November was a packed month for us. Looking back on my calendar for November, there is hardly a blank space. It started with a day of bridge....what a great way to start the month! I was host for our Marathon Bridge match. I always enjoy a day of bridge at the table with the 3 Marys and Anita! Afterwards, I served lunch and no sooner than I had recuperated from that, it was time to go to my friend's house for a night of bridge! I am in a couple of bridge groups that meet regularly and this was our regular night to meet. One can never have too much bridge or the friendly fellowship that accompanies it. It so happens, the very next morning my other bridge group met! I (almost) had my fill of bridge, and I enjoyed every moment of it.
November was also a month for arts and crafts festivals. I love going to them. There is so much imagination and talent out there in the world. It just makes my heart soar! Of course, I am always looking for ideas for my own crafting, but I also bought several things for gifts. I bought a pottery butter dish for to take to Carol in Shelby. Little did I know she has a "thing" for butter dishes!
I am always in favor of supporting artists. My friend, Anita, and I actually wore ourselves completely out one Saturday after attending the Arts and Crafts Festival at my church and then making our way to Dunedin for their annual Art Harvest. It was huge! We had such a wonderful time. Susan Gott was the featured artist at Art Harvest. She works in several mediums, particularly glass. Her work is exquisite. She designed this harvest moon glass sculpture specifically for Art Harvest. This design was used on the tee shirts sold for Art Harvest. As Anita was buying some of Susan Gott's artwork, I met her and she mentioned the tee shirts and told me to go buy one so she could sign it for me. So of course I did. I am a sucker for long sleeve tee shirts and I don't think I own one that is signed by the artist herself.
This November was also a time for our country to elect our new president. Although I am not sure everyone in our family agreed on who to vote for, I am happy that everyone chose to exercise their right to vote and we all went to the polls. Our votes were cast and our voices heard. It made watching the election results that evening much more exciting and meaningful. It feels good to know that you participated in this huge and important event.
November seemed to be a month for appointments....for both Mom and myself. We had to keep a close watch on our calendars to see who needed to be where and when! It always feels good to get those appointments completed and marked off the to-do list. And it feels especially good when the results from the doctors and dentists are all healthy and positive.
I went back to Shelby in November (although I had just been there the month before) to see Porter's performance in his school production of 'Blithe Spirit'. He played Charles Condomine in Noel Coward's comic play from 1941. This is a demanding role and Porter found himself on stage almost entirely throughout the production. He had to learn a multitude of lines and he spent a lot of time working on the play (as he was also the stage manager). The hard work certainly paid off. I thought he was fabulous! Having done some community theater myself, I know first hand what goes into a production like this. Not only were these young people dedicated to putting on a first-class performance, they all managed to continue to keep up their schoolwork.....AND their good spirits! I am glad I was able to see Porter perform.
As I watched Porter on stage, I had all sorts of thoughts, feelings and emotions. I guess the worst of them being that I was so sorry his mother was not there. She would have been so proud. But the best part of that is knowing that so much of Porter's determination and work ethic are attributed to her wonderful mothering.
I also saw my own children up on that stage in Porter. I had never realized how much he looked like my kids until that night. Family genes are truly amazing. Porter definitely has some of those Porter genes!
I remember one time when Mom came to Florida to see Madeline's dance recital and she kept saying afterwards that she saw Jimmy on that stage. It was the first time she had seen such a family resemblance between those two siblings. Of course, it helped that Madeline was dressed as a boy in that particular performance! I do know what Mom means....now more than ever.
While I was in Shelby seeing Porter's play, I stayed with my friend, Carol. Her hospitality was wonderful! I slept later each morning than normal because she created such a comfortable room for me to sleep in. She drove me around, lended a listening ear, and fed me livermush and cheese grits....what could be better than that?!
One day Carol, Sally, Beth and I went into Carol's basement and spent hours working on a fun craft project. Carol made chili for us and had a fire going in the fireplace. We listened to Christmas music as well as some good old 70's tunes and we laughed and talked a lot as we worked. Carol also made homemade vanilla ice cream and blueberry cobbler. It was truly a wonderfully perfect afternoon and evening.
Thanksgiving was a little earlier than usual this year. I had a lot to do to get ready for our Thanksgiving week. Bob and Porter came from Shelby. Madeline and Mom are living here this year. What a blessing that is! No more airline tickets and airport pickups to coordinate. Jimmy lives here in Clearwater, so it was nice having almost everyone. We missed Joseph and Ashley, but they just couldn't make it down. They are coming for Christmas, so we really look forward to that!
Thanksgiving week begins with lots and lots of grocery shopping, cleaning, and organizing. This year I organized the first annual Turkey Olympics. We had Team Bob and Team Jim. In hindsight, the teams were not exactly even, but Bob is a true sportsman and graciously conceded. Team Jim won on most accounts, in particular the Corn Hole Tournament. Mom was such a good sport and decided to try to play. You should have seen her face when she got one of the beanbags in the hole! It was priceless. I love that she was willing to try and join in on the games. Madeline made a giant chart to tally all the points for each of the different events. I can't believe I won the coloring contest this year....I had some stiff competition. Porter and Madeline take their coloring seriously. Mom improved her guessing skills significantly over last year. She won the guess for the number of peanuts in the jar. She was (rightfully) proud of herself.
Madeline won the guess for the mini marshmallows in a jar. Amazingly, she was actually only 4 marshmallows off. I don't know how she managed to guess so closely.
The best part of Madeline's big win was what she chose to do with her prize of this jar of mini marshmallows. I cannot remember ever laughing as hard as I did when I walked out on the lanai Thanksgiving night and saw Madeline sitting at the table with a small tea light candle, toothpicks and mini marshmallows. She was diligently roasting these mini marshmallows on toothpicks over the tea light bonfire! It was a sight to behold! Of course, Porter and I jumped right on the bandwagon and joined her. These little marshmallows taste really good when you burn them and eat them off the toothpick. It was about as close to a campfire as we get here in Florida!
