1. Advent

'Tis the season!

A blessed holiday season to you!

Thanks

Giving.

Okay, okay, I know, I know. I missed a Halloween post. And the kids' costumes turned out pretty cute. The plan was to get them in their costumes the next day again... yeah, well ...

But I am back for Thanksgiving! We celebrated in a small way, just me and the kids. The Professor is in China these days, so we did our wishbone wishes with him via Skype.

This year, I am grateful for my family and health, the way the sun streams in through the kitchen windows, the pie-crust making lessons I received from my mother, Skype, political leaders that are guided by conscience and a strong ethical code, the Professor's terrific opportunity these days in China, my dear friends, who include my son in their excursions to Palm Springs, the millions and millions of people around the world, who generously share their knowledge and experience with DYI on the Internet, my friends and colleagues at Farbenmix, the thousands of people, who have bought our sewing patterns and book and the many who have joined our forums and flickr groups and so on... I am even sort of grateful to the idiot, who, in her passive-aggressive, sometimes aggressive-aggressive way, takes issue with our parking a car on the street. She'll put broken glass under the tires, leave nasty notes, paint lines on the street indicating where she wants me to park, that sort of thing. Crazy person. It makes me realize how fortunate I am to never, ever have had such a thought cross my mind. I've never, ever been that upset at anyone's parking, for Pete's sake. Just not how I flow. I don't even care about the broken glass or the notes. If there's ever any damage, I'll deal with that. But let the woman have her little hissy fit. I recall being in Paris, and remembering that people, if they were parked on a flat street, would not put their transmissions in "park", so that, if necessary, the next car needing a bit more room could nudge the car a bit. I remember being in Athens and double and triple parking in front of a club. The rationale of the drivers being, that the party was great, so who'd want to leave?

I am very thankful indeed.