Maya and Althea had some nice times making decorations for the table:

It was just the three of us, but I did the regular Thanksgiving menu only skipping a few of the standards...

Althea is enjoying her mashed potatoes (she's not much of a messy-with-food kiddo, so this was pretty funny):

I'm not sure I have many pictures at all of Maya where she isn't making a silly face. :-)

We found our tree so fast (as soon as we walked on the lot), I nearly forgot to take any photos at all...

I am teh strong.

My goal was for us to have fun doing this. There were no other goals. We achieved the goal. Surprisingly simple and fun.

We're enjoying the holiday season. There are definitely advantages to living on a restricted budget. Focusing on what really matters is pretty much the only option so that's what we've been doing. There's excitement about Christmas coming and mellow joy in preparing gifts for friends and family. It's been a difficult couple years but I think we're all settling down into some nice routines. Our foundation is getting a little more solid and stable.

In January, I will be re-starting grantwinners.net with a new website, new team members, and a new (and useful) blog. Beyond that, my focus is on the girls and keeping our lives simple and (see previous posts) safe. I would love to make time to post here about some of the more interesting ideas I've been considering lately (...the metaphorical and values based creation of meaning, the obstacles and opportunities created by culturally different languages, and more). It's my intention this will need to be lower on my list of priorities. Children's lives, my business, my personal life... the last item includes visiting this space. So, I hope to post something in the coming months. In the meantime, please feel free to email me at heather at serenebabe dot net if you'd like to get or stay in touch.