Thanksgiving goodness

After getting up on a regular work schedule this morning I'm thankful that we got on the road around 7am and had little to no traffic all the way south. Today is Thanksgiving and Sarah and I headed down to spend it with the family. After arriving in near record time to my parents' in La Center we sat and chatted for a little while before heading into Vancouver. Our first stop was at the alzheimers facility my Grandma's staying in for a Thanksgiving feast held for the elders and their families. Now, mind you, I haven't spent much time in such places throughout my life. The only other times I can remember are around the holidays when I played in brass ensembles in high school. You could easily say I'm not that comfortable in these situations. This time, however, was vastly different. Grandma was looking great, had gained some weight, was eating on her own really well, and, when the words came to her, spoke very fluidly. I give complete credit to my mom for making the right decisions with her care along the way and to the amazing people at The Hampton. Their attention to the elders is genuine and non-stop and they are always in-tune with their care needs and communicating with the families. Well, from this came a level of comfort I never thought I could achieve at a place like this. It made for a wonderful time eating a bit of Thanksgiving food and spending some quality time with my family and elder.

From there it was time to part ways with my family and head over to Sherry's house for the main Thanksgiving feast. We patiently awaited the arrival of Steph's friend Brad before dinner. Sarah snuck a few olives from the table while I played with a borrowed flash and took pictures of their cat Brody. Once all were present and accounted for we all dove in to Sherry's amazing meal and filled our stomachs with a little bit of everything in sight. It was nothing short of a fabulous meal and we had a great time talking with one another the entire dinner.

Sarah and I wound our evening down back at my folks' house. Sarah played some dice/card game with Mom, Joseph and finance Sonya. I caught my dad up on what he'd been missing on recent episodes of Lost. Good thing he's retiring soon so he'll be able to stay up late enough to watch it! We had a little champaign and a supurb key lime pie (couresty my brother) then Sarah, my Mom and I finished the evening off with the Donald. Yeah, sad, but we watched a bit of The Apprentice to numb our brains as our stomachs already were in order that we might sleep well tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and thanks for being such a wonderful family!