christmas tree

margo and ben wanted to decorate the christmas tree 

before they went back to school.  

so it's november 26th and our tree is up, lit and decorated.

kind of nice.

we had such gorgeous weather over thanksgiving and were able to hike and play outdoors a lot.

we're still making our way through all of the leftovers. the pies are eaten except for a bit more

of the gingerbread-crusted pumpkin pie. sound good?  it so is!

margo, mom and i made four homemade pies this year 

which nearly filled the entire day before t-giving...pumpkin, banana cream, cherry and chocolate pecan.

we, i had one major pie disaster, which i think i can finally talk about.......

after margo spent hours making the lower crust, the filling and the top crust of the cherry pie,

 i took it out of the oven after it had reached it's golden, bubbly glory and lost balance, promptly tipping the pie over onto the floor.  i felt absolutely sick.  margo was so sweet and forgiving as we

scooped the ruby red mess back into the dish.  "mom, it's fine.  it's just a cherry crumble instead."

i still sent myself up to my room to take a breather.  boo hoo.

well, the house is quiet and feeling particularly empty.  we had to say good bye to 

everyone yesterday - grandma, tristan, margo, andrew and ben, as they made their way back to utah.  we miss you already.

thanks for a wonderful thanksgiving.  we are grateful for each of you.