Miser Family Update: "They're Back" edition

Life continues to be rich and full in the Miser Family household, and this week was particularly rich with family.  We started the family theme on Sunday, when K-daughter, A-child, and my new son-in-law D-son, and I went to a show featuring trained dogs.   The dogs did flips!  They danced!  They stole the trainer's hat (on command), and they stole our hearts.  Our 4-year-old A-child, sitting on my lap, said over and over again, "That's what I want to do when I grow up!"

On Monday, as I was walking around town with a job candidate, and handsome man walked up to me and kissed me -- it was my husband, back from Israel/Latvia/Paris/etc.  Whoop!  Way to let the candidate know that this is a friendly city to live in.  

A day later, N-son swooped back into town via Amtrak, and resettled himself in our spare bedroom.  He has had a wonderful time these past five weeks living with his older sister, but was happy to see the dog and his drums (oh yeah, and his mom and dad).

On Wednesday, we began preparing for our First Thanksgiving in the new home by moving furniture.  The home has a very beautiful, but moderate-sized dining room and a beautiful humongous living room; when we bought it, I figured we'd have to switch the roles of these two rooms for large meals.  And it turns out that having tables in both rooms works really well  We made space for all 15 guests.  

A centerpiece for the table,
inspired by the flower team at my church.

On Thursday, we had our first Thanksgiving in the new home!  It was a meal made possible by 3 Instant Pots, one Crockpot, a bit of stove work, and the oven.  So my tiny, question-mark-shaped kitchen really can pull off a giant meal if it gets help from family appliances.

But of course, the people were the best part of the day.  My dad and his wife joined us, as did half of my children and all of my grandkids.  We also had 6 students and/or friends join us.  We represented 4 continents and 6 different countries:  USA, Japan, Bosnia, Nigeria, Turkey, and Korea (from the era before it was two countries).  This was the first year in a long time we had no one from China.  I think the biggest hit of the evening was my step-mother's chocolate pecan pies, although dad's pair of apple pies weren't far behind.

View at one end of the Living Room table.
More guests in the dining room. 

On Friday, I did my own version of "Black Friday" shopping: I got a filing cabinet 100% off!   Huzza for FreeCycle!  K-daughter and her new family took off for their honeymoon cruise.  N-son and his dad did a bunch of fuel-burning at the gym.  And then I-daughter, N-son, and I went downtown with a few friends to see our city's annual Tuba Christmas.   

See how well the filing cabinet "fits" in the Prius?

Prewash is doing well, by the way, and was inspired by what we told her of the dog show early this week.  You might remember that when we first got her, she didn't know how to go up and down stairs, and that she's gotten a lot of training with me over the years.  Here in the new home, where the stairs are carpeted, we're working on her latest trick: backing up the stairs.  She kind of has to hop backwards; it's really awkward for her, but all the more impressive when she does it.  

And that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous.