Thanksgiving travels and more...

The rest of the family is upstairs enjoying showing off Grandpa's train to Isaiah and Miranda who are over for a sleepover. The house has been quite lively this evening! There's been pumpkin carving, a pizza party, balloon pet making and it's only 8:30 p.m. And we are celebrating national pickle day (that the kids thought they had made up, only to learn that it was in mid-November and it was not their invention). In the process of that discovery we learned that today is actually "Eat a Red Apple Day" and so thanks to Mom's stash in her fridge we all had 1/4 of a red apple alongside our pickles at dinner. And I've just found four fritter recipes I'll be making for breakfast tomorrow for "Fritters Day." Check out all the things you could be celebrating: https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/!

While the world is full of amazing things (silly and sensible) to celebrate, my heart is heavy today as I think of the CJP community I have been privileged to be part for close to 2 decades now. Yesterday one of our alums was killed in a car accident in Sudan. He is my age, leaving his wife (also an alum of our MA program) and two daughters (10 and 6, so Nora and Alida's ages). It feels so sudden, so tragic, so sad! It's hard for me to hold that alongside all the silliness and fun happening in our home. It is a reminder of how fleeting this life is, and hopefully will help me to savor all the goodness that life offers and to work to share that goodness with others!

I felt so grateful for safe travels to and from Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving. It was a full two days with the Benner clan, including the now favorite "Sing for your Supper" event at Jason's aunt's home. One thing was quite striking this year - there are A LOT of kids in our midst! They add cuteness, noise and complexity to scheduling. Our girls love the time there and enjoyed making gingerbread houses, playing at the swing set with cousins, and performing in the evening event. For those that weren't there and want to see their 2017 version you can find it below. I also included, for comparison their 2013 version!


One of my favorite times of the days there was some playtime at the swingset with the kids. Ivy joined us and Terah and Ivy were trying to scare me:

My parents looked after the homestead in our absence, which freed us up to be fully present in PA (thanks!). Right before we left, Dad got his train set up. It was our first time setting it up in our home and it's been a big hit (except that Alida is very concerned about anything going wrong with it and the tiniest derailment of the train also derails her). It's amazing that this train is still working - they don't make toys like this anymore! It's a fun reminder of Christmases from my childhood! Especially the whistle. The girls are enjoying introducing all their friends to it when they come over.

A few other quick highlights:

The three girls cooked together last evening (with just a bit of help). There weren't a lot of things they could do all together but they did all peel garlic at the same time. We enjoyed chicken and garlic, homemade green pasta with pesto, and a fresh lettuce salad with chick peas and pesto dressing. We finished off the meal with chocolate mousse and berries. They can cook again any time! 

 I've really enjoyed a few stints working outside recently - raking and collecting leaves. We concluded (I think) that job for this year. It's time to move on to the other winter projects - as much as we are not sure we could ever have too many leaves. We've stockpiled quite the stash, and in the process have also accumulated enough acorns for the pigs to enjoy some every day until our butchering weekend. That's coming up here in less than 10 days and as it approaches I feel the mixture of emotions I often feel at butchering time. These have been such fabulous additions to T.W. We really enjoy having pigs around. They are great animals, fit well with our systems and seem to thrive off of things that are otherwise not being used.  I will miss them, as much as we will enjoy the pork and lard. I also like that their meals right now include many of their favorite things - Jason found a bunch of wild cherry pits for them today.

Kids are ready for a bedtime snack so off I go...