There are lots of things to be thankful for today and every day. I'm not going to make a list, but I will mention a couple of things.
Today I am particularly thankful for Auntie, who gave me "permission" to take leftovers to my mother instead of taking her out to a restaurant, as we have done the past two years. It snowed yesterday and today it is unusually cold. And icy. Not only would it have been impossible to take my mother out today, I would not have been prepared to cook, and so it would have been a bit of a disaster.
I am also especially thankful today for my quirky family, who have requested paella for Thanksgiving dinner. Pato is not big on turkey, and Boy-child doesn't care for poultry in general. Over the years we have done many non-traditional things for Thanksgiving; paella has been a favorite, apparently. So that's what we're cooking today.
Now, a story. We have the (bad) habit in this household of always forgetting something, usually a crucial ingredient, when we're making special or unusual meals. This morning, at about 4:30 (what was I doing awake, you ask? It's a regular thing. They say it's a function of age), I realized that we hadn't purchased French bread. Paella is incomplete without a baguette. So when I got up a couple of hours later I dug through the freezer (just in case - but alas, no French bread hidden there). So I started thinking about how I could procure some French bread on Thanksgiving morning, when absolutely everything is closed.
Suddenly, an epiphany.
Many years ago, in the Dark Ages, when I was a teenager, I worked at Sofitel. Hotels are always open. Sofitel had a bakery. I called. The bakery is still there and open 'till noon. Off I went.
Now I'd just like to mention that on the way I saw what looked to be a homeless man on the Ford bridge. He looked cold. Maybe he wasn't homeless, but he was very definitely down and out. Less than a mile down Minnehaha Parkway I saw someone walking her dog. The dog had on booties to protect his paws from the snow and ice.
Just had to get that out. Back to the story.
In the Dark Ages, when I was a teenager working at Sofitel, there were two ladies who worked at the bakery, Rosie and Audette. Rosie and Audette were war brides; they came over with their G.I husbands who either fought in WWII or were part of the occupation. Rosie had a son, Jean Pierre, who was my age. This morning there were two women working in the bakery, just like the old days, except that instead of speaking French, they were speaking Spanish.
It was the campus Christmas party and we were in one of those fancy suites.
I had no idea there were cheerleaders for basketball games.
There was a guy cutting up a delicious slab of beef just for us (notice there is only a tiny bit left)
There were gifts - it was a $10 limit and many people were very clever.
Fun was had by all.
I really enjoyed it. Who knew? Helps that it's a fun group.
They fought a little. With chocolate. It was a mess. Everyone had fun and it's all cleaned up now.
The tree was properly dressed and there were lots of pretty packages underneath.
Some held bigger surprises than others.
There was lots of good food.
Good laughs.
Festive hair dressings.
Even grumpy types were having fun.
Pato will be prepared to stay warm while shoveling when he gets back from Chile.
We played a new game and it was loads of fun.
In fact, the last snowfall brought the roof down on the Metrodome, so they played a game in Detroit. Tonight's game will be played at the University of Minnesota campus in the open air. In the snow. Took them close to a week to shovel out the stadium and now it's snowing again. Glad I'm not going to be there, for a number of reasons.
We went to a rib place across the river with Susan last Saturday. We went to Cap's because there is a parking lot. There is no place to park in St Paul. Anywhere. The proprietor at Cap's was very pleased to hear that the snow brought us to his place. We then went to Susan's for a glass of wine and to admire her tree, which has an enchanting little village beneath it. Her dad made it in the 1930s (correct me if I'm wrong).
It has some lovely details.
I've knit a little bit.
And we finally decorated the tree, which we put up last week. The ducks ornament is Pato's favorite (those of you who took Spanish 101 know why). The tree skirt was made by Auntie. She is very talented.
Time to start wrapping. This is a box of ribbon and bags. The paper hasn't come up in full force yet.
Cards have started coming in.
And I found some wonderful cocktail napkins while shopping the other day.
The Jag across the street. No room in the garage because of the boat and other toys.
The picnic table on our deck, which is pretty protected in spite of being on the north side of the house.
The neighbor's house. They are in Japan. Whoever was contracted to shovel didn't show up.
Last night after Boy-child finished the shoveling out front.
This morning out back. That's going to be one narrow path by March. Pato got a real workout.
It was, of course, a beautiful morning.
There were drifts in weird places, though.
Our street, which still hasn't been plowed.
I don't knit Christmas gifts - can't take the pressure - so I've been taking my time, doing what I can when I have the chance and enjoying it. Can't complain about that.
The paella turned out and the bread was delicious.
He's looking kind of guilty here, in front of the empty pan, don't ya think?
Which got me thinking about the company, North Face; very popular here in Minnesota since they have quality winter gear (and camping too, if you're into that).
And then we woke up to the first snow of the season.
I went downtown on the light rail to breakfast with a friend who's in town from Denver.
Found it kind of funny that they have snowflakes on the light posts downtown. Hardly necessary.
Also made me chuckle when my friend mentioned The Mary Tyler More show.
Don't think she would have been taking off her hat this morning.
Turns out this is simply not true. We do have a nasty, messy ash tree in the back yard that I dislike. With the Emerald Ash Borer in town, that tree will probably have to be taken down in 2-5 years. The neighbor has one of those trees that dumps the little helicopter seeds all over, which means we have saplings growing everywhere all the time. It's also very big and I fear that half of it will end up in Boy-child's bedroom during a storm. And the boulevard tree is a locust, which is a stupid tree with leaves that can't be properly raked. It's a tree that inspires people to use those horrible leaf blowers. I rake. And when I was raking the other day I discovered that we have a tree in the front yard that I really like. It's one of those maples that is pretty red all summer long, and then in the autumn when it turns color it's all different colors, depending on the time of day and the amount of sun and/or clouds. 
