playing PokerKeno, searching her candy jars for M&Ms, getting up super early to listen to WHDH radio, and eating really good French Toast for breakfast (sorry Nana...you had good French Toast, meatballs, and onion dip....but everything else you cooked sucked...haha...sorry!!!)

Go visit Quincy. It is nice. And so am I.

and this is nice....

and Callum was 'Santa's' elf last night...more on that later...

Happy first night of Hannukah everyone....I remember, as a kid, having my dad take my sister and I to the Jewish bookstore (I think it was in Randolph) and getting storybooks that told the stories of the Jewish tradition...we always grew up honoring those holidays. And now Amanda and I try to do the same for the kids; tonight I had a doctor's appointment and we had some other stuff going on, but tomorrow and for the next several days we will light our Menorah. 

Here is Maira getting sung to by the Governor's waitstaff.....wait, I think I already put this picture on the blog. Oh well....

What are your favorite Christmas traditions as far as music and books go? I always try to read A CHRISTMAS CAROL each year...I have a beautifully illustrated edition I got one year for Christmas. I would like to start reading THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER each year. Remember that book? Usually we go see THE NUTCRACKER each year. I always read/teach O. Henry's short story THE GIFT OF THE MAGI if I happen to be teaching a freshmen section that year...and this year I am. Again, this year, I will play Santa Claus at our church's Advent family night. Dont tell the kids.

MOVIES that have to be watched each year: White Christmas, Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, A Christmas Carol, Elf, and, now that we own it, Santa Claus: The Movie. Feel free to leave a comment with your favorites as far as movies and songs and books go...

Speaking of books, the kids read SILLY SALLY with Nannie while listening to Brenda Lee Christmas album...

And ALL ABOARD for the Polar Express! Can you see the 'engine' Callum put together on his little table? And Sally and Grampy get ready for a ride while Callum draws up personalized tickets for the ride. The kid has some kind of imagination, I'll tell ya that....

Santa Claus was about a two hour wait on Sunday, ,so we just perused the downtown of Waterville's KRINGLEVILLE where all the storefronts, etc were decorated for Christmas. The kids always love looking at the village that is set up in the storefront by the Maine Made Shop.

In other news, Callum came home from school fifty shades of excited today, since, today, these guys brought two REAL, LIVE REINDEER to school and the kids went out to the playground to meet them and pet them, etc. I am still trying to get the whole story out of the kid....you know what it is like to try to information out of a six year old...haha

HAPPY FOURTH BIRTHDAY MAIRA!!!!

Our little girl turned four on Friday, and we had a little birthday party for her on Saturday. On Friday, Nannie and UpBob came up in the afternoon and we hung out and listened to Brenda Lee Christmas on vinyl (haha) and went to Governor's (Mae had a tough time choosing between Govs and Maineley Brews...I love that my four year old even CONSIDERED Maineley's for her birthday). Nannie and Bob stayed over in Waterville, and the next day were in attn. for her party. It was a wonderful visit with them and it was great for them to meet some lovely and important people in our lives.....

Amanda (and Maira!) made 'kitty cupcakes' (Maira wanted to have a kitty-party). The frosting was purchased at Hillmans #obvi and then both the girls decorated the cupcakes...they had a blast doing so....

The party was at one, so we put out some snack items. I made some homemade guacamole, and we cut up some vegetables with hummus....Amanda made one of her homemade cheeseballs, and and she put together some wonderful beer bread and spinach dill dip. Please, below, notice my Nana Courtney's ICONIC chip/dip set. This is the only thing I have from my Nana, but trust me it is all I need....haha. I did NOT make her signature sweet and sour meatballs...I tried a new recipe that contained some far-out things like cider vinegar, molasses, and gin! They must have been good, cuz they were gone-zo....

You can see Jake, Meg, and Katie hanging out talking to Nannie, and you can also notice Bob and Tom in deep conversation about thermonuclear dynamics and its relationship to the rising cost of vacuum cleaner bags....or something....

Everyone wants to help little Maira (who does NOT like to be the center of attention...she gets very shy) open gifts. Maira was delighted to have her big brother and her two special friends Emily and Hannah help her open up some awesome stuff! Lots of doll clothes for AnnaBella (her BittyBaby), new dance clothes and shoes from MeeMee and Grampy, books, a doll from Uncle Jon and Aunt Kelsey, and a whole bunch of other great stuff. In the tumult of the party, we forgot to bring down the gifts from Papa and Grammy  AND the Favrys..they had sent them ahead of time. So, today, Maira got to do round 2 of her gifts, and she played MyLittlePony Memory from the Favrys and she loved her little critter/mouse-house thing from Papa--she played with it during the whole Pats game today.... Puzzles, books, art stuff, Frozen stuff....a very lucky girl is Maira...

