Having just completed our first-ever Thanksgiving with Lilah, I need to pause a moment and catch up on all that has happened since then.
The drive to Detroit was memorable. The time passed quickly, and Lilah was an angel. In between naps, she cooed contentedly and had a running commentary going on everything she saw out the window. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. All the ladies helped cook (me, Kim, Ann, and Kate), the men manned (no pun intended) the small ones, Max did the dishes, and Adam cooked the turkey. It was a splendid effort all around. I learned two things this Thanksgiving. Lesson #1 - don't drink two glasses of wine before cooking a pumpkin cheesecake and Lesson #2 - don't cook said cheesecake with the help of 2 and 5 year old nephews. The explanation...
After my two glasses of wine, Zedd, Ephraim, and I undertook the cheesecake task. My head was merrily buzzing, but I was cooking, not driving, right? What could possibly go wrong? I read and re-read the directions I had scrawled down on an already-stained sheet of notebook paper. I had gathered my ingredients and measured as carefully as my fuzzy concentration would allow, all the while trying to keep small fingers out of the batter and supplies. I noticed a funny smell and realized with horror that in my hand being sprinkled generously into the batter was cayene pepper and not cinnamon at all. I stopped and scooped out what I could find. Zedd asked what I was doing and I told him I had accidentally grabbed the wrong spice. "Great. So it's going to be ruined now?" he asked, his 5 year old blue eyes filled to the brim with judgement. "No, it shouldn't be." I don't think he believed me. We added the three (yes three) packages of cream cheese, one for each of us. Zedd and I unwrapped them without any issues and were trying to free them of their foil wrappers when I glanced over to check Ephraim's progress. He had taken a largish bite out of the brick of cream cheese and was munching happily on it. "EJ! We don't eat bites out of the cream cheese!" He flashed me a creamy grin. "I like it, Auntie Allison!" After it was all said and done, it turned out fine (although it was almost ruined when the bottom fell out of the pan, but I saved it with my amazing reflex skills). It was a little spicy, but I blamed it on the ginger and wasn't even teased very much.
Lilah learned to really-and-truly crawl while we were there. We had a nice visit with the Sherfield and Severn families in Coldwater, and Dano took Lilah to the Build-A-Bear Workshop where he assisted her in the creation of her very first teddy. I finished her Christmas shopping. The ride back was a little more trying (mostly because Lilah decided that sleeping in the car was for squares, and also that she had no intention of being in her carseat for more than 2 hours at a time without wailing), but we made it back to the UP nonetheless more or less intact.
We now eagerly await Christmas. I work afternoon shift Christmas Day, but we'll have a nice Christmas morning and I get double time and a half holiday pay, so I'll live. It's not like Lilah has any idea what's actually going on. As far as she's concerned, she's seen a lot of brightly colored packages of toys being ferried into the house and out of her reach, and she is not pleased.
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