Judging by the reactions of Aunt Lauren and Grand-Aunt Nancy, the coaching paid off!
One of the highlights of this Thanksgiving was introducing Lemon to his second cousin, Alex, who is just two months older than he is. Unfortunately, with two babies in the room, it seems like no one had enough free hands to take a picture. Luckily for us, Alex is in town for another week before heading home to Brazil, so we should get another chance at getting the two of them in a picture together.
Another highlight of Thanksgiving weekend for the past few years has been the observance of FAT (Friday After Thanksgiving) where Papa Bear and I host a big vegetarian feast at our house. I very much wanted to do it this year, since it is our last year in Massachusetts, but doing it with Lemon in the house made it infinitely more complicated than it has been in years past. I made myself a little cheat-sheet telling me which tasks to do for what course on what day.
Somehow, we managed to complete all the prep on time.
With a little help from Lemon, who did not want to be left out of the meal preparation activities...
...and especially not dessert-consuming activities. Next year he may even get to taste the pumpkin flan!
A major highlight of FAT this year was Lemon's first ukelele lesson from Grand-Uncle Joel. Lemon continues to be totally fascinated by music, and by his musician uncle in particular.
When Jared and I were growing up, we were always convinced that Uncle Joel was a famous rock star, since no matter where we went in his home state of Maine, we always ran into people who recognized him and came running up to greet him. I think Lemon has come away with the same conclusion, and is eager for his hands to get big enough for his first real uke lesson.
Both Papa Bear and I feel as though the passing of Thanksgiving marks the end of our time as real residents of the Boston area. Now, all our energy is really focused on getting everything in place for our new lives in Wisconsin. It is a bittersweet feeling. We have so much to look forward to there, but so many wonderful friends and family members that we are leaving behind on the east coast. It's hard to acknowledge that we don't really know where we will be for Thanksgiving next year, or who will come to FAT, or if we will even have FAT at all. But, as someone once told me, with those that are dear to you, it's never "goodbye," it's just "see you later," even if you don't really know yet when later will be.
