Thanksgiving and some sappiness...

Ahhhh... quiet. Silence is good. I love getting together with family and all, but all the commotion tends to give me a headache and tuckers me out!! Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful. Mine was pretty good, except Poot had to go to his mom's while I went my grandpa's. We used to have his mom and brother come out, but for the last couple of years she has wanted to cook the meal and have the boys over (which is totally understandable!). My family is loud and bustling with babies (OMG... they are all soooooooo freakin' adorable... makes me want one!). Grandpa's girlfriend was able to attend this year, so she is probably worn out from trying to keep names straight, and which kid belongs to which mom, etc. She is so nice and pretty, and suits grandpa perfectly... I'm so happy he found someone after grandma passed.

Disclaimer: if you don't want to read any sappy stuff, just stop now.

The hall bathroom at grandpa's was grandma's bathroom... I remember seeing her perfume bottle (Youth Dew from Estee Lauder) and face cream on the vanity. It still feels like grandma in there, even though her personal stuff isn't on the counter anymore. The seashells are still in the basket, a piece of coral on the counter, another shell holds the bar of handsoap, the birdie framed picture still on the wall...

Another thing. I've never sat in grandma's living room chair after she passed. My mom and sisters haven't either... funny, huh? Everyone would cram themselves into the sectional sofa and sprawl on the floor, but we left grandma's chair empty. The only people that tend to sit there are boyfriends or girlfriends of 'younger set' who didn't know grandma. See, grandma had a whole routine. She spent most of the day in at the kitchen table doing crosswords or playing solitare... man, you wouldn't believe how many decks of cards she went through! But in the evening after dinner, she fixed her an Old Charter and water and sat in the chair to watch tv. Usually a show like Matlock or Murder She Wrote. :) Sometimes she would sit in the chair in the afternoon if she was working on a quilt or afaghan (when her eyes & fingers worked better). She always had to have an ottoman... none of that recliner business either... had to be an ottoman. This way she could still swivel around or rock a bit if she felt like it.

It's funny what you remember when family gets together, isn't it? The chair is one of the first things you see when you come in the front door. There's a burgundy and blue ginham quilted wall piece that hangs above the sofa grandma had made years ago. The basket that held her sewing stuff that used to be by her chair in the corner isn't there anymore, but I remember.

She was always well mannered and had a smile on her face. She joked and had fun, and I loved to watch her and grandpa dance. I also remember what a fiesty little thing she was... yep... I recall hearing grandma drop the f-bomb a couple of times! OMG... you wouldn't believe how many people she would shock with that one! It just made me giggle... silly grandma.

Grandma passed a few days after Thanksgiving four years ago, and it's always tough around this time of year, so I just wanted to jot down a couple of thoughts of her tonight. 'Night grandma... miss you... love you.