Thanksgiving

At the risk of sounding cliche, I am thankful for family, friends, food, and fun. All of which we were blessed to experience over Thanksgiving this year. In fact, since we currently live in a country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving (no, France is not Godless and ungrateful, Thanksgiving is just a New-World tradition.... think about it), we got to celebrate it twice: once on Thanksgiving Day and again on the weekend when all our American friends (plus some extras ;) were able to get together.

On Thanksgiving Day, Tim and Rachel were kind enough to host us:

Rachel prepared a fabulous feast:

Blaine entertained Chris with puzzles and games:

Baby Jude was precious and relaxed as usual:

And Oliver seemed to revel in the occasion:

Then, on Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting many thankful people. We had an incredible pot-luck feast:

People crammed into our little kitchen to make their plates:

And we ate for hours:

Not forgetting dessert, of course:

With 14 adults, 6 children (5 under the age of 2), and one dog, there was never a dull moment:

But sweet Jude was precious and relaxed as always... can you believe this fabulous kid?

And, I believe, fun was had by all. To the Philbricks:

The Garners:

And all our sweet friends (who, for some reason, escaped the camera that day), THANK YOU for being so wonderful. And, most importantly, thank you, Father, for we know that "every good and perfect gift" comes from you. Amen.

Friday outside my window...

Just thought I'd share. It was a beautiful start to the Christmas season.

Normandy Beach

Normandy Beach, just a short walk away from our retreat center a few weeks ago, simply gorgeous.

Sweet Chris squinting in the sun:

Random stranger with CUTE little man in galoshes:

Janelle walking with some random dog:

Can you tell I was simply drooling over these scenes? I tried to restrain myself, but I ended up with a gazillion pictures. What can I say? The light was perfect; the water was beautiful; the weather was lovely, and the subjects were willing:

Actually, she didn't know I was taking this picture. But isn't she STUNNING?!?! This photo is straight-out-of-camera; could she be any more gorgeous?!?! Truly, Jaz, you are beautiful inside and out:

And really, I had a blast taking these pictures.

The easiest subjects were Callum, age 4, and Blaine, age 3. I'm not sure there's anything better than a child fascinated by the rocks at the beach:

And, as boys will be boys, they of course had to throw them into the water:

Luckily, Callum had on the appropriate shoes:

Unfortunately, Blaine didn't. Poor Tim kept trying to keep him dry:

But at least he wasn't bothered by the cold:

Sweet Dannayea gave me a great smile, too:

Poor Blaine didn't want to leave at the end:

It wasn't only the children who enjoyed it, though; Janelle and Fred seemed pretty content, as well:

These crazies, aka Ben and James, got in the water. Notice the parka-like coat that Janelle was wearing? She was not overdressed, for the record. It was cold!

All in all, a GREAT day for taking pictures. So, like Tim told Blaine, look at the camera and smile!