If it seems like we are giving thanks on this august day set aside for reflection, we are. Only the pictures are belated. Jim took the pictures so one chair is empty. We are: Doug, with his back to the camera; Cedric; grandsons, Theo and Owen; daughter, Virginia; and myself. The rest of the family celebrated in their own homes
Virginia is very organized and reported that last year she had to toss half a moldy pumpkin pie among other assorted containers of food that somehow get hidden in the back of the frig. This year, she ordered, everyone takes home anything they brought that is left. That works for me because I love living for a week out of the frig.
Theo peeled thirteen potatoes before Virginia said, “Halt.” All of us took mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy home.
Doug mashed that mountain of potatoes. It takes muscle to wade through them and get the butter and half & half thoroughly mixed.
Every year, as a tease to Cedric, we set up cranberry man. Doug decorated him with torn napkin snow this year.
Both of Virginia’s salads have pomegranate berries in them. 
While the rest of us played Quidler, Cedric spent the entire time at the stove. Watching the turkey. Stirring up gravy with roasted vegetables. Heating up Mary’s gumbo and Doug’s Lasagna. Virginia put a skillet of Johnny Cake in the oven, and made pear tart ahead of time. Doug always makes huge batches of cookies from his own original recipes.
Everyone had a hand in the works.
We skyped with Daughter Kristanne, with son Austin and his brother Alec who drove up for the day. And, I HAD a picture of them. Ken called and talked to everyone.
In fact, Jim took 128 pictures on my new camera, plus this video of Theo on stilts made by his brother Owen. (It made me a bit nervous because they are a bit heavier and don’t fit as well as commercial stilts.) He juggled while walking as well. It takes courage to be tied onto legs six feet tall.
Now, I would have liked to add more pictures. There were better ones but my choices were slim. The reason is my brand new camera does not sync well, sometimes, not at all, with my system 7 computer. Hmm! It took two phone calls to Consumer Cellular on the 24th. And, six hours between Jim and Me trying to figure it out from the book we downloaded. I went to bed exhausted. More of the same yesterday. And finally, this morning, an hour phone call with a cellular genius, who got me partially into the 21st century of phones. But, it was frustrating to be dragged into it and not be able to post nor edit anything. Nor even choose from a fat 128 picture album.
The help-line genius said, “Well we say it works with system 7, and it does, sort of. But don’t try it again. You might as well get a new computer that has system 10 on it.”
He was terrific and now, just before Christmas sales, I have an excuse to buy a new computer.
It would have been wonderful to have my first experience with pictures on my new phone be a pleasant one. The learning curve is challenging.
Everyone is smiling. But, they are already using those new-fangled devices with smarter phones than mine. But, my trusty Sony Camera will accompany me where ever I go for just a bit longer. The 21st Century is still young.
Que Sera, Sera... Whatever Will Be, Will Be... 