ciroccoj | Breakfast of Champions

Finishing off my tea, apple pie, and cheesecake. Great way to start off the day.

Party yesterday went really well. We provided the turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, two pumpkin and two apple pies. Our guests provided extra chairs, glasses, wine, cookies, cheesecake, philo pastries, some kind of stewed veggies, and about four kinds of salad. We ended up with 18 people - 12 adults and 6 kids aged 1-8. My mom and Guy, Karen (oldest childhood friend) and Scott (her fiance), Karolyn (high school buddy), Sarah Shima (Chris' ex), Todd, Susan, Turtle and Zany, Beata (colleague of Chris), Merchen (her husband), Marta and Anya (their kids).

It was pretty busy :)

One of the main themes of the night seemed to be laughing at me in my domestic frenzy. Most of the guests have known me long enough to know that I Don't Cook. And yet, there I was, happily making my four pies. Which actually wasn't that unusual, since apple and pumpkin pies are two of the only things I do cook, hormones aside, but apparently it was still pretty funny to watch this. ::shrug:: Eh. There's worse things to be ridiculed for :)

So. I suppose Thanksgiving is supposed to be about more than just eating and being with friends and family. So following Sarah's lead, here's what I have to be thankful for:

Daniel and Justin, for self-evident reasons
Chris and the (almost) ten years we've been together
my mom and Guy, for all the help they give us and the grandparenting they do
Karen and Karolyn for their long-term friendship
Todd and Susan for everything they've done for us, and for being our friends
Turtle and Zany for being our godkids
Sarah and Reiner and Sandra and Matthias, for friendship and for being back in e-touch, and providing me with at least some connection to home schooling
all of you for humour, and inspiration, and glimpses of different lives around the world
whatever made us decide to have our kids earlier than we should have, so that when early infertility hit me, at least I didn't have to mourn never having had children at all
Joe Rocket motorcycle safety gear, which, for $830, made it possible for Chris to survive his motorcycle accident
State Farm Insurance, which didn't do any of the things sleazy insurance companies are supposed to do, but instead willingly and quickly provided us with whatever we needed after the accident
Ottawa Psych Residency, which hired Chris and made it possible for us to move back to my home town
our marriage counselor
Chris' willingness to do most of the work in counseling, and keep trying despite my lack of enthusiasm and hope
law school, for giving me something to be interested in outside of our home
Daniel's last two teachers, for their willingness to see the wonderful parts of him and be patient with his challenging nature
Monique, Noah, and Oscar, for social contact within the homeschooling community in Ottawa