Thanksgiving 2014 Round 1

Shane and I arrived early to help with Thanksgiving preparations at Nana's house.

By help, I mean we went upstairs and played lots of whack-a-mole. We rand around and played with a plush minion toy, too.

I took a picture of a deer.

Maybe we weren't the most helpful. Nana asked me to wash some fruit. I did, but she ended up washing it again later. Have I mentioned I'm next to useless in a kitchen? 

The guests of honor arrived slightly before noon. Steve is a Vietnam veteran. He lost his legs due to medical complications (a couple of?) years ago. He brought another veteran friend, his sister, and her husband to help celebrate.

Some of the regulars showed up later!

Most of my siblings weren't present, but Patrick drove back from Harrisonburg.

Shane immediately assumed Patrick was his designated entertainer. Nana was too busy. My son dumped out some blocks in the den. When I asked if I could play, he said, "Not you, Daddy! These are for Patrick! I need you to go away."

I love Thanksgiving. All of the food is great, but I mainly like having a low-key day to spend around family, friends, and people in general.

And if you're tired you relax. It's a holiday tradition!

After lunch, John came over. John, Patrick, Shane and I all went to check the book drop at the library. John did the checking. Shane and I did some wrecking. Patrick talked to John while he worked.

When John and I used to work together as pages, library closings meant rubber band wars amongst the stacks. We told Shane he could yell in the library "today only," but he corrected us.

"You have to be quiet in the library!" Shane said.

"When have you ever been quiet in a library?" John laughed.

Shane insisted we put a Magic School Bus book on John's desk for check out when the library re-opened.

The poor guy was tuckered out by the time we got home. He had a late nap.

I wish Carrie had made it with us, but she spent the whole morning cooking. That's another story and another post.

Shane and I did an excellent job staying out of the way! Shane napped through the final preparations when we did return. Great success!