I guess Thanksgiving didn't turn out to be as stressful as it might have been with having to scramble a bit to ensure we had enough food and room with Mark letting us know less than two days before that they were coming. It helps that Cory prepares all of the food and I keep the kids occupied. Cory also found it really helped keep him relaxed to have a beer while he was getting everything ready. Mark and Shannon and the kids only stayed a few hours, but at least they finally met Tylan.

It was a hard Thanksgiving for Myron - harder than usual, I guess. It's always difficult because we're all remembering being together at the hospital and finding out after Mary's exploratory surgery that the doctors didn't think there was anything they could do. This Thanksgiving just happened to be on the same date as that Thanksgiving four years ago.

We managed fairly well with Myron's dog, Dodger, in the house. Of course, Dodger spent all of his time while inside in our old kennel. I hate to think of a dog being miserably cooped up for two days, but Cory and I refuse to have Dodger around the kids if he's not in a kennel. He hasn't yet bit one of them, but he's come very close several times and we don't know what's going to trigger him. He's not a good-around-children sort of dog. Myron got him at the Humane Society a little less than four years ago when Dodger - a cocker spaniel - was about five years old. Dodger had never lived with children and wasn't even an inside dog. It's too bad that Myron didn't get a dog that would be more appropriate to have around his grandchildren, but it is what it is.

Cory and his dad did some early morning shopping, but there wasn't anything too spectacular going on over the past couple days. Cory's working tonight and says it's really slow as far as pizza deliveries. He has to be up for an 8 a.m. counseling session and them he's going to hopefully finish up painting his co-worker's house. Then he still has to work a few hours delivering pizzas. Poor guy. It's definitely not a relaxing weekend for him.

We started putting up a few Christmas decorations today. We put up the Christmas village and the tree. Haven't decorated the tree yet. Cory put up some outside lights and decorations.