Fortunately, our heatlessness was resolved fairly quickly. After several phone calls and several hours had elapsed, we had just decided to call another heat repair company (thanks so much for the suggestion, supermom!), the phone finally rang. It seems our man on call had forgotten to change the batteries in his pager. So on a clear, cold and snowy Thanksgiving morning, the owner of our furnace repair service drove up in his flame red SUV and began an hour and a half of work in the bowels of the house, which eventually resulted in a beautiful white plume of steam emerging from the chimney. We turned off the oven to give it an hour�s rest before tackling the serious business of the day, the roasting of the turkey.

Despite the furnace fiasco, it was a pleasant and peaceful morning. AJ and I put on our boots and mittens and stomped around in the snow making footