Turkey and Potatoes

I spent the majority of Thanksgiving weekend with my kids in Idaho. While last year’s trip to Disneyland over the holiday was good fun, it was nice to spend some time with my family this year. I had hoped to be at the Shirley’s for Thanksgiving dinner, but my mother in law had scheduled a photographer to come to her home on Thursday, so we weren’t able to get away. They had to do the family photo on Thanksgiving because Jim and Pilu weren’t going to be able to be in town from Denver until then. But then they didn’t come at all. Oh, well.

We left late Thursday night, much to Kate’s dismay. She was afraid that I’d fall asleep at the wheel and crash. I think she was satisfied when my sister Kat agreed to go up with us. That way I’d have a co-pilot. The first thing Kat did when I picked her up was to pop in her iPod and doze off. So much for a co-pilot. But the kids slept, and we arrived in one piece without stopping.

Friday morning we participated in one of the oldest Shirley traditions (even older than playing guitars on the front porch and reminiscing about ‘The Flood’). We donned several layers of clothing and drove up to Island Park to cut Christmas trees. Though I didn’t need a tree for myself (don’t ask, there’s still hard feelings about it) I went up to cut a tree for Mac.

The snow was shallow (I guess Al gore was right) and we were able to go off road further than we ever had before. Because we were so far back we had a better selection of trees. I was picky, passing up several. Finally, near the top of a hill I found a beauty. It was full, no holes, and just the right height. I cut it down, only to realize that I was far from camp and had Samantha with my. I was thankful I had left Bean at Grandma’s with Alley. Because of several fallen trees I couldn’t drag the tree, though it was downhill. I had to pick it up and lift it over each fallen log. Samantha was a trooper, climbing over and ducking under the logs, falling down several times without a complaint.

After we got the trees we enjoyed Aunt Cathy’s pumpkin roll (another staple of the trip) while standing around the fire. Patrick wanted to put the fire out before we left, but we didn’t let him. The smell of burning urine is pretty nasty.

We spent the rest of the weekend visiting with relatives, shouting over the TV that Grandpa keeps at a high decibel level. We overdosed on turkey and sports, often at the same time. Once I even spit turkey on the screen from across the room while yelling at the Utah/BYU football game, where BYU narrowly and luckily escaped from my Utes at the last second. We couldn’t get Jazz games, and had to resort to the ticker for updates, but fortunately the Jazz won both games.

Another tradition of the weekend is board games. And with the board games comes my cheating. I don’t like to lose, so I look for any opening for an extra advantage. I make Bill Belechik look honest. Alley and Kat thought that they had be playing fair, but they were fooled. Jeff and Chas weren’t there, so there were no temper tantrums or fisticuffs.

The kids had a great time helping Aunt Jan put up Grandma’s Christmas tree and ice skating the frozen ditches. They don’t get to spend a lot of time with the Shirleys, so I take every opportunity I get, and I am always glad I did. Grandma just loved how much Whitney doted on her. I don’t think Grandpa enjoys the great-grandkids quite as much. It may be Rexburg Idaho, but Ross lives like he is in the tropics. Had there been any snow I would have gladly shoveled it, just to get outside to cool down. He kept getting after the great-grandkids (mine and Alley’s) to stop playing with the heater. Each time he did the heat was turned up. I think it was an adult who kept turning it down, blaming it on the kids, but I can’t prove it. I love being around Grandpa because he tells some of the funniest stories and he won’t hesitate to say what he thinks about someone.

All in all it was a good weekend, and a good time was had by all. As you can see I forgot my camera. But hey, no trip is perfect.