Just a laid back time, enjoying good laughs and Christmas cheer....

As most of you know, the Goldsmiths are somewhat regulars at Governor's (haha) and all the waitresses 'know' us...so they were delighted to bring Maira her chocolate ice cream and sing to her!

As much as I want to turn your bedroom into a study, you guys REALLLLLLLLLLLLLY need to stop growing up so fast!! Maira, happy birthday sweetheart. Someday you'll feel terrible about how mean you are to me....hahahaha

So hear we are in (almost) mid December--a really really crappy stretch of weather lately. As usual, the weathermen got the forecast completely wrong, and we got no snow whatsoever--all yucky rain, making all the snow we DID have turn to something that looks like left-outside-too-long newspaper. The funny thing too is that the temperature has virtually been STAGNANT for about four days--34-36 degrees....and that is it....day, night, it doesnt matter. Awful forecast. Awful weather. Bring on the snow dammit! However, we did have our first snow day last week, and, although Sally went to work, the kids and I had a good (but freakin' exhausting) day playing Thomas trains, building Legos, and just generally making a good old mess....

I dont know about Cupcake, man. She is a delightful little lady...but she is, nevertheless, a KITTEN...with a TON of energy and playfulness. If she is not sleeping, she is usually ruining something material OR fighting with Lupine. Lupine HAAAAAAATES this damn cat. It is so sad. There is ubiquitous growling and hissing--all from Lupine....poor Cupcake just wants to play. But Maira is in love, so there's that.....

Oh hey. Just me at school. This was taken in my classroom on break during blocks 1 and 2....kids get a 15 minute break to get breakfast, walk around, or whatever. It is always a good time to catch up with kids, hang out, etc. I think I have mentioned this before, but I like to put all the kid book dustcovers on my wall, so I can decorate. .Have I mentioned this? Idk. Only one more week of school til Christmas break....this year has been flying by, and that is great. A tough year (they are all tough years) with the curriculum, planning for and teaching six COMPLETELY different classes. Nothing is the same, which makes this exciting, but also a ton of work. Good, creative work though. I like it.

Trying to beef up my Christmas record collection, and I found these two gems from my childhood. Two of my mom's favorites--Brenda Lee Christmas and Kenny Roger Christmas album. Why, even tonight, as Nannie and Upbob are up for Maira's birthday party tomorrow, we got to listen to them and take a trip down memory lane....fun...

Can someone please tell me what the deal is with all of the sudden every mom with a camera and their name in a fancy font becoming 'photographers?' What are the prerequisites for this? Like I said, I think all you need is a solid group of pinetrest friends who think they have cute kids....then you need to put your name in a cute little font....and you need facebook too....and VOILA! You are now a photographer!! I feel badly for the old school studios like Olan Mills, JCPenny, and even Sears (and I have NEVER felt ANY POSITIVE FEELING for Sears). But for real, moms becoming 'photographers' is the pumpkin spice latte of jobs, ya know? Add this to candle consultants and pampered chef parties....Just because you know where there is a pretty tree does not mean you can take my family's pictures.

And while on the subject of moms/pictures/bragging, why not Make-Your-Own-Stamps?? I have, over the years, given tons of grief to the US Postal Service for not keeping up with the competition, and not doing anything to 'meet the consumer halfway,' so to speak (all they do is raise prices...they refuse to adapt to changing times). Make your own stamps would be a fantastic idea dude! All the vain moms who think there kids are cute can add pictures of their kids to real, legal, stamps...they can pay a premium price for this, but, nonetheless, the Postal Service can send the stamps to these people. Then, parents who think their kids are cute can put cards (containing pictures of kids!) in envelopes stamped with even MOOOOORE pictures (taken by a 'photographer') of these kids underneath a pretty tree! Everyone wins! Why the postal service has not done this yet is a tragedy....can you imagine how much mail would increase? I know I would have a blast putting pictures of Charles POnticelli  on my stamps....I would take pictures of toilets or dog crap or something to use on all my bills I send in to the cable company, phone, etc. This could be fun! Join me!

I'm a sucker for vintage Christmas albums, as they remind me of my youth....they remind of when Christmas was awesome and I was a kid and the world was simpler. I mean, Christmas is still awesome cuz now there are new traditions with Callum and Maira...but you know what I mean.