Thanksgiving morning started bright and early with us all trekking to Clearwater High School to participate in the annual Turkey Trot. It is a tiring walk for me, but it really sets the tone for the day. I loved walking with my family and the Barnes family. It was chillier than it has been in years past, so it felt a bit more like Thanksgiving. Porter, Eric, Adam and Tim were happy for a little reprieve in the weather as they always run the 5K. The rest of us enjoy it at a slower pace.
We celebrated the holiday with our usual feast. Porter made the macaroni and cheese casserole again, and it was a group favorite, as always. Porter also peeled carrots for me. He said it was his first time ever peeling carrots and he agreed that it is sort of fun to use that handy little vegetable peeler! Madeline has perfected the stuffing so now that has become her annual job.
My pound cake fell for the first time ever and I made the wrong caramel frosting recipe, but Porter forgave me and ate it anyway. The pumpkin pies spilled in the oven and the 22 pound turkey was a bit dry, but I still think it was one of our best Thanksgivings ever!
At our Thanksgiving dinner table, we had English crackers at our places. It was fun to crack them open and read the riddles and find the prizes. I loved seeing everyone around the Thanksgiving table with their paper crowns on their heads! In the spirit of the Turkey Olympics, we decided to award a prize to the person who kept their crown on the longest. My crown stayed on throughout dinner and clean up. Bob watched football with his crown resting proudly on his head. Finally Bob and I called a truce and decided we both won....thus a point for Team Bob and a point for Team Jim. These crackers were a little added bonus of fun.
Also at the table, I gave out copies of this blog that I had printed and made into a nice bound book. I think everyone appreciated them and I hope they enjoy re-reading the posts from time to time. It is a bit of family history and is certainly full of many memories. I hope next Thanksgiving I can give them yet another blog book full of even more wonderful memories! We are on our way towards creating those memories and every day we are living our family's history.
The night before Thanksgiving was a treat for us as well. Mom had 10 of us in a private dining room at Stratford Court for dinner. Not only was the meal fun and delicious, it meant a night out of the kitchen for me! Stratford Court cut no corners. We had shrimp cocktail, filet mignon, asparagus, salad, rolls, baked potatoes and Boston Cream Pie. This was a good kick start for our stomachs to prepare for the feast ahead! Thanks, Mom, for arranging this truly fun evening.
Jim's brother and sister-in-law came the day after Thanksgiving. Bob, Tommy and Jim got to play a great golf course together and do some male bonding. I'm sure a day on the links was a welcomed change to being inside watching football and eating massive amounts of food.
And of course, the Yelton's visit would not be complete without a visit to Sungroves for ice cream......FOUR TIMES!
The month rounded out with taking down the Fall decorations and putting up the Christmas decorations. I do love October through December. It is a fun and festive time and a wonderful time to spend with family and friends.
This November I decided to enjoy a little less Bah Humbug from my husband and a little more joy about decking the halls. Jim has been wanting those large blow up Christmas characters for our front yard for quite some time. I teased him and fought him on the matter as I have always thought they were tacky. This year, instead of standing my ground, I decided to throw caution to the wind and head out to Lowe's....on Black Friday, no less.....and buy some of these blow up characters. I bought an 8 foot snowman and a 4 foot penguin. Jim was delighted with this surprise! After putting them up and decorating several trees and bushes with lights, he decided he needed yet another blow up character. So, he went to the store and bought a 4 foot snowman to go with the large snowman and little penguin friend. I have to admit, these guys are growing on me! They kind of make me smile now when I see them. Our cul-de-sac yard is a perfect place for them as they stand proudly under our large palm tree. The greatest thing about them is the pleasure they are bringing to Jim. He is like a kid at Christmas again and I love it!
This November we also booked plane tickets for Joseph and Ashley to fly down here for Christmas, and Madeline and I hung our stockings on our doors in anticipation of a surprise each day from December 1st through the 25th. This is a tradition we started many years ago. It is a way for Madeline and I to prolong the season and the gift-giving and surprises. We both love Christmas so much. In fact, today we each found our first surprise in our stocking! I can't wait to see the next 24.
Last year I started a new tradition for Porter. Martha liked our stocking idea and kept saying she should do that with Porter. I don't think they ever got around to it, but I knew it would be something he would enjoy. Last year I mailed a big box to him with 26 (there was a special surprise for the day AFTER Christmas) little gifts in it. They were individually wrapped and numbered and he had to open one per day in order. He reported to me via Facebook what gift he opened that day. December 1st was an advent calendar so he could begin the countdown to Christmas! Porter hasn't reported his gift to me today. I am waiting to hear about it. I decided to send the box of 25 gifts to him again this year. Some things we never outgrow!
November's extra activities didn't stop to make way for the usual chores, errands, cooking, cleaning, bowling league, poker group, more bridge, and all the things that just go into any month. It just made for a jam-packed month. But that is okay with me. I like to shake things up from time to time and holiday time
busy-ness and work is still enjoyable for me. I can tell that I am getting older as I am not as worried about everything being perfect. I think that is a good thing. It allows me to enjoy it a little bit more. I always think of some of the wonderful words of wisdom that Erma Bombeck spoke about at times like these. I do plan to worry less and enjoy more.
As time marches on, we continue to pass the torch from person to person, generation to generation. Some traditions remain and some change. Some new ideas are introduced and are good enough to last and some turn out to have not been the best of ideas. However, the thing that remains constant throughout this passing of time is the love and the bond of family.
And memories are made of this.
(Speaking of the late, great Erma Bombeck, here is one of her more humorous statements):
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