Thanksgiving is amazing

Tuesday finally came, and the last class was over. Firmly resolved, I started on some homework that wouldn't be due in a while but that I wanted to get out of the way. Long term stuff like a couple of religion papers and German papers. After some good hard work I packed my few things and headed across campus. Lillian had told me she would meet me at the duck pond, and I had never been there before. Luckily I had no trouble finding it, and I think its become one of my favorite spots on campus. There was a thin layer of ice on the pond, which surprised me.

Lillian picked me up and we made some chocolate caramel brownies and watched Sissi, the movie about the Austrian Empress, in German. As if that wasn't enough, we decided to go with a few of Lillian's friends to see Bourne Ultimatum in the dollar theater. I loved handing the lady at the desk a dollar and getting a quarter and a ticket to a movie in return... it was great! Slightly dizzy from the shaky camera work in the movie and from sitting pretty close to the front, we squeezed back into the mini van and decided to watch another chick flick when we got home. In short, everything was pretty much amazing. The brownies with vanilla ice cream were absolutely superb! Finally after a long talk, we both fell asleep.

Wednesday morning came quickly but cheerfully with homemade French toast. After a final hug I walked back across campus so I could pack my bags and be ready for Aunt Robyn when she came to pick me up. I was just plain happy the whole way there, and Granny and my cousins Felicia, Nathaniel and Robert had lunch all ready when we arrived. You never learn to appreciate homemade food till you are deprived of it for a long period of time. Everything was delicious, but the sleepover was catching up to me. I got to take a nap, which was great. It probably went to long, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Spaghetti and meat balls with garlic bread for dinner - need I say more? Quite satisfied, Rachel and I practiced "For the Beauty of the Earth", the John Rutter version, which we were preparing to sing in church with Heather and her family. For some reason I was tired early, and retired to a warm cozy bed and a good book. I LOVE BREAKS!!!

My alarm woke me, and groaning slightly I put on some warm clothes and headed upstairs. Robyn, Rachel, Nathaniel, his scooter and I piled into the car. There was coldness. Earliness. Brightness. There were People. A very long straight road. Yes, before I knew it we had all started Draper UT's annual 5k race. There was a layer of ice on the water cups that were set up on tables on the side of the road, but soon it wasn't noticeable since we were running. All stages of life were represented. There were strollers with crying children, energetic five and six year olds, teens, young adults, and middle aged folks, even a few who were over the hill. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought, and I knew it would help me appreciate Thanksgiving dinner.

Dressed in Sunday best with slightly growling stomachs we all arrived at Danny and Esther's house (an older couple, good friends of Aunt Robyn's), arms laden with at least half the feast. What a feast it was! Turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, green bean casserole, corn, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and fresh homemade rolls. HOMEMADE EVERYTHING!!!(Can you tell I'm obsessed?)!!!!

The magnificent feast was followed by music (a sing-along of old Broadway favorites, a number by Rachel on her violin, and a short song from me), which was followed by the most intense game of PIG in the history of mankind. PIG is a lot like spoons, except you have pennies to grab instead of spoons. The pennies are in the middle of the table, and each person has 4 cards. At the dealers signal everyone takes a card and passes it in one direction to their neighbor. This continues until one person gets four of a kind; when they do they take a penny. As soon as the first penny is touched, everyone tries to get a penny. Sadly, there is always one person who doesn't get a penny. That poor penniless person gets a letter, first P then I then G. The second they're a PIG they're out and must be ignored by the other players. If the other players respond to them in any way they get a letter.

Certain I wouldn't last long (the only time I had played spoons before was at HE and I was out within the first round) I snatched my pennies and minded my own business. Players had to be ignored eventually. Before I knew it it was down to the old PIG champion Danny and little inexperienced me. Shaking with anticipation I played 4 rounds.... and by some miracle..... I tricked him....... and won the game. Toffee squares and cherry pie are good rewards for a game well played. Admittedly, I was a little sad there was no apple pie (that's my favorite), but everything was still delicious.

Beautiful smells accosted me as I entered the kitchen on Friday morning. Golden, HOMEMADE, WARM pancakes were just screaming to be eaten. Enthusiastically, I obliged. After a nice chat with my family at home, I set out to give Granny a quick tutorial on how to use the computer. It probably would have gone better if I hadn't been constantly interrupted by Nathanial's interjections, but in the end I was able to show her how to change the font, the font color, how to use the copy and paste functions and other useful things.

Black Friday = shopping day. Nathaniel persuaded his mom to let us go, so we went to Best Buy and Barnes and Nobles. Didn't really find anything, which is always a little depressing, but we had a wonderful dinner of Thanksgiving leftovers to make up for it. Rachel lent me one of her C.S. Lewis books to read, called "Till We Have Faces", which is pretty graphic, but extremely well written and just plain amazing literature.

Granny, Robyn, Rachel and I talked a lot about politics after dinner, and I decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies. There is definitely an art to it. They must be just golden brown, soft and chewy. Constant regulation is necessary to obtain the pinnacle of perfection. They were enjoyed with some milk, especially by the children.

Laundry is one of those things that just never goes away. After putting in a few loads I packed my scattered belongings. Soon we all hustled into the car to go see a Christmas barbershop music concert. There was a huge barbershop choir, then a few quartets, one of which had placed 12th in the international barbershop competition (yes, there is such a thing). They were all good. As soon as we left the theater Nathaniel ran up to us and yelled "BYU WON! BYU WON!" Granny was so excited, still wiping tears from her eyes from the concert.

Hugs goodbye, then a long drive to Aunt Heather's house where we unloaded our laundry baskets and suitcases and rehearsed "For the Beauty of the Earth" with the pianist. I just love that song; I could feel its power seeping through the room, especially when I stood right next to the piano. After rehearsal we preformed it once for an older man who had come to visit from Heather's ward. Each of my cousins preformed a talent, and Rachel and I were persuaded to do likewise. To top it all off, there was a warm carrot cake with cinnamon syrup and vanilla ice cream waiting for us.

Sunday morning bright and early we went to church to sing one last time. The song went well, and now I'm back in the dorms, waiting for Monday to start....

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!

Love,

Margaret