Thanksgiving 2018

Another year has passed since the last Thanksgiving.  Like in everything else we celebrate, each year grants us the chance to do all the traditions that we have developed over the years and also a chance to accommodate changes and new things that reflect the progress in all of us.  Sometime the changes result from deliberate choice and some are imposed on us.

I'm thankful for changes.  Traditionally, I would have used my good camera to take pictures but this time I used my cell phone.  The quality of the pictures would have been better but the spontaneity would not have been there. 

All my children would be home on Thanksgiving but Shannon was not.  However, we were talking to her almost throughout the time we prepared food - just like when we would all be home - through Skype.  We got to see her pet cats while they climbed on her as she talked to us.  My kids are growing more and more independent and slowly developing their own tradition.  On the other hand I too need to slowly release my grip on their schedule. 

We would all sit around a beautifully set table to enjoy the food.  This time we sat on the floor of the family room and ate Thanksgiving dinner while watching The Phantom of the Opera.  We were really casual this year which is more fun and liberating.

I am thankful for tradition.  Tim still grills the turkey.  We still get a huge turkey regardless of the number of people to allow leftovers.  Brahms still helps with making apple pie and mashed potatoes.  Miriam is in charge of the obligatory veggie in the meal.  Our Spiced cranberry sauce and Stuffing with Italian Sausage all remain to be a hit.  They are the simple things that remind us of the occasion and which then connect this year to the next one.  

I thank God for my family.  In the end, however, the most important thing that makes Thanksgiving are the people that gather year after year.  These are the people who share a common connection and understanding of life together.  They are the family who have experienced and acknowledge common blessings.  All else are decorations.  Sometimes we invite people for Thanksgiving, we say, as a gesture of generosity but most often I find it as an obligation to show rather than an act of love.  

Thanksgiving is a recounting of blessings 

in the presence of God - the Giver of all. 

Smoky Sunday Afternoon

The air was still heavy with smoke from the Camp Fire.  Being outdoors is the least thing we would want to do.  After the church service today we, along with Matt and Jean Peterson, were invited to go play games at Larry and Annelydie Bagget's place.  We had tea with Swiss Apple Pie.  Swiss Apple Pie is like fruit tart which, one of these days, I will try to learn to make it.

I always enjoy going to their place because they have an interesting backyard with different fruit trees.  Their house has morphed into something beautiful and a delightful place since the first time we saw their place last year.  Larry is a very handy man and Annelydie is similarly a very hardworking and creative, always looking for something to challenge herself. 

We played Sequence. Spouses did not team up together.  Tim and Jean Peterson won most of the time.  Although Tim was very competitive, Jean was not.  But they won anyway.  I'm inclined to believe that chance instead of strategy made it all happen.  Matt and Larry won twice but Annelydie and I almost won every time.  Sadly, almost never happened.

The Bagget's have an airbnb unit at their place.  It is a very nice room with a great view.  The smoke makes the trees look like they are separated by low lying clouds or fog.  Sometimes I wished we too had a guest room with a separate entrance.  This is also because I've been watching the British show "Escape to the Country".  :)

Within my line of sight no more

What used to be one unit is now pulled apart into four.  I'm referring to our family - my husband and I plus my three dear children.  They are all part of me and for a long time I took for granted the fact that they were all within my line of sight under one roof.  Then one by one university education, and now job, pulled them away.  Then all of a sudden my life is changed.  I didn't anticipate this effect on me and I guess I did not prepare for this.  

Although, parents spend what seems to be a lifetime preparing their children to be independent, in my case, I was not prepared to be separated from my children.  It is like losing a part of me and that I now have to adjust my life.  But it is not simply adjusting.  It appear that it requires a lot of time getting used to the change.  

This period in my life, however, is not all that grim.  Things may be so different now but the situation brings me to a different level of growth which started when my first child went away to Wisconsin for her job.  God used the situation to teach me very hard lessons on giving up control (101).  I thought I barely passed.  But now with my second child I am now put in another upper level class - giving up control and trusting God (202).  I must admit, this is a difficult subject.  The lab exercises are excruciating.  However, I am learning to depend on God in a real way.  I'm learning to say to Him, "God they are Your children before they are mine.  So I trust them in your hands."  I am not only learning to give up control over the welfare of my children but most importantly I recognize whom I can transfer my control into.  

The picture above is a collection of snap shots from the four locations of my family taken today within a period of thirty minutes.  It serves as a reminder to me that God is with His children no matter where they are.  Things are going well.  And it is not because of me.  It is all because the Ruler has everything under control.

   

 Parenting brings unintended maturity.