Thanksgiving aka A Visit with "B"

We had a small and enjoyable Thanksgiving here in Minot. My aunt (dad's sister) flew to Minot to be with David and I. She flew in Wednesday evening and out again Sunday morning. It was a quick trip, but it was great to be with family.

I had several of our friends here in Minot invite us to spend Thanksgiving with them, including my Aunt Bev. But when I imagined spending the day in the home of a complete family, a complete military family, probably with military friends all talking about the missile job up here...it would have been so much work all day to put on a happy face and pretending that it wasn't tearing me up inside that my husband wasn't able to be home with us. I would have been in a room full of people and felt completely alone. It was never going to be an easy holiday without Chris, but I wanted it to be as easy on me as I could make it. Having Aunt Bev here was the best possible solution! Small, comfortable, and far from lonely.

So we had a nice quiet Thanksgiving here. My aunt is laid back and flexible, which is good because I tried out several David-friendly recipes for the first time and didn't defrost my turkey on time.

Aunt Bev decided that David should call her "B." It worked out really well. David would run around the house calling for her, "B...B....B!!!"

Here are Aunt Bev and David dancing to Fiddler on the Roof while waiting for me to feed them already!

Here is David eating his Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, cornbread stuffing, cranberry relish, and roasted root vegetables. I'm so proud of the food on his plate. No butter, no eggs, and no wheat (not even in the chicken broth holding the stuffing together!). This was a very good moment for me.

Black Friday I got a babysitter and Aunt Bev and I went shopping. She got David a whole box of musical toys. I know some parents don't like noisy toys, but I'd rather noisy toys than a screaming child. David being loud just doesn't bother me ... most of the time. Below is a picture and a video of David and his B playing with his new instruments.

Later on in the night David and B played tea with his stuffed animals. It was hilarious. Below is the media. Sorry about the TV in the background, but if I had turned it off he would have realized I was recording and stopped playing. He says hi to the animals and says "baby talk, baby talk, tea please" basically, ordering the animals to ask him for tea.