Thanksgiving

Considering it was no more than a blip on her holiday radar, Edith seems to have had a pretty memorable Thanksgiving--judging by her avidity for playing farm in the week since. We were in Delaware for the traditional giant gathering of Tom's mother's family, paired this time with lots of good visiting with the Lank relatives, too.

We took off Wednesday straight from daycare, where the trees in the parking lot were a stunning scarlet. We've had glorious foliage this November.

Thanksgiving morning Edith spent with her cousins at Aunt Janet's house, decorating sugar cookies and Christmas tree ornaments. Evidently she took mischievous delight in eating all the candy corn. Then she and her cousins helped with the "raking":

Done with their work, Santa's helpers took off...

...in their one-horse open Mini Cooper:

I failed to get any pictures of the 40-person Hopkins feast in the afternoon, made smaller than usual by the absence of relatives away from home in California, Florida, and Baghdad. Tom, Edith, and I followed up the afternoon meal with a second repast with the Lanks/Owenses in the evening. Edith was quite at home with Tom's cousins, finding in them a whole new set of willing readers.

Kim patiently makes her way through a deceptively long Mercer Mayer anthology

Friday morning we went over to cousin Katie's house to let the canine cousins romp in the fields.

Cassie generously shared her space with Edith.

Katie's place is on the edge of her boyfriend's family farm, where there was a whole new set of tractors to explore.

Aunt Sharon took Edith up in the cab of the giant one.

The tractors were great, but Edith was a little disappointed that Eric's parents' big red barn didn't house any animals, contrary to what Margaret Wise Brown had led her to expect. Fortunately, her own great-grandfather's dairy farm was around the corner, so we took her there next for this season's visit with the cows. Letting ourselves into the main barn, we discovered some calves still wet from birth. Uncle Walt later told us that they'd had new calves every day that week.

Having seen the newborn calves, Edith was inclined to try out her own old bouncy seat back at Mom-mom and Pop-pop's house. Compare:


Saturday we enjoyed the 8th Annual Endangered Fox Squirrel Tournament. Tom was on the winning team again, retaining his share of the title. My team did not fare as well, but its members were funny and mutually supportive and it was a good time. And I had what was probably my longest putt ever (~20 feet) and definitely my longest drive ever (~200 yards). Evidently toting a toddler three miles last week was strength training toward a good end. Both shots inspired my 50-something male teammates to whooping, chest-thumping hugs and cheers. In between the putt and the drive I had any number of slices, divet-making swings, and dribbles off the tee. Golf is a good Thanksgiving game: For the most part it keeps you eminently humble, while prompting your ecstatic gratitude for a few small blessings dropped here and there.