THREE WONDERFUL DAYS WITH FAMILY

Everyone has gone home and we're back to our too-quiet lifestyle once again. It was another wonderful Thanksgiving with all the family together for three days. The biggest joy for Sam and me is to see how well the cousins, who are within three years of each other, get along and enjoy each other's company. The laughs were many. There was excellent food, fun parlor games, football (both college and the annual family and friends pick-up touch footgame game), shopping and just general hanging-out-together fun.

Guys enjoying a Saturday afternoon football fest.

We have our Christmas with Ken and family at Thanksgiving because we don't see them at Christmas.

I don't know what Richard was saying, but people were hanging on his every word.

One of Catherine's college friends came with her for the Thanksgiving break, and we enjoyed meeting her.  She's from China.  She thought she was just going to watch us open gifts, but we surprised her with some of her own.

Five of our grandchildren have birthdays around the holidays. David's is the closest to Thanksgiving (he'll be 21 next Friday), so he got the cake and the traditional singing of several birthday songs.  And yes, there were other desserts for the rest of us.

Since we didn't have a full family reunion this year, we had the annual taking of the family pictures this weekend.  You'll see the whole family in all its splendor on Christmas Day, but to whet your appetite, here is one of the grandkids with the family patriarch and matriarch.

TOMORROW:  A surprise gift that was very well received.

SCENES FROM THANKSGIVING

Everywhere David goes, he's surrounded by girls.

Sometimes they even fight over him.

"We're not hungry or anything, but can you speed it up a little?"

"That's better."

The Brothers Shull

See?  Young people can too be useful.  The older four grandchildren took on the job of clean-up without even being asked. Their parents trained them well.  Thanks, guys!  (I've always thought Thanksgiving dinner is THE hardest meal to clean up from.  Many's the time I've just wanted to set off a bomb in the kitchen and start over.)

The bold and the beautiful deciding where to go shopping.  The plan at the time we left the house to come home was for them to go out at midnight.  I don't know what time they got back, but as of 11 a.m. today they were still asleep.  Oh to be young!

As usual, Barb did a sensational job of spearheading Thanksgiving dinner.  She makes it look easy, but we women know how much work is involved in getting a holiday dinner together for 16 people.  Everything was delicious.  It was a great family time with lots of laughs and no fistfights broke out. 

I've always liked Twinkies, although I haven't eaten many lately, which may be the reason the company went bankrupt.  I read of one person who bought a "lifetime supply" when she heard the sad news.  I know a Twinkie lasts a long time, but a lifetime?  How many preservatives are in those things anyway?

My all-time favorite boxed evil is Butterscotch Krimpets by Tastykake, a Philadelphia company. I grew up on them, which explains a lot, doesn't it?  The Philistines here in Michigan don't seem to carry them, which is what I get for moving to Michigan.

It's great having David and Catherine home from college.  We had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays with the family after church, and then the ladies went to an upscale crafts show at our local Center for the Arts.  Lovely things, but not much that I need or want now that we're in the era of downsizing.  I do believe a nap is calling my name.  What?  Yes, I hear you.  I'm coming.   ZZZZ.

An elderly man was stopped by the police at 2 a.m and was asked where he was going at that time of night.  The man replied, "I'm on my way to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body, as well as smoking and staying out late."

The officer then asked, "Really? Who's giving that lecture at this time of night?"

The man replied, "That would be my wife."

DISCLAIMER

I'm a Bible-believing Christian.  This blog was started as a way to communicate what's going on in our lives for our family and friends, most of whom are also Bible-believing Christians.  Over time others have found the site and visit it regularly, and I'm very happy about that.  Welcome! But please keep in mind the target audience I had in mind from the beginning.  If you read something here that you mildly or even violently disagree with, that's the risk you take when you come in here and go to the various sites I recommend.  All of them are filtered through my Christian worldview.

With that in mind, here is a site I STRONGLY urge the target audience to visit.  It's an 11-minute audio tape by John MacArthur.  Many of you are familiar with him.  It's the best exposition of the current state of things in America and our future that I've come across so far.  Christian family and friends, PLEASE listen to it.  Click on "Launch Player" to start it.

NO MORE HOSTESS TWINKIES???

Say it isn't so!

But according to this, it is so.  Or might be soon.  In these cases I simply don't understand the union mentality.  They'd shut down the whole business rather than help the company weather a bad time?

Somehow I don't think this couple will celebrate their 50th anniversary.  And isn't it just so typical of your average right-wing homophobic racist pro-baby anti-woman gun-loving capitalistic loon? 

ATTENTION GRAMMAR NAZIS

And I are one

I found this site thanks to Valerie and am happily working my way through 69 grammar tests.  I've done pretty well on most of them, but I messed up on premier/premiere, aggravated/irritated/ reluctant/reticent, and rebuts/refutes.  I was perfect on the ones that involved the proper use of the apostrophe.  Its' clear Im among the people who can navigate they're way through the minefield's of apostrophes'. The rule is clear:  any word that ends in S needs an apostrophe SOMEWHERE.