Thanksgiving 2009

Normally, Thanksgiving is a bit of a sad holiday for us - we miss having family around and at least last year were laid low by the first of many colds. This year, while we were still sad to have almost everyone far away, we had the time and energy to start our own Thanksgiving traditions.  We even had one family member in town and are grateful that John dragged his weary self down on the Caltrain to join us. Consequently, there were several days of action, fun and a few catastrophes in the kitchen. Our menu consisted of one roasted 12 lb turkey, gravy, yams, spinach with shallots, cornbread and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Here are Stew and his little buddy checking on the progress in the kitchen.

Our evening passed in a bit of a haze as both parents were worn out from an early start, John was post call and the children were wired.  Since the food came out well and John brought a nice bottle of wine, no one was feeling much pain.  In addition to having family in town, we hope to carry on the following as traditions: the corn bread and pumpkin pie were both keepers (as was the wine - its contribution can't be overstated...). Owen, ever curious to try what we're eating tried both the cornbread and the pumpkin pie, and liked them. He made a grab at Stewart's wine glass, but we told him he needed to wait until he can stand up on his own. The corn bread was particularly fun because Matthew helped make it (and has consumed most of it). If he remains interested, maybe it can be his contribution in later years. We had also planned to have Matthew take part in the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot Fun Run but a combination of sniffles and bad traffic prevented him from participating this year. Stewart went down early to try out his special Vibram running feet in the 5 K and was pleased with his results.

Here is a photo of Matthew gathering his energy for the evening. At some point he is going to resent that we kept sneaking into his room and taking photos of him while he slept but we do find his various attempts to avoid his bed totally adorable. Notice, as always, he is accompanied by his faithful Wormy.

Family milestones include a complete car seat graduation - Owen into the convertible seat and Matthew into a booster seat. Owen has a second tooth and Matthew wears size 10 1/2 shoes. They are starting to play together - sort of. Owen thinks anything Matthew does is just the greatest - including poking and mild manhandling. Matthew thinks Owen is just fine as long as Owen doesn't touch any of his toys.

Quotable moments from Matthew:

- Despite going through an intense mommy phase, he got very upset what Stewart took John back to the train station and said, "No! I want Daddy to stay here because I love him!"

- "No Mommy, you can't talk on the phone because you were naughty on another day."