Home after a drive that was 30 minutes faster than we expected at 7 and a half hours. The Holiday was lovely—we rented the local church hall and there were about 40 of us, all bringing various dishes. It was but wonderful, but our elders are so very fragile. My Uncle Cal is 94 and he and my Aunt who is 90 still live on their own (with some help) as does my 89 year old mother, but they are all in failing health. My Brother flew in my other Aunt for the event as a surprise and the three of the sisters had a great time. We took them out for breakfast yesterday, and getting everyone in and out of the car with various canes and whatnot was quite the production. One of my brothers and I talked about that fact that this is probably the last time the whole family will be together this way. It made it all bittersweet and precious.

I admire all of them so much. They are still interested in politics and reading and, well, life and are wonderful role models.

Oh wow, Scrappy, that sounds great, if bittersweet.

Wow Scrappy, that sounds pretty amazing.

Vortex, I have struggled with this also. And when thinking ok, I have to buy presents for two of you and your kids, but you just buy for me? I'm not trying to cheap out but it gets expensive!! Usually my sister and I split our parents' gifts but she will sometimes also buy something else.

Shir, thanks for the vegan cookbook rec, I informed a few folks and they downloaded.

That's wonderful, Scrappy.

LACK FRIDA made me laugh.

I think we have a successor to Belinda: [link]

They fight crime! Through the power of uncanny terror.

We're slowly returning to Normal State after an entire week off from school for Matilda and Thanksgiving and Emmett being here.

Matilda is turning out to be a champ assistant in the kitchen, and I put her to work drawing and designing turkey hats (which were quite cunning) and we did a ridiculous turkey shoot to make Emmett's Least Favorite Holiday more entertaining.

I would say that the best things I made were: wild mushroom stew and the raspberry cake with chocolate ganache. Most significant discovery: raspberry whipped cream is insanely good. (made with a raspberry syrup made fresh). Matilda deserves a full co-credit on the cake though.

Now Matilda has a cold and we're slowly easing her into bed. Definitely winding down.

They fight crime! Through the power of uncanny terror.

Hard to commit crimes when you're hiding under your bed!

I made a sweet potato chocolate cake that my brother called a "10 out of 10". Also made my bourbon cherry pie, which I made gluten free with an almond crust and cornstarch instead of flour in the crumble. Used steel cut oats, which I think was a mistake texture wise, but still tasty.

I contributed to Small Business Saturday by patronizing a local hardware store and a local bookstore. Should have done more, alas, but at least I didn't go to Walmart or buy online.

I went to a small, local business yesterday to pick up holiday cards and a frasier fir candle. I'll probably shop online for all the family stuff, but that's because it needs to be shipped to MI, and it's easier to just do that whole thing online.

My family is a Christmas list family (for the most part), and a lot of times what they want is from a big box store, or online. Two of Tim's gifts are from small businesses (I can't WAIT to see the drawing of Kato!), and I get stocking stuffers from the amazing chocolatier in Northside, but most of the presents I get people are not from small businesses. I fall on the side of getting people what they want, not what I think they should have (or, at the most, a combination of both -- like, something from their Amazon wishlist, and something I saw that I thought they would like).