Surprise Thanksgiving

We were planning on spending Thanksgiving at home this year after finding our schedules very full. We celebrated with a meal on Wednesday with my family which was wonderful. Even though Jason thought it was not traditional we ate ham instead of turkey and had wonderful pie made by gram Mc. She makes the best pies! Madeline, Meredith and Patrick all played so well together all day long. They helped Papa set up the Christmas train and then played with all the people and houses that go along with the set up.

The surprise came today, Thanksgiving Day. Since we celebrated with family yesterday we were expecting to spend today at home watching the parade and the dog show. J had some work on the house he wanted to get done and my dad came up to help with some staining. Talk about something to be thankful for- all the help we have gotten from family and friends on getting the house done in time for the new baby! Late in the morning we called a friend that we knew was home for Thanksgiving to see if we could stop by with dessert. We have had one of her pie pans for way too long and we really wanted to return it. We couldn't return it empty, of course! Our intention was to go over, give the horses some treats and share a dessert. Being such short notice we didn't want to intrude or make her feel like she was hosting something. We called her up and made the dessert offer. She ended up having us over for prime rib(which she claims she always has left over of!), homemade applesauce, homemade coleslaw and salad. We offered to bring potatoes and cranberry salad. Spur of the moment this wonderful meal appeared before two families that were supposed to be home alone. Instead we shared a wonderful table with a great friend.

When we got to her house the prime rib was just about done so we decided to let it coast in the oven while we went for a horseback ride. We headed out to the barn and gave out the apples and carrots. Patrick isn't up to feeding the horses yet but he laughs when they bite into the apple. A little drool and smacking horse lips just does the trick for him! Once the treats were gone we saddled up and got ready to head out. Typically Patrick rides with me but with this belly getting bigger everyday he had to ride with Jason. It was a gorgeous evening, chilly but no wind and a beautiful sunset. We rode for about an hour and it was just perfect. Perfect does not even do it justice but perfect. Just perfect. We returned to the barn and got the horses cleaned up. Patrick was getting more and more comfortable as we were there and even helped brush them down. He worked on the legs and did a fabulous job. We all headed inside to the waiting prime rib and sat down for a delicious meal. Patrick had barely finished when he was asking to head back out to the barn. It was very dark by the time we left but Patrick wanted to say goodbye to the horses. We headed over to the fence and George, the horse Patrick and Jason rode, came walking right over. George put his head down low so Patrick could put his hand on his nose. It was very sweet. Then Nugget came over and put his head down low to check Patrick out. Patrick was really good with the horses and they were good with him. I was kicking myself that I didn't have the camera. Seeing him put his little arm through the fence to pet the horses and having them lower their heads so he could reach them was just too precious. The third horse Gypsy was a no-show for the fence visit so Patrick asked about her and wondered where she could be. She had already headed out to the pasture and it was just too dark for us to see her.

So a surprise Thanksgiving for us. Thankful for family, friends(with spur of the moment scheduling abilities!), a wonderful spur of the moment meal and this wonderful earth we are blessed with. What a perfect day.