Holliday Season 2023 - Full Moon

Monday, November 27, 2023

Full Beaver Moon this morning at 3:16 a.m.

Put up the snowmen this evening. 

Thanksgiving Weekend 2023 - Cocktails, Christmas Music, and Cigars

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Church this morning with Dale. Brunch at The Howe afterwards. I had an Old Fashioned.

Cigar and another Old Fashioned in the garage while listening to Christmas music. 

Thanksgiving Weekend 2023 - Coming Home

Saturday, November 25, 2023

Steph got Mom and me to the airport this afternoon. Pretty skies for takeoff. 

We were seated over the wing and an engine and had a great view of the nearly full moon. 

We got in around 7 pm. So good to see Dale who met us at baggage clain. Can't believe we're a month away from Christmas. 

Thanksgiving Weekend 2023 - Black Friday

Friday, November 24, 2023

Pete took us all out to lunch at a very nice restaurant named Cooper Hawk. The food was delicious. I had the shrimp and scallop risotto and it was divine. 

They also made me up a very well done Canadian Old Fashioned. 

After lunch we dropped Xander off at basketball practice and then headed home. Steph, Abby, and Emma put up Christmas tchotchkes although Mom helped out with decorating the tree. 

I found the crackling fire channel on tv and sat and got comfortable on the couch. Abby played some Christmas music on her phone. It wasn't connected to a speaker so it sounded like it was coming from an old transistor radio. 

Steph put a Santa hat on Thora Peaches which looked very cute. 

Mom took a picture of me with the manger scene she and Dad made oh so many years ago. 

Abby made a power point of her Xmas wish list. I got a kick out of that. Most of the things were found on Amazon and she made note of when she found an item on sale. 

Pete made cheese fondue for dinner along with some chicken breasts (internet photo). 

Abby had a friend over and they played games with Xander and Emma for most of the the evening while Mom, Pete, and I had some Bailey's Irish Creme and watched Password on tv. It was a laid back and enjoyable day. 

Oh, and by the way I got Whammed today while scrolling through Instagram. I believe last year I made it to just before Christmas. 

Technically I don't think the Whamaggedon thing starts until December 1 but I'll still consider myself out. 

Thanksgiving 2023 - And Then There's This

Thursday, November 23, 2023

And so it begins.

Since Thanksgiving was so early this year I've been wondering what the earliest date it can fall actually is.  It turns out that the earliest Thanksgiving can fall is November 22 so we didn't quite make it this year. The latest it can fall is November 28 which is when it will be next year. 

Thanksgiving 2023 - The Dinner

 Thursday, November 23, 2023

While Pete contemplates cooking the big dinner. . . 

I opened up a Fresca and sat down in front of the tv. 

Mom enjoyed the sunshine out on the porch. 

I joined Mom outside for a bit and it was particularly pleasant in the direct sun. 

After a bit Mom came back inside and took a little nap. 

Pete had the turkey on the smoker.

I took a little walk before dinner. 

And peeked at the turkey as it was nearing completion. It looked like Pete had it seasoned nicely. 

Turned out the turkey was gonna take a little longer than expected so I poured myself a little whiskey. 

The table was set...

...and I couldn't wait to dig in. 

Family photo.

Dinner was all very delicious.

After dinner we played games, including Pictionary, and had pumpkin pie.

All in all it was a lovely Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving 2023 - The Parade

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Mom and I arrived yesterday at Dulles around 4 pm. Pete picked us up. 

It was good to see everyone including, Thora Peaches and...

Loki Lani.

Watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

As always there were lots of cool floats. 

Also, appearances by Cher...

The Rockettes...

...and the Singing Christmas Tree (Mom really got a kick out of this one)...

...and, of course, Santa Claus. After the parade we watched the dog show.