Like, right now, I'm lying on the couch listening to Kenny Rogers Christmas album on vinyl and I'm transported back to my living room at 734 Foundry Street in Easton, when my mom would play her records at Christmas. I used to dance around the coffeetable with my sister. And then go down to the basement to play while my mom made her Christmas cookies--mostly the peanut butter ones with Hershey Kisses in the middle or the chocolate ones with the cute little Andes mint in the middle. I'm lying here at 1030 AM and I have tears in my eyes. What the hell is wrong with me? I dont care. #comeatmebro. Christmas records are great.

Some great ones that remind me of childhood (and they were all on vinyl cuz that's how Hank and Anne rolled....)
-Kenny Rogers
-Barbara Mandrell (mother baking in the kitchen....daddy chopping firewood...)
-Willy Nelson's 'Pretty Paper'  album
-John Denver's "A Rocky Mountain Christmas"
-John Denver and the Muppets
-The Carpenter's Christmas album

It is my mission to find all these records eventually and have my own collection, since Anne's were ruined during a routine basement flooding. The other day Maira and I spent an hour looking at records at TheRecordConnection in Waterville (my favorite store); Bob, the owner, has all his Christmas albums set aside, and Maira sat on the floor and pored through albums, picking the ones we wanted to buy. Maira LOVED this--I think she sees records as a 'novelty' from outer space or something....they are HUGE and have HUGE pictures on them. That is her favorite, as she says. Obviously, she picked the albums based solely on the pictures on the cover. The one she HAD to have, ironically enough, was Brenda Lee's Christmas record.....and this just happens to be Nannie's all time favorite singer.. Nannie's little granddaughter for sure, huh? (and then, on the other hand, Callum loves Manheim Craproller....just like meemee....not sure how I feel about this one....haha)

A couple of pictures from the Thanksgiving eve/day snowstorm.....I dont snowblow.

Diesel navigating the snow in back of BaBa's barn....

tranquility.....

Have I posted this picture on the blog already? At any rate, here it is again...me, Diesel, and the girllllllzzzzz.

Amanda and I continue to lead the opening of each Sunday's Sunday school; we set the tone for the day, do the Bible memory verse, sing a song, do the offering, get people's energies going (hopefully) and then send the kids on their way to go to their respective classes. Another feature of the Sunday school is the "activity," which is usually led by a different church member each week, and it can be a game or a craft or whatever. Below, our friend Seth does a "sin" activity with some of the little kids. Not the distinctive ways each one of our kids dresses: Maira is adorned in a party dress with her 'stockings,' while CS is kitted out head to toe in NinjaTurtle crap.....

Some more Thanksgiving week pictures...this one below was taken during the Monday before Thanksgiving when I arrived at grandpop's house to find Sally, Belle, Emma, CS, and Maira in the heat of a Scrabble tournament. I love Scrabble--does anyone else out there? Amanda and I played a bunch of times together at night over the last week. But she cheats. Bad. But I got to spell PUBES, so I have that going for me I guess.....oh yeah, isn't BaBa's civil war rifle pretty cool? If Shells, Jawn (RIP) or Tib ever looked at this blog, they would appreciate the Civil War Memorabilia, no doubt.....

TheShore came up to our neck of the woods on Tuesday night and we went out to Cancun for dinner. Usually we have to go to Craparitas, but this year we got out of that terrible, sucky place!! Cancun is always great, but my friend Jay seems to hate it there for some reason. I dont know why. He is one of those people who always complains about service at restaurants. Go figure. My favorite thing about this photo is how one of my favorite kid's books of all time--The Cat At Night, by Dahlov Ipcar is spread out on the table. I love that story, and I love how our kids bring books to restaurants.

Here's me and my mad crazy woman crush Michelle.....

On Wednesday before Thanksgiving (one of the best days of the year in my opinion) Callum and I got ready for the snowstorm and spent the morning making apple sauce. I think I mentioned this in a previous post, but here is a picture. We still have two more whole bushels of apples to peel, process, cook down, and can. Maybe tomorrow--if we have a snow day--like everyone seems to think we will. I dont think we will though. I try not to think about anything.

Hey guys, hey

Had a great long Thanksgiving weekend....here is the recap (so I can look back in years to come and realize how golden our lifessss issssss)

A gorgeous snowstorm that started Wed night and continued into Thanksgiving morning. Amanda and I got a rare run together on Wednesday afternoon during the snow...too bad I had to ruin it....

