a long slow weekend

Thanksgiving dinner in Belen was good. Cyndi had done a lot of work in preparation. The turkey was still roasting when we arrived. Janey and her daughters were there already, and all the rest of the family from out of town arrived at about the same time, along with Michael. I brought some smoked salmon David and Sandra had sent me from Alaska that I had saved. I put it out almost as soon as we arrived, and it was a hit, along with the spinach dip Cyndi made. Garrick arrived, and later Marti and Cristina. There were chips and cheese out, the wine was opened, and then the turkey was finally ready. The dinner was very good. The kitchen was filled with pots and pans and casserole dishes. Most of it got eaten somehow, including several kinds of pies. The boys ate some turkey and croissants. As an afterthought, I had made some jello with fresh orange pieces that the kids ate. Jeff carved up the turkey. There were sweet potatoes, with a pecan sugary crunch on top, mashed potatoes with enough lumps to make you think it didn't come from a box, smooth hot gravy, Bleicher Girls green beans, corn, stuffing, red chile, rolls and croissants, salad, and cranberry sauce. (Don't think I forgot anything.) Clean up came in waves, with a final push to divvy up leftovers and put everything away so you couldn't tell anything so grand had happened.

Jack took the Wii and hooked it up to see if Papa could use it to play some golf onscreen. Some success with that, and Nicholas spent some good time with Papa helping him. We played a little touch football outside with the boys. Ry got the handoff several times and ran straight ahead, cradling the ball. He made a touchdown, and that made him very happy. It was cold, so we didn't stay out long. Still, we made two attempts at it, before and after dinner.

On weekends, the boys typically crawl into bed for a cuddle. Ry asks me if this is a work day, and when I say no then he asks if we can cook breakfast. He'll have a list that includes eggs, bacon, pancakes and waffles. And like Jackson before him, he'll get out all the ingredients and help me stir the batter. Now he pours the ingredients, too, and I let him crack the eggs into the bowl. He insists on pouring his own syrup. Jackson reminds us to put in the secret ingredient. Sometimes it's French toast, if there's some good hard artisan bread left over to soak up the egg and milk, or sometimes we make oatmeal. Jackson likes mine, he'll say, mostly because it has a pad of butter and some brown sugar on top an island of creamy oatmeal surrounded by milk. Something I learned from my childhood, I'm certain.

It was a good weekend for eating. Lots of good pears and oranges available, which Rylee requested all weekend in addition to chocolate milk. We went one evening to Five Star Burgers. During its Happy Hour, you can get sliders for $1 each and draught beer for half price. In fact, just about everything is half-priced, including an order of batter fried green chile. The boys got a chocolate shake, also in a sense half off because it was split between them. We also went to Monroe's, mostly so Cyndi could get a bowl of red and green chile to supply her with an overload of Vitamin C, and the boys had their new mainstays, whole bean burritos with cheese, and lettuce for Jackson.

Ry and I went to the skate board park again on Friday. He has fun riding around the concrete park. He shoots down a ramp, over a bump, and circles around again. He's been trying to get up a short half-pipe. It's fun to watch him. He's clearly the smallest one out there on a skateboard. He wears his black helmet, his sweatshirt often falling off of him, and carries his board over the more difficult spots and climbs. A few boys ride bikes on the course and there's several Razor scooters. We called Brendon, and he and Pete joined us there for a bit. Both Ry and Brendon made some buddies while they were there, and that was fun to see, too. After about an hour, Ry is tired and thirsty, and we go home.

I talked with Pete about possibly going to Jemez to get a Christmas tree, but heard that Costco was selling beautiful trees for $43. So the boys and I went on Saturday morning and brought one back. It's a Noble Fir, very dense and full and lush, trimmed perfectly, and stands eight feet high to the ceiling in our living room. Jackson picked it out and helped me tie it onto the truck. We trimmed a few inches off the bottom when we got it home and got it in a stand that Jack had hosed off. It drank up a lot of water. Jackson started putting the lights on. I always thought Cyndi was reluctant to have a cut tree inside, but it turns out she loves it. It smells good, and Jackson wondered if it fills our house with good oxygen. He may have a point. It must give off some water vapor, too. Cyndi and the boys decorated while I went to the office for a few hours.

We heard from Ariel, too. She was on the train after flying back from France, and when I talked to her again, she was about to have dinner with Chris.

I helped Cyndi rake a few leaves from our cottonwood and we got a couple of movies from Borders with our online discount coupons and old gift cards. Jack and I spent a lot of time trying to upgrade his IPod. That Verizon Mi-Fi turned out to be a big disappointment. Sunday I called Comcast to get our internet back. Once I found a modem, it was pretty easy and instantaneous to hook up that day. That may have been the highlight for Jackson, having full internet access again. Even Netflix worked again, which the boys watched after Jack and I reconnected the Wii. Jack got on the internet and wanted to download a program to create apps. Ry could get back on internet on our old desk top computer again to research all the Lego sets he wants for Christmas. Jack has been a bit quieter about his wish list ever since he found out the secret of Santa.