I hope your Thanksgiving was a wonderful experience with lots of food and relational connection with people you love.  I can say that my life was full of simple pleasures.

The day started by getting the turkey ready for cooking. We were having 14 over for Thanksgiving and Nadine spent most of the night before getting the tables ready.  When I woke up the next morning I came out into the dining room and front entrance to find her creation.  She had spent the better part of the night picking out the right place setting, the gold silverware and the gold cloth napkins to go with the dishes  it was beautiful and I took time to admire her creation.

My daughter arrived soon after and had made name tags that went perfectly with the dishes and place settings.  They were autumn leafs that she had glittered with golden sparkles.  She used a small clothes pin to attach it to the napkin and wrote each persons name on the leaf.  It was a beautiful piece of art for each person to enjoy.

My signature apple pies were next on the agenda.  I love to bake, but I don’t know where my desire to bake came from.  My mom readily admits she hates to cook although she was a great cook growing up.  I never saw dad cook or bake.  I did have a grandmother that was a great cook and I will gladly use her as my inspiration.  As you can see they turned out well and tasted great.  You might see on the first pie my signature below the middle cross.  You can make out a J with a G next to it but under the cross.  I think of it as my place below the cross of Christ.

Once the dinner was in the oven cooking, it was time to have a little fun with my grandsons, Brayden and Keaton.  I had three huge empty boxes that we cut and put together to make a fort.  They are looking out a raised box on top of a large box.  It was fun to see them enjoying something that Grandpa made.

It was simple pleasures that caused me to reflect on a wonderful Thanksgiving time.  We finished off the day sitting in the family room reflecting on what we have been thankful for.  Simple pleasures for sure.  On this journey there are plenty of experiences and interactions that intersect in our lives which create these simple pleasures if we only open our eyes to them.