This year, for the first time since Thanksgiving 2013, THE Toad and I had family visit for Thanksgiving. What a wonderful treat! I miss the days of my childhood when Grandparents, Aunts/Uncles, and Cousins gathered at our house for a huge Thanksgiving dinner – cooked by my Mom & Grandma. However, as I have ranged far from my birthplace due to THE Toad and my jobs, we have seldom been able to celebrate holidays with family.

This year my Sister and her boyfriend visited for the first time. We made turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pies and dinner rolls – though not without some hiccups. First – the organic pumpkin used in the first set of pies had NO taste – we threw them away and made new ones, this time with the old standard – Libby’s pumpkin! Then I burned the first set of dinner rolls requiring the backup rolls to be used. The final result was a delicious dinner with pumpkin pie and whipped cream for desert. In the end everyone was stuffed and we adjourned to the family room to sit in front of the fireplace. Yes, it was finally cold enough to turn on the fireplace!

During the other days of their visit, we toured the little town where I live – doing some pre-Black Friday Christmas shopping at the small businesses downtown, touring the brewery, eating lunch at the deli, laughing our asses off, talking about growing up in the midwest, and seeing the  Christmas lights.  We had the best of times – making new memories and reminding ourselves of old ones. Nothing could have been better!

My Sister and I have become best friends as adults and have a great time together. She was always the adventurous, break all the rules one while I was the studious, follow the rules child. As children we never seemed to do much together – she was dolls and dresses and I was cowboy boots, cap pistols and jeans. But as adults, and thanks to modern technology, we are in contact every day even though we lives miles and several states apart.

I also talked to my Dad and to friends, IM’d with my brother and cousins, and said hi to friends on Facebook. While it definitely is not the same as the days of my childhood, we celebrate traditionally where possible and embrace the new ways to stay in touch with family & friends.