American Thanksgiving/ Grandma Christmas

We went to visit my Mom for American Thanksgiving last Wednesday...we also celebrated Christmas as we will be in Edmonton on December 25th. My Mom had the house all decorated for Thanksgiving. It was very cozy, pretty, and welcoming :).
It really does take a village to raise a child. There is nothing quite like one's mother to help be a big part of that village. Mom had The Very Hungry Caterpillar sticker books (among many other things :)) for Miss M that she did with her (my mom is a teacher by profession and by heart). Mercedes loved it. My mom is just such an amazing Grandma. She is so creative and has so many methods and ideas that she has learned over the years of being a mother and a teacher. She just LOVES her granddaughters.
We had a lovely visit. It was so nice to see where my mom lives (as she just moved this fall). It was interesting as I was down there I realized two things that are on completely different waive lengths...one is just how Canadian I am and the other is that Thanksgiving is untouched.
I definitely can tell that I became an adult in Canada. There are subtle differences and I really do feel at home here. There is a part of me that will always love my America. There is another part of me that is so happy to live and love in Canada. These two countries share my heart. Each in a very special way. I was a child in America. I became a wife and mother...I grew up... in Canada.
What I mean about Thanksgiving is that people still celebrate it with joy and family togetherness. There is no controversy over whether or not a manger scene can be on display or if you can say "Merry Christmas" as opposed to "Happy Holidays". There is not a check on political correctness as there is with Christmas and Easter. It was nice.
Anyway, while I enjoy Canada there is still nothing like an American holiday celebration and the last time I had an American Thanksgiving was (I think) in 1998...so it was wonderful to be home :)

We decided to head back on Sunday...so we left my Mom's house at about noon. All was good (read: the girls were sleeping) until we hit the little pass before Bellingham heading North. It started to snow and the roads quickly turned to sheets of ice. It took us (and many others) 3 hours to cover 9 miles. Many people slid off the road...thankfully we were not one of them.
To entertain the girls for that time I did puppets shows (with the puppets that Grandma gave the girls for Christmas...thank you Grandma) , read them stories, and sung songs. They were VERY GOOD!










We arrived in Bellingham at around 4 and I called Olive Garden to see if they were open...they were and so we exited the freeway (a treacherous thing) and went to Olive Garden as we had only eaten breakfast and were starving. Plus we needed a break from the car. So we took a detour that usually takes 5 minutes. It took us 20 and, of all things, we got stuck going up the drive-way to the restaurant. Now we did not pack clothes for snow when we left home so we were not dressed for snow (we had chocolate, water, matches, and wool blankets...just in case). So Shaun got out in his track suite and started digging out the car with the cooler lid (talk about ill prepared). Anyway, about 10 minutes went by and some people came up the driveway behind us and got a little stuck themselves. They got out of their car and helped us out of our stuckness :) and then Shaun helped them. While we were getting unstuck Olive Garden CLOSED! Sooooo...
We had placed a call to Shaun's step-sister Becca to see if we could stay with them over night as we were not going to make it home. They got back to us at about this time and they graciously said we could come AND they would feed us dinner...so we pressed on Blaine. It is only 18 miles from Bellingham but considering we had just gone 9 miles in 3 hours...18 miles seemed a bit daunting. Plus when we got on the freeway a semi was jack knifed across the freeway going the other way. All in all we probably passed about 30 cars in the ditch. After we got on our way another semi jack-knifed going the way we were going ...so the whole freeway was closed for hours.
ANYWAY, all that to say...it was a bit harrowing It took us 6 hours to cover what normally takes 2 hours...but we made it. When we got to Becca and William's they greeted us with "your dinner is ready". That was the best meal I think I've eaten in a LONG time :). We were so hungry!!!! Thank you Crossno family for taking us in and taking care of us :)
We left at noon the next day. the border was not busy and once we got into Canada the roads were clear. So we made it easily to Dad and Nan's house to pick up Keiko (She had had a few sleep overs at Papa and Nanny's house...thank you Papa and Nanny). And then we headed home. We got home at 3 o'clock, unpacked, and started cleaning as we had home group at 7. That was our adventure...in not so much of a nutshell :).

So thanks for reading :)
One tired girl