Over The River and Through the Woods and Across a Mountain Range and Another River, a Couple of Valleys and a Desert.

 Inrtroductory note:  I wrote this post right after Thanksgiving and finally got organized to try and add the photos, but I had too many technical difficulties.  So, I'm not giving up on someday adding the pictures, but I thought I'd better put this up about Thanksgiving before it was actually Valentines day.  Enjoy. ~C

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving. This year we made our pilgrimage to Shelley for a cousin/food/shopping - filled Holiday. Anna had so much fun with her Pattee cousins (she calls them her little cousins) - Whitney, Jakeb, Josh, Beau, Jayden, Hailey, Connor and Caden. They played and played - imaginary games, Grandma Linda's toys, games and puzzles with Aunt Penny and more. We even had just enough snow for one day of sledding. Penny, Holly and Grandma Linda organized an early birthday party. They decorated while we were out shopping so when Anna walked in the door everyone jumped out with a surprise. I think that was her favorite part. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious. David's mom and sisters worked hard. I attempted to make a pecan pie that went wrong in so many strange ways I can't even describe it. (We ate it anyway-how wrong can you go with sugar, butter, corn syrup and pecans?). We toasted to the day with our glasses of milk. On Friday David and I headed out for Black Friday shopping at 4:15. We were the latest. Our Brother in law Mike spent the entire night inside a Wal-Mart store, Leif went out at 2:30am, Teresa and Troy at 3:00, Holly and Penny at 3:30. Our assignment was Target. It was wild and crazy. It always makes me laugh. As the massive line was being herded into the store, there was a news truck outside and two news cameras set up inside, the guy behind us said, "What's happening in there, is Obama here, or what?" I got carried up in the atmosphere and started throwing all sorts of stuff in my cart. When David finally caught up with me at the cash register and looked in the cart he said, "I thought you were getting play-doh?" We bought more than we need, but had a great time. Anna got to see Santa twice! The second time was this house all decked out in Christmas lights with two chairs on the front lawn and a sign that said Santa 7-10 pm Fri and Sat. Sure enough, a little after 7 here comes Santa from around the house. Anna got out of the car and he came over and picked her up and said, "How is my girl doing? Have you been good? Mrs. Claus has a candy cane for you!" Mrs. Claus had come out of the house with a basket and gave her a candy cane. she was so excited when she got back in the car, she said"that was definitely the real Santa and not a helper because Mrs. Claus was with him." I told her that Santa really seemed to know her. She said, "of course, cuz I'm his favorite." I asked why and she replied, "because I'm never naughty." ( I can't wait to remind her of that later:) We went to visit David's Aunt Jean. she recently had her legs amputated below the knees. She also suffers from terrible arthritis in her hands. I only visited with her for a few moments, but I think it left a lifelong impression. She was in the best of spirits- a smile on her face, a joke to tell, and all of it sincere. I hope to face whatever is ahead of me with such grace.  On the way home we got to stop and visit Grandma Pattee (David's Grandma and Anna's only living great grandparent)  She is an amazing woman and I love to visit her.  We had a wonderful trip as usual