The Fagella family (or part of the Fagellas) celebrated Thanksgiving this year in Northern New Jersey thanks to James. Since James was house sitting for his boss, they were very generous in letting us use their large home in their absence for a Thanksgiving celebration. We joined Aunt Loren, Aunt Mary, James and Sundance for a Thanksgiving feast. We could have easily fed another 20 people with all of the food, which meant lots of leftovers. We also celebrated Aunt Mary's birthday (November 22) and Aunt Loren's (November 27) with a homemade coconut cake courtesy of James.
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| Joe carving the turkey with his assistants. |
The festivities continued the next day when James hosted 22 of his high school friends for his annual Friendsgiving dinner. Anna was kindly invited to attend the event. Since she has attended previous dinners, she already knew many of James' friends. Once again, the amount of food was staggering with everyone bringing a dish. Aunt Mary and Aunt Loren have celebrity status with this group with lots of hugs and stories.
In between eating a lot of good food, we enjoyed the nice weather and wandering the neighborhood to see how the wealthy people live. The house we stayed in was covered with all sorts of eclectic artwork in every room. The bathrooms were also of note as all toilets were automated and included heated seats (a luxury you didn't know you needed). Theresa got some quality walk time in around the neighborhood, including taking Sundance along (although Sundance often walked Theresa). James took a break from party preparation to play tour guide at a local park with a 9/11 memorial and beautiful view of the New York skyline. It was a fun holiday break, and everyone left with more food than they brought in.
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| Manhattan in the background |
While we were in New Jersey, Benny stayed at a dog sitter for the first time since we got him. There were other dogs there and he clearly got some people food as he was not nearly as enthusiastic about his dog food when he got home. Upon return home, he managed to get an old baguette off the counter (Theresa was going to make croutons out of that) and also swooped in for a piece of turkey carcus that Theresa dropped on the floor while cutting it up for broth. In short, he had a good day and is also enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers.
In other news:
- Anna is gearing up for the holiday season for choir and currently has over 40 songs in her binder. She will be performing around Vienna with her choir in addition to their upcoming school performances.
- Anna's soccer team made it to the championship game on November 12 and lost by one point to the same team that beat them in the last two tournaments. It was a good game and fun to see the girls in action as both teams are from Vienna and most of them go to school together and are friends.
- Joe has moved up the family hierarchy with Benny and seems to have passed Anna. Benny now chooses to hang out with Joe during the day even if Anna or Theresa are home. This may also have something to do with the fact that Joe often feeds Benny in the evenings. Benny's food clock is always on and it was a bit bumpy switching to standard time from daylight savings time.
- Theresa finished the Vienna Turkey Trot 5K on November 19 - the first time she has done this event.
- Grandma celebrated her birthday on November 20 with a trip to physical therapy followed by a trip to the dentist for a tooth ache. She aspires to a better celebration next year.
A big thanks to James for a fantastic Thanksgiving celebration! Happy birthday to all of the November birthdays (Grandma, Aunt Mary, Aunt Lucy, Aunt Loren, Uncle Rod & Uncle Tim).
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| James, Mary & Sundance |
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| Turkey Trot complete |
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