Thanksgiving Review

This is the Heilveil's dog, Stella, in front of their barn. What a great weekend! So great, in fact, that I wish it were Christmas and have less than no interest in doing my work...of which there is plenty. So, a review of this Thanksgiving weekend:

Wednesday

Ben and I go to California. Yay! Dating Ben has significantly changed my geographical prejudices. I no longer think of Southern California as just a dirty, crowded, strip-mall-fest. Ben's family lives in a truly beautiful place, up in the mountains away from L.A. Arrived at Burbank and enjoyed a ride home from Ira, Ben's dad (isn't it great when people pick you up at the airport!?) Can't really remember what we did that night, but I'm sure it was very nice and relaxing.

Thursday

Thanksgiving. Lilly (Ben's sister, who is 18 and going through college application hell, bless her heart) and I concocted an apple pie making plan that would allow us to take a break if family stuff got to be too much. Fourteen people were over for dinner, which may not sound like much to Kessler/Iten people, but is actually a lot to normal people, and I got to meet Ben's aunt, uncle, cousin, and strange distant cousin. Ben's family is adjusting to his grandpa's new wife, who had cataract surgery the previous day and so spent the whole evening donning sunglasses. Marsha (Ben's mom- I've worked up the courage not to call her Dr. McKeon) made a 28-lb. turkey and other delicious Thanksgiving things. REALLY good gravy and stuffing.

Friday

After-Thanksgiving Day. Ben's other extended family, which comprises great old friends of his parents and their families, came over. There were six dogs over with the people that evening. It was pretty crowded. I actually know this group of people from previous visits, and it was really nice to get to know them better.

Saturday

Wonderful breakfast. Everyone sat around and the conversation turned to people's experiences within their religious communities and their experiences of God. Reminded me of the Margulies household. Gotta love the Jews. By far the best thing about this visit was getting to know Lilly and Ben's parents better.
Lilly and Ben: I feel so lucky to be with someone with such a wonderful family. Lilly is much nicer to me than I've ever been to any boyfriend or girlfriend of my siblings, and I am so grateful for it! She's also really funny, which made me miss all of my sisters a lot, but also filled the void I know I would have felt at the holidays. Marsha and Ira remind me of all the parents of friends, especially Mary and Greg, Deborah and Bob, whom I miss so much. They are extremely open-minded, intelligent, and great listeners. Shout out to the Heilveils for being such a wonderful family to be with. Went to dinner with everybody and to see For Your Consideration with Ben and Lilly. Disappointing movie.

Sunday

Played catch with Ben, Ira and Marsha. With baseball mitts. Brad- you would have been sooo proud. Dad, why didn't you ever teach me to play baseball?
Left for Santa Fe.
Momentarily happy to be back in Santa Fe.
Shock sets in as mental to-do list is formulated.
Urghhh...