Thanksgiving morning was met with about an hour and a half of snowblowing and shoveling and cleaning up after the storm.....then we headed out to BaBa's for the holiday with TheShore, Lin and Gorge, and Jon and Kelsey. I got to spend a lot of quality time with Diesel, my third favorite duog. He is a puppie Newfoundland....

No LL Bean trip on Thaksgiving night this year! A rarity!! But Sally, Lin, the kids, and TheShore went down on Friday night to see the light show. I worked on the snowmobile a little bit on Friday, and I took a nice little ride on my own to check out the trails and fields near our house....then on Friday night I met everyone back at BaBa's for turkey sandwiches

On Saturday I played SnowmobileTourGuide. First, I took Callum out for a nice, long snowmobile ride...I really love how much HE loves snowmobiling....he told me today it was one of his favorite things ever. I wanted to take him home, but he kept telling me he didnt want to go home, and he wanted to keep riding and exploring. A great bonding time! Although, with the sound of the machine (coupled with our heavy helmets) we cant really talk that much! After I took him back, Beth, Hannah, and Emily came over to play in the snow....but then we all took a walk down the trail behind the Marcoux's and I took the girls, Callum, and then Beth for little spins on the XTC. Beth, in particular, got the 'full body experience' of the sled.....#crickets #....

But seriously though, my favorite thing to do with the snowmobile (and the thing that makes the investment totally worth it) is sharing the joy with other folks....taking friends and kids out in the snow is one of my favorite things to do!

One more thing: This morning, on the way to church, the roads were so bad that we went off the road three times; The streets were nothing but ICE. We had to turn around, as we couldnt even make it up the slightest hill and we couldnt get any traction. One of our 'situations' involved us doing THREE 180s on the road and crashing into a snowbank. Everyone was okay and the car is fine. Scary and bizarre (like falling off a snowmobile must be). Callum had the line of the day: "Daddy...I know that it isnt good for the car, and Maira could get hurt....but could we PLEASE do that again?? It was better than the rides at Santa's Village."

Sure is, son. Sure is.

This is Cupcake. Our new kitty. More about her next time. But I wanted to formally introduce her to the world. The latest Goldsmith....

Christmas books are back!!!! BookSelfies!!!!

Hey.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Thanksgiving is the greatest holiday of the year, for many reasons. I love it even more than Christmas....because it STARTS the Christmas season...but enough about that. Just enjoy everyone! I am trying to suck the marrow out of this week! A big shout out and hug to my Mass and CT family, with whom we will not be this year, as it is our "Maine" year. But we will see you all in just a few weeks for Christmas stuff. And a big shout out to the "FoundingFathers" of Shells, Jawnb, and Efth, for whom I am grateful beyond imagination. I spend most of my waking hours trying to think of ways to make fun of them and get them all pissed off, but, as anyone who knows me truly knows, I love them like brothers. Well, not really Tim though. He is barely even an American. 

This afternoon, while it NorEastered ouside, Amanda and the kids (and me to a little extent) made their annual gingerbread house...Callum (inspired by me of course) had this idea to put his Playmobil Santa and reindeer up on the roof of the house. Watching Callum and Maira do the house is an psychological textbook lecture to say the least...Callum is an absolute perfectionist and gets pissed if things arent PERFECTLY STRAIGHT....and Maira is a devious little devil who just tries to pilfer the candy when she thinks no one is looking.....

A fantastic day-before-Thanksgiving....huge snowstorm....gingerbread houses...Christmas records (the vinyl kind)...good stuff. We are supposed to get almost 18 inches of snow, perhaps. Maybe a little #xtc before heading to Readfield for Thanksgiving tomorrow....




While Sally, Lin, and Maira went over to BaBa's to meet up with Michelle and make pies (got all that?) Callum and I worked our tails off to make applesauce.....we got a LOT done and the house smelled great! Our dear friend Chris (the other XC coach) just lost her mom unexpectedly...so we brought her a quart of sauce, and Callum made her a nice card too. Very sweet.

Having a great, crazy, zany time with the #JerseyShore as usual when they come up....last night we went to Cancun for supper, and no one left unsatisfied, as we will tomorrow, cuz BaBa only got like a five pound turkey for 14 people....llz....tomorrow should be fun....tons of snow for the Newfies to play in, etc. One of the traditions is that, on Thanksgiving night, some folks head down to LLBean to shop. Hmmm....will I go???