Anna's first Thanksgiving

This year's Thanksgiving has been lovely. We went up to Mom and Dad Shaffner's house for Thanksgiving day and had a huge Thanksgiving feast. Grandma Rensel (Anna's great-grandma) and Susan (a Chinese woman living in Clearfield) were also there to celebrate with us. I got quite the mental workout, spending the majority of the day conversing (or trying to converse!) with Susan in Chinese. We spent the afternoon eating, sledding, riding the snowmobile, and eating some more.

Eying Great-Grandma Rensel

Hanging out with Grandpa and Chai the cat

The next day, we avoided the Black Friday insanity. The only shopping we did was shopping for a Christmas tree. It was my first Christmas-tree-cutting experience, and it was great fun, although the actual cutting took about two seconds as Paul used a chainsaw.

We had a real tree in TZ, too, but this was my first experience picking it out and cutting it down. Or at least, observing a tree being picked and cut down!

As per Lao family tradition, we decorated the tree on Friday. Paul's parents passed on Paul's yearly ornaments, a Lionel train set, and a beautiful nativity set from Bethlehem, and I put up our few ornaments from TZ, as well as my handmade Danish paper stars (we were short on ornaments last Christmas, so I had to make some!). Sean Read came over to spend the afternoon with us, then he and Kara Sunday came back in the evening. It was like college again, drinking hot drinks and talking late into the night. (Although "late" is relative!)

Paul, Sean, and sleepy Anna

Bonding with Uncle Sean

The next day, Dr. Arensen and Lisa came over from Houghton for an overnight visit. We caught up and shared stories, ate Korean food, and looked through Dr. A's photos from the South Pacific.

Now it is Sunday morning and we're sitting in front of the tree, having had a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, coffee, and mandarin oranges. We're listening to Christmas music and slowly thinking about getting ready for church.

Our tree!

We have much to be thankful for this year.