Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving this year at our house for the extended Coleman Family or at least those that were available. Nery and I enjoyed preparing and hosting Thanksgiving this year. In addition to our meal and visiting, Nery passed out M&M's, each person was to take three, all different colors then she went around and asked questions for each color. For example if you had a red M&M you were to tell what your biggest pet peeve is other questions were "if you had a million dollars what gift would you buy just for yourself", another was "What is your favorite childhood memory", another was, "What gift will you never forget".

The one that I thought was most interesting was, What is your favorite childhood memory? all of my sister Angie's kids that had that question answered how their oldest brother Brad who is just a few weeks away from returning from his LDS mission used to tease them. Though they may have been scared or annoyed at the time they have fond memories of the attention that he gave them. As I thought about my own childhood memories they had to be the crazy things my brother Ken and I used to do, like playing chicken in the front yard with ski poles, hanger and penny fights, and scaring our mother. We used to put plastic spiders on her nightgown that she hung on the back of the bathroom door. No matter how many times we did it she would still scream when she saw it.

For the last couple of days I have thought more about my childhood memories and realized that my two favorite hobbies are a result of spending time with my parents. My birding hobby comes from the times my dad took us to Farmington Bay when I was a kid, I loved going there, I couldn't explain it but I loved and still love being in a marsh. I loved seeing the birds, the plants and the water and the feeling I got when spending time with my dad. I remember one of the first things I did with my dad when I got home from my mission 30 years ago was to go to Farmington Bay in the dead of winter and take pictures. My other favorite hobby cooking comes from spending time watching my mom cook and learning how to make some of her family traditional dishes like Pulled Pork Barbeque, White bean and ham hock soup, chili, and West Virgina hotdogs and her famous Roast beef mashed potatoes and gravy.

It has been a great Thanksgiving, we had a wonderful time with our kids and our relatives and most of all this year we were all grateful that my dad who spent last Thanksgiving in a care center not knowing if he would ever walk again was with us and not only was he there but he is walking and even walks up and down the stairs unassisted.We talked with our daughter Kristan who is living in Germany and she and Gerhard hosted Thanksgiving at their home for 17 of their friends, she cooked turkey and all the other traditional Thanksgiving dishes so the tradition continues.

We have much to be grateful for, it truly was a great Thanksgiving.



Here are a few pictures.


The bird

The rest of the food

Our new cabinet from the DI

Grandma and Grandpa Coleman

Angie and Frank David hiding behind the center piece and Ana Leigh

Spencer and Rachel

Dave, Catie and Bennet

Sarah and Chris

Teresa hiding behind the center piece and Heidi

James, Abby and Sam

Who needs a plate and silverware? Bennet

The Hosts Nery and Steve

Happy Birthday Nery and Steve

Nery and I celebrated our birthdays last week with an overnight get away and dinner at Olive Garden. I got a snow blower as my gift and Nery got our counter-tops refinished. We had a very nice quiet peaceful time together. Here are some before and after pictures of the counter-tops

Bennett Enjoying the Leaves