Thanksgiving

It was an exceptionally quiet and low-key Thanksgiving. We made the holiday last four days, but kept it VERY relaxed.

Thanksgiving dinner for the Typhoon was at the beach house in Pacific City. Grandma and Grandpa presided, with the Typhoon members (N, C, R and M) and our Saudi student, H. This was H’s first time to the Pacific shores, so we made sure to see some sights.

On Thanksgiving Day, R, H and I made the hike to Cascade Head. It was a wet, rainy sort of expedition (1.3 inches of rain that day in Pacific City) but it was also tolerably warm and calm. H liked the view once we cleared the top of the bluff… seemed it was worth it. And, by the time we made our way home and dried off, our appetites were ready to go for Thanksgiving dinner.

Friday, everyone slept in except C and I. We got up at 4am and drove to Tillamook where we waltzed in the doors at Fred Meyer at 5, and bought a 50” Plasma Television for almost $1,000 off the prevailing street price. Yeah!

Saturday, we all slept in again. Later, we went to Newport, where we visited the OSU Hatfield Marine Research Center, and introduced H to salt water taffy and the quaint grandeur of Depoe Bay. I snuck in a haircut in the morning, before our trek south.

Sunday, it was feeding the neighborhood deer apples and exploring the tide pools at Cape Kiwanda. Once again, we all slept in. H slept until after noon.

Sunday night, after we got home, H immediately bolted to catch up with his friends – perhaps we were just a little TOO slow-paced? Oh well…

Me? I set up that monster of a television set. After hooking up the antenna, programming the DTV channels, connecting the Wii and the DVD player, I fired up Star Wars Episode 1 for a family demo. The picture was so amazing, and so enamored the rest of the family that we all stayed up until 11 o’clock on a school night, watching Jar-Jar, Qui-Gon, Obi Wan and Annakin!  It was okay come morning, though, because everyone had caught up on their sleep over the holiday weekend.

C and I have been discussing the slowing down of our family pace. Since cancer, it has been altogether too challenging. This holiday was a slow one, a recharger of a weekend, not a depleter. We’ll be working to simplify the list of family obligations even more. It’s good for our overall health. Boy Scouts, Ballet, Fencing and piano are more than enough for the whole family.