Turkey Day Redux

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the countdown to Christmas on. Now that I'm caught up on my grading and my undergrad class has ended for the semester (sweet!), however, I wanted to take time to pause and reflect on the last holiday before speeding on to the next.

We had dinner at my sister's house, and it was a lovely, if brief, day. (Seniors and toddlers have short attention spans).

Kayley showed off her new communication skills signing for food and naming dada, mama, and cat. Here she is with them (the cat tends to hide when K's around).

Kayley's "reading" her "Melmo" ("Elmo") book after her nap. I think it was one of Steph's co-workers who pointed out that Elmo is like crack for kids - they go mad for it!

High lights of the day included:

• Kayley saying "Auntie Amy" (or something remarkably close, so I'm just going to give her a pass on it)
• sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, corn bread - screw the turkey, give me seconds on sides
• my mother backing out of the driveway and hitting a bush, then trying to pull forward a little bit and hitting the gas instead of the brake, accelerating, and narrowly missing a car and the basketball pole before driving into the backyard (note: no alcohol was involved)
• my brother-in-law giving a "shout out" to my uncle and his partner during grace
• asking my grandmother is she wanted to sit while she ate dessert, and her responding, "No, I can eat more standing up"

and the kicker

• we went around the table saying what we were thankful for, and when we got to Grammy, she just said, "Pass." She's 95; it's her prerogative.

And now full-steam ahead to Christmas! I'm writing out my Christmas cards, putting the "Elf" Soundtrack back on my iPod, and tomorrow my roomie and I are going to get a tree!