A Blessed Thanksgiving

 What a busy and eventful week....our Thanksgiving holiday family time was split between Harrisonburg and Pulaksi this year.  Here we are having a bit of chilly fun at our favorite castle play ground.

 

This time Connor joined me in our trip northward.

 Cooking up some fun!  I do believe that all Santa needs to bring this year is a few bowls and a couple strings of beads and my two will be oh, so happy and contented.  It sure does make their cousins quite happy to play with these day after day!

 Now we all gather together in Pulaski for the feast.  We were quite blessed in our preparations  My oven died the day before Thanksgiving. Luckily, Risa had all the big baking items --apple pie and yeast rolls-- I did have the turkey but, never fear, Barry grilled it and it did just fine.  Of course Murphy's Law prevailed once more and the microwave died the same day so...  next blessing, Brian and Risa had one to spare, so within that cooking gem we finished the pumpkin pies.  (I had to scrape the filling out, so we had pumpkin pudding instead of pie, but it was delicious just the same.)  We cooked the sweet potato casserole in it too.  Thankfully the broiler was still working so we broiled the topping...and it turned to a yummy candy topping.

 I've become quite adept at cooking with this grill.  We made calazones one night and I even tried making cranberry muffins/sheet cake with it.  There were some burned spots, but we all ate and were filled.  I feel much more confident that in the event of a power outage I will be able to cook meals for my family.  Peace of mind--now that's a wonderful blessing too!  Next blessing, after a week of being with out my oven (I never realized how often I used it!) we were able to get a new element.  All's well that ends well!

 The great football challenge....a yearly tradition!

The greatest blessing of all...time with family.  It was a short whirlwind like holiday this year.  Due to the hurricane in New Jersey, Brian left early to travel with others from his ward and stake to help the victims.  Ahh, the blessing of service, again, a truly wonderful gift to be received and to give.