had a quiet morning, doing a bit of laundry and some final prep for tonight’s dinner…

kids came over just after noon and the house filled up with the smell of Crystal’s pumpkin cheesecake baking while Jeff, with a little help from Kyler and I, raked up the leaves and put away some lawn furniture… then the two of them caught the fish from the pond… rather easily I might add…

the big boys catching the fish…

they moved them to their winter condo in the house… the little guys came to watch the transfer, both wanting to help, but the bucket just got dumped so all they could do was feed them, lol…

pouring the fish into their winter home…

the water looked a bit murky but the tank was filled with life…

winter condo quite filled up…

turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, turnip, brussel sprouts, Caesar salad, along with home-made cranberry sauce (with the canned stuff for those who didn’t like the home-made version) and gravy filled us up… and then we had luscious cheesecake with whipped cream…

ready to eat…

last year we had a crowd, although Crystal wasn’t here… this year it was just the Winnipeg family, although we were missing our Ottawa contingent who celebrated yesterday…

after dinner Crystal took a few photos of the great centrepiece that Kyler and Tavin prepared… they found leaves outside, brought up the Thanksgiving decorations box and put everything together… we added two pumpkins from a friend and a few fresh tomatoes grown in the garden… we included the silver pheasant salt and pepper shakers that my mom brought back to my grandma from England, the bunny the boys gave to Grandpa when he had his heart surgery, and at dinner used a gravy boat from his mom… very nice…

thanksgiving centrepiece…

we shared around the table many of the things we are thankful for and they included: school, family, Grandpa, friends, Elisabeth, iPads, moms, meat, work and time with family… .

after everyone had left, I took a few pictures of the happy fish… then I talked with Cyndi, finished tidying the kitchen and am now heading for bed…

happy fish…

this is the second Thanksgiving without my beloved and during dinner I told a few stories about our parents, and Jeff and Crystal shared stories of big family dinners over the years… no tears, just good memories…