Giving thanks in Detroit

Would you like a little peek into our Thanksgiving yesterday? I thought so! We had an especially nice day and I'd like to share it with you. Nana and Roy came over to our house, and we all left Grand Rapids together at about 8:15. We had been concerned about the forecasted snow from the prior night; but as you saw in my prior post, we really didn't get any accumulating snow to speak of in Grand Rapids. However, Mr. Jones is a very cautious driver -- and am I glad! We no sooner got on the expressway but we passed a really bad accident on the first overpass! You know all of those annoying signs you see in the summer -- "Bridge May be Icy" -- yes! The bridges WERE icy. We saw many accidents! We actually encountered quite a bit of snow just outside Grand Rapids. It was the kind of pristine beauty that practically takes your breath away. I so wanted to eject myself from the front seat of the van and walk on out in the woods to get some pictures. All the trees were etched in white, the fields sparkled, the sky was a misty foggy kind of gray (the kind of sky I especially love), and everywhere I looked was a bit of magic ...

We arrived at Ruthanne's at 11:30, having made very good time. She and Terry actually live in Clinton Township, which is east of Detroit. Sometimes when I tell people that I am from Detroit, they think all of those negative thoughts about the Crime Capital of the USA, etc. Clinton Township is a very nice area to live, and I have always loved my sister's house -- Look! Isn't it so beautiful?
Lunch was to be served at 1:00, so we had plenty of time to visit with everyone. Shelley and Bob and Matthew were there early too. I love watching Bob dote on his little boy. There is such love there!
Matthew was drinking Bob's water and smacking his lips and saying, "Ahhhhhh" afterwards. Matthew is quite good at imitating almost any sound, action, sentence, etc. He's a little ham!
Isn't that such a cute picture? I love how Bob is looking at Matthew. How thankful he is for this little boy.
Ruthanne was showing Matthew a little movie that she has of him on her camera. He loves to see it over and over again.
My niece, Shari, called and we all got to talk with her for awhile too! She and her husband, Mark, live in North Carolina and both have pretty demanding jobs. Shari hasn't been home to Michigan in over two years now -- since Matthew was about one or two weeks old. We passed the phone around and all got to talk with her -- how nice! Actually, see the wedding picture there on the window seat? That's Shari and Mark!

Matthew had brought one of his cool train sets along so that he would have something of his to play with. Grandpa Jones thought this set was pretty nice, and he and Matthew talked trains for awhile. See how he has the train lined up and then on the grass, he has all of his little planes in a row? I asked Matthew if we were going to have an Air Show today and he told me, "Nope. Just watching trains today." So see? JayJay, Herky, Tracy and Snuffy (the planes) are all train spotting with Matthew, and enjoying their day hugely.
Mr. Jones and I brought our laptop along so that we could try to connect to MSMessenger and talk to Jesse for a little while. We tried to connect via the wireless at the house, but a password was needed and nobody seemed to know what it was -- so Plan B!
We connected our laptop with a cable to Ruthanne and Terry's computer, and we were all set! We logged on to see if Jesse was there, but he was out right then. After we ate our lunch, we did successfully connect with him -- but more about that later.

Ruthanne had a nice plate of appetizers for us while we waited for dinner to be ready. She made the best turkey and stuffing I have ever tasted! The meat was moist and wonderful; the gravy was brown and rich and so yummy; she made the sweetest sweet potato casserole ever! Plus, her green been casserole was superb, her pumpkin bread and rolls were perfect, AND she had a beautiful fruit bowl that everyone enjoyed (all of the folk, that is, who eat fruit!). It takes a lot of work to put a huge meal like this together. To say it was delicious is true -- but it isn't enough. I'll just say that every single one of my taste buds were highly pleased!
I love the way this table opens up -- it sat all 10 of us very comfortably. Matthew sat with us almost all the way through our dinner and seemed to enjoy all of our conversation. And then dinner was over! Why is it that it takes only 30 minutes to eat a meal that took two days to prepare? That doesn't seem right, but it happens every year, no matter what you do!
After dinner, we found that Jesse was on-line and we had so much fun talking to him! Since we had our laptop and it has a Webcam, I told Jesse that we had it and had never used it. So he very nicely told me three simple steps to do, and VOILA! Our Webcam's blue light was lit and Jesse could see us! We could see him! Isn't that incredible! Technology is so amazing. We each took turns talking to Jesse. I think we were Online with him for close to an hour. I can't even express my thankfulness at how much that meant to me. As we were saying good-bye, I put my hand up so Jesse could see me waving, and he put his hand up so I could see him waving and then we touched our screens -- and it was like for just a tiny minute I could feel him right there with me. And then, of course, I got teary ... but they were good tears mostly.
This is Nana asking Shelley to help her learn how to use her new cell phone. She can't ask me because I don't know anything about using cell phones or anything else technical. Isn't this a cute picture of them? Shelley is my mom's first grandchild and she has a special love for her ... like I feel about my Emma I think ...
Shelley is a good teacher! I think Nana learned how to do a few things on her phone ... if she remembers how to, that is.

Meanwhile, up in the living room I kept hearing a tiny voice singing and talking ... no one was up there except Matthew -- so I snuck up on the stairway to see what I could see. There he was with a box of toys, trying on different hats, talking and singing and entertaining himself! Isn't he so cute?
Later on, Matthew came down to the family room to see all of us. Here he is with his grandpa (who adores him -- and who he adores!) cracking up about something on the computer.
I snapped a lot of pictures of Nana and Roy together. I'm trying to get a good enough one to frame and hang in our house; plus, Nana wants me to make her copies so that she can put a small snapshot of them in each of her Christmas cards -- there are so many people in our family who haven't had the opportunity to meet Roy! Nana wants them to see the handsome husband she has! He is the sweetest man, and mom has been so happy with him.
We had our dessert at about 4:15. Nana had brought pumpkin and apple pies, and I had baked my pumpkin spice cake. We ate way too much (of course!), but it was SO yummy. Afterwards, we all sat around again and just enjoyed each other's company.
Matthew missed out on taking his nap, but he did really well anyway. All of us were sleepy and ready for naps for sure! But before we knew it, and much too soon, it was time to head back to Grand Rapids. We promised to see each other again soon. It was so nice to be there for Thanksgiving! Thanks so much for having us over!