november

my favorite month is wrapping the last of its autumn colored hours around my heart tonight. once again i wish i could rewind a few weeks and spend more time with you, november. but before you go...

thank you for a Thanksgiving birthday. thank you for special dishes and special notes from my son;

thank you for delicious pumpkin spice coffee from my birthday twin, Crystal (which i did NOT share with jack). thank you for #TdayBday and #BHSchallenge (follow me on Twitter! @lelly28461)



thank you for three uninterrupted hours of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while knitting with fabulously lime yarn.


and thank you for snuggies and red knitting needles.


thank you for the salad that i cannot stop eating: spinach, chopped apples, pecans, blue cheese crumbles and Mat-made pomegranate vinaigrette,


thank you for a 9 1/2 year old who understands the value of "making an appearance."


thank you for a Grampie to carve the turkey.


thank you for a fantastic grown up bowling party with grown up friends. thank you for letting me bowl a strike with my very first ball (even IF i did bowl out of turn and inadvertently give the "X" to my husband!)



thank you for then (senior portrait, 1987)


thank you for now (november 2010)

self-portrait Tuesday

Lucy van Pelt: [holding football] Charlie Brown! Oh, Charlie Brown!
Charlie Brown: I can't believe it. She must think I'm the most stupid person alive.
Lucy van Pelt: Come on, Charlie Brown. I'll hold the ball and you kick it.
Charlie Brown: Hold it? Ha! You'll pull it away and I'll land flat on my back and kill myself.
Lucy van Pelt: But Charlie Brown, it's Thanksgiving.
Charlie Brown: What's that got to do with anything?
Lucy van Pelt: Well, one of the greatest traditions we have is the Thanksgiving Day football game. And the biggest, most important tradition of all is the kicking off of the football.
Charlie Brown: Is that right?
Lucy van Pelt: Absolutely. Come on, Charlie Brown. It's a big honor for you.
Charlie Brown: Well, if it's that important, a person should never turn down a big honor. Maybe I *should* do it. Besides, she wouldn't try to trick me on a traditional holiday. This time I'm gonna kick that football clear to the moon!
[he runs to kick the ball, but Lucy pulls it away]
Charlie Brown: Aaauuugh!
[falls flat on his back]
Lucy van Pelt: Isn't it peculiar, Charlie Brown, how some traditions just slowly fade away?

isn't it peculiar? some traditions do just slowly fade away. when i was growing up in a household of six, with one or more grandparent always within an easy trip, Thanksgiving had different traditions for me. i was fortunate to grow up in a house with formal dining room, and for Thanksgiving, it was set with my parent's wedding china and dishes overflowing with the "standard" dishes. we even had a swinging door that led to the kitchen, which made a pleasant *wooshing* sound as dinner plates were replaced with dessert. seated around the table were often friends mixed in with family, and cousins wearing plaid skirts and mary janes.

every once in a while, we traveled up to Connecticut to visit Grammie (who actually lived in a condominium!!) we even had our own version of "Over the River..." (Around the corner, and through the trees, and here we are at Gramm-eeees!)

and some years, Grabbie and Pop-Pop hosted the big meal. and there was always a plate with a stack of white bread on it for Uncle Bob. memories. i cherish every one of them.

it's different now. some traditions have faded away (i can't imagine putting a stack of white bread on the dinner table). but new ones are growing in their place. even as i sit here remembering my Norman Rockwell-esque childhood holiday, i am smiling about more recent memories - those i've created over the past ten years with my family of three.


erickson Thanksgiving table, c. 2008

Happy Thanksgiving week to you and yours!! may your life be filled with an endless abundance of traditions!


with Grabbie, c. 1974

i've run out of doors

so, recently, i made this wreath and this wreath and i thought about making this wreath. but then, i realized, i've run out of space to hang all of them!

so instead, i made a tree.




and, yes, it was so easy... lelly could do it!