Thanksgiving (and a poetic moment)

Well, Thanksgiving came and went.

We have so much to be thankful for. It was a really special Thanksgiving, spent unexpectedly at home.

I made the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, etc.

But I thought it would be fun to mix it up a little and make a special dessert.

Mini pumpkin tarts.

Svea and I were hard at work lining all those mini tart forms with pie crust.

Before baking them, we first had to line each of them with foil and Mrs. Anderson's pie weights so the crusts wouldn't puff up - to make sure there was room for the pumpkin pie mixture.

Wow, you might be thinking. That looks tedious.

Yes.

They turned out just fine, outside of getting maybe a bit too dark around the edges. Whoops.

But look how cute! Totally worth the fuss. I just used a regular pumpkin pie recipe, but made them tinier. The rest of the pumpkin mixture (there was a lot left over) was poured into a pie dish and that was a crust-less pie.

Elin loved the mini pumpkin tarts.

Mostly she just had refills of whipped cream.

There was a lot of cleaning up to do. Nate and I are continually so thankful for all these little hands and faces to wipe.

* * *

In other news:

The front-loading washing machine is THE place to hang out. When I tell Elin it's time to do laundry she hustles downstairs right away; she doesn't want to miss a second of it.

Viggo bundles up for school. It was 4 degrees at the bus stop this morning, so all this gear he's decked out in is totally necessary (and self-imposed; I never have to remind him to get bundled up). He always kisses his little sisters before he heads out the door. Thoughtful guy!

And Nate has been busy. He's been making and selling cutting boards in my etsy shop. It's been really fun seeing what comes out of his shop each night.

He really loves this loon one.

Nate: "I don't know if I want to sell this one. The speckles from the birdseye maple makes the background look like sunshine sparkling on water, or stars reflecting from the sky onto a lake at night."

Me: "Wow, Nate, that was a really poetic moment you just shared with me . . . Are you okay?"

Nate: "I think so." Then he went back to his shop. He had maxed out on his poetry limit.

I have never, ever heard Nate talk like that before. Nate hadn't either. So, all that poetry and literature I've been trying to sneak into his life has been influencing him after all! Ha! It just took about a decade to sink in :)