Libby and Dallan Hendry
Journal Thanksgiving in Kansas 9 Dec 2002
Dear Dad and Cindy:
Thank you so much for the Christmas gift. It came as such a surprise amidst the bills and flyers and doctor statements. I liked your direction for Christmas eve to read Luke 2 and sing Away in a Manger. Megan and I think that's a wonderful idea.
Our Thanksgiving was quiet and satisfying. Brent's sister, Kathy, drove to Topeka from Colorado Springs with her three children. We drove over to Dallan and Libby's home on Thursday. Everyone brought or cooked exactly what they wanted to eat. There were no sweet potatoes. The rolls were a freezer-to-oven variety. I made a cranberry jello salad with nuts and whipped cream, so no one opened the traditional can of cranberry sauce. Libby made a wonderful hot dip that she served in a hollowed out round loaf of pumpernickel bread. Instead of any lettuce salad, I brought a relish tray filled with green pepper strips, baby carrots, celery pieces, orange sweet pickles (they were a great hit!), sweet spiced crab apples and LOTS of black olives. No dill pickles. No green olives. LOTS of dip. There were 6 kinds of pie provided by Libby and Kathy. The turkey was juicy and tender--nice. My only complaint was that Dallan boiled up all the gizzard, giblets and guck that they wrap in paper and stuff inside the turkey for you to take out of the turkey and throw away--and then he cut it up and PUT IT IN THE DRESSING . . . ugh. So I didn't eat any dressing this year.
Best things about Thanksgiving? Six teenager cousins together--no diapers, no strollers. Time for me to hear Brent talk about his family/growing up with his parents and his sister and no interruptions. On Friday everyone came to Kansas City to see the lights the city puts up every year in a certain part of downtown. They had lunch at the house and then came home to tacos/taco salad. Dallan stayed home with me--he's not much of a walker lately. Nathan and his cousin Kyle also stayed home for the 4 or 5 hours everyone was gone. It would have been great to say that the two of them became better friends or better acquainted or ever better able to recognize the likes/dislikes of the other; any of these, however, would not be telling the truth. What happened was that that they remained glued to the Nintendo for the entire time. I think that they made use of several game cartridges. They did change from sitting up cross-legged to sprawling on the floor to sitting up with one leg tucked under them and the other stretched across the hallway. I know this because I checked on them several times. Anyway . . . The lights downtown were beautiful, the weather was mild, the cousins had a good time with each other, Brent got to see his sister, and the whole thing was laid back and relaxing. It has been such a blessing being close by Libby and Dallan so that we could get to know them better.
I have overspent for Christmas again this year. I find a little each month and then November comes and WHAM-O! Brent gets involved. When he is the bread winner, I have a hard time saying "no." Meg and La will be ready for school as far as computers go. Nathan is taken care of, too. The house gets new carpet. I get one of those nice purses with a duck on it--the kind that they keep behind the counter that has to be unlocked before you can get a good look at it. Brent is going to read this, so I can't tell you what Santa is going to bring him.
This has been a good growing time for us. We are learning better that we do not have to know the end from the beginning. Brent used to laugh when I would complain that I wanted a letter or a telegram each morning telling me what to do each day--but now he is wishing for the exact same thing. There are so many options that could play out so many different ways. It is impossible to prepare for each and every one--like trying to walk every path at the same time, it would tear Brent and the family to pieces. The only solution is to do as Elder Packer counseled: unpack where ever we are, live each day to its fullest, and wait for further orders.
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