Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Oregon-Day 2 Thanksgiving

I woke up at 3:30 am. Even though my phone got no reception, the alarm still worked and we forgot to change it from the night before. Patrick turned it off, but then I had to listen to him blow his nose for the next 15 minutes before I could fall back asleep.
I woke up again around 7:30. Still feeling slightly crummy, but a marked improvement from the day before. After a cup of coffee and some Caliana snuggles, I was raring to go. I helped cook breakfast *mainly because it was warm in front of the stove* and that went well, except for one bacon grease burn on my knuckle and one fried egg dropped on the gas burner. After breakfast I played Apples to Apples with the kids. Fun game, if you don't have it, go get it. Don't worry, I'll wait.
The town was holding a free Thanksgiving dinner for anyone who wanted to come, so we all decided to check that out. It was held in a cute, woodsy tiny room, and when we walked in it was half filled, mostly with elderly and homeless, and I suddenly felt like a moocher, but we just went with it. They had nice hot coffee and they brought us each a plate of food. No one was sitting near us, so we just chatted amongst ourselves, ate, thanked the kitchen staff and left to go check out the trains. There are actual trains in the town, and trains are kind of a lost mode of transportation where we live, unless you count BART, which I don't.
I wish I had some pictures to share with you all, but I haven't fixed or replaced my camera yet.
My mom has a clock that plays a christmas song on every hour. She had the great idea that whenever the clock went off, we would all say something we were thankful for.
The kids ate this up, and were thankful for things like: being all together as a family, god, a place to live, etc....
Mine were more along the lines of Coffee, hot water, indoor plumbing, air mattresses, you get the idea. I'm all about my own comfort, if you couldn't tell. Patrick doesn't like being put on the spot and was thankful for things like Russia, and that he was outside last time the clock went off.
My mom cooked her own turkey, and some side dishes and we had another late dinner. I got to talk to my sister and 5 year old niece on the phone, and we all sang karaoke. Well all of us except Patrick, who ate way too much turkey and took a nap, Chris and Cali. I especially loved Damien's version of "Rock you like a Hurricane" complete with dancing and air guitar.
We ended the evening watching "Home for the Holidays", and I went to bed feeling....thankful.

4 comments:

Billjwalsh said...

Thank is funny that my Brother said that he was thankful for Russia, cause i also just said a random place but mine was Kenya weird. Gotta love my bro. Glad ya'll had a good time. Maybe next year I'll brave the airports to come visit.

Brandi M Walsh said...

That is too funny!! We would love a visit! Miss you!

NurseBrandy said...

Hey Brandi!

So is your Mom officially & permanently moved up to Oregon now? Or is this a temporary trip to do "home stuff" and then come back later?

You know.... I'm just a few (3 or 4) hours up the road, just past Portland! Maybe I'll come down one of these days for a visit.

:-)

Brandi M Walsh said...

Just temporary, she hasn't moved yet.