Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Thanksgiving Day was kind of a non-event. I went to Mass in the a.m by myself. Nobody else had their act together enough to be ready to go. The Mass was at 10:00 a.m. so that's how slow-moving everybody was!

Grandad and Steve came over around 11:00. Becky played with uncle Steve for the most part until Tom, Susan, Theo and Andrea came over. Becky played very happily with Andrea then. We went out to a local restaurant that I hadn't been to since my sister's wedding 25 or so years ago! It was exactly the same! It really is the kind of restaurant that retirees go to. Anyway, the food was pretty good. The sad thing was they ran out of pumpkin pie which I felt was tragic. Imagine not eating pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving! Becky was so cute that night. She got her dolls out and pretended she was Mary Poppins taking care of Michael, Barbara (but she changed the name to Sally because she really doesn't care for the name Barbara!) and whoever else the kids were in Mary Poppins (they really had 6 children, I believe!).

The Friday after Thanksgiving was given over, mostly, to getting Hannah's application to Steubenville in . Turns out they are running out of housing and in order to be sure she got houseing she had to get the whole thing in by Friday. I, who had been putting off putting together a transcript and worrying about it for the last 3.5 years, suddenly had to sit down and do one in a couple of hours Actually, that was probably a good thing because I had built up such a mental block about the darn thing. I helped Hannah edit her essay. Then Rick and I ran to the bank to get the transcript notarized and we mailed it off express mail. Then Rick was hungry so we went and got an early dinner real quick and then to the grocery store for a quick shop. Back home again Rick grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for the kids. I bought makings for pumpkin pie! (Haven't made one yet though I think tonight for dessert). We watched TCM, Sergeant York, I had wanted to see that movie for a while (and actually I've seen bits and pieces of it over the years). First of all, I just don't get Gary Cooper! I do love him in High Noon, but I just don't really understand what all the hullabaloo was about with him. Secondly, the movie is so corny and propagandistic! Rick and I were guffawing at it and guessing lines which were so obvious in coming.

Saturday, the window/door man came to show us examples of new doors Along with new siding, we are getting a new front door. This is the same guy who replaced our windows when we were finishing the basement a few years ago. He is a very nice man who adopted lots of kids with his wife (as well as having their own) and they have homeschooled off and on over the years. Really nice guy. Anyway, now we are trying to decide what kind of door to get. There is a reason I was never a decorator as I have very little opinion and talent for such things. Josh had to go work at our church's Thanksgiving clothing drive as part of his confirmation service work. So I dropped Will off for his Hypotheticals band practice and then Josh off at church. Hannah had gone to choir practice and then was hanging out with her friend who is home on vacation from college. After band practice Will hung out with his girlfriend (who is the bassist for the Hypos). Then the rest of us, Rick, Sean, Sean's friend Joseph, and myself picked up Josh and we all went downtown to see the reopened American History Museum. It had been closed for two years for renovations. I have to say I was underwhelmed First of all it was really crowded so maybe that affected my opinion, but the big exhibit, "America at War" or something like that was really superficial and geared to kids but at the same time containing too many things like collages and lots of reading of signs on the walls and not enough actual stuff to see. The interactive stuff was lame at best That made me recall how I've always found that museum kind of pop culture-ish instead of deep. Rick said you could learn more about America at War in a kid's encyclopedia only you wouldn't have to deal with parking and crowds. The two things that impressed me the most was seeing an actual uniform worn by George Washington. Ever since I read David McCullough's 1776, I've been fascinated by George Washington And also we went to the exhibit that had Lincoln's Gettysburg address written in his own hand. This was not the original but a copy he handwrote later. I read the entire thing. Lincoln had very nice handwriting!

Rick and I are on TCM kick. He had recorded The Misfits with Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Montgomery Cliff. He had never seen a movie with Marilyn Monroe It was an odd, sad movie but had a hopeful ending. Rick said I have a body like Marilyn Monroe. What a lovely man!

So today: breakfast, Mass, grocery shopping, Latin and Math homework, piano practice, dinner and the making and consuming of a pumkin pie!

Rick finished the Mary Poppins books and is now reading aloud The Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbitt I think the kids are enjoying it Interest has waned on Black Ships Before Troy. Too much bloody violence for our tastes. Don't like reading to my children about how Hector's corpse got dragged around behind Achilles chariot. And what is with Achilles! What a prima donna! Can't stand the dude!

I have been reading Frederick Douglass's Narrative and Life Story which is so compelling and really strikes horror into one's soul about the evils of slavery. I keep reading it in light of abortion One of the Douglass' themes is that slavery does evil to the masters as well because it allows them to be cruel and inhuman. Same with abortion. We rationalize it so well and it doesn't even register with us how dehumanizing it is for all of us to allow such wanton murder.

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