This team is going on to play in the state cup.  Which means more evenings of practice, more games out of town. He's still the smallest on the team and every now and then he can take someone out.  Usually though he gets bounced a little.  He wears a headband though his hair isn't long enough to get in his way. And gloves, he wears gloves because he gets cold. And I still like to see him go shoulder to shoulder with kids taller and heavier than him.

I had heard of the Gingerbread house display at the Port but for some reason hadn't had the opportunity to go before.  It seemed that in years past I was always a weekend late in hearing about it.  So when it came across in a Facebook post I told John I was going.  He was so sweet and offered to go with me. We  headed down to Fairhaven. It was a Sunday and so it was crowded, with parking spots full. The lines to view the houses were backed up and down the stairs. They had entertainment in the end room and we listened to a men's acapella  group that was fantastic.  They were entertaining to watch and so very very good.  I think I liked that the best.  Afterwards we chose two lines to stand in the see the houses and there were impressive.  Some of the categories were for young kids and there was no way the kids could  have constructed and decorated it.  There were a lot of parent involvement in those. There were older kids, adults and professional categories.  It was inspiring.

My family does this for me I know it. They like the Christmas lights and will drive around the neighborhood looking at the lights and I think they like the lights on our house but they put them up for me.  John rearranges bikes and stuff to pull the attic door open. Climbing into the rafters, he roots around the boxes until he finds the Christmas ones and he starts handing down, boxes after boxes until there is a wall in the garage. Then they start the process of locating the outdoor boxes. The two boxes of lights are placed on the ping pong table and the lights are are untangled and checked for burnt out sections.  The ladder is hauled out and the light hook is located.  They take turns climbing the ladder and stringing the lights from cup hook to cup hook.  Years ago John place cup hooks under the eves so it would be easier to string the lights and it is. They wrap each other in lights and the dog. I love how bright and soft the house looks with the lights. It just does something on cold drizzly days. I wish we could keep them up for the whole of winter but our subdivision likes them to come down in a timely manner. For my sanity though I wish they could stay and call them fairy lights after the new year.

I sat at the dinning table watching the faces of my family. There was laughter. We had already eaten our meal and yet we stayed, not normal for our family. We passed the glass bowl of questions around the table, some being serious with their answers and others being as shocking or as sarcastic as possible but all being funny. I savored this moment, smiling because this was possibly my favorite.

We had just finished up a carnival for kids and the high school and middle school students decided on Menchies to hang out after all the work that they put into the carnival. The students naturally got into groups, the middle school boys and the high school girls formed their own groups and the parents together.  And then it started to snow. It never snows on November 2nd but this year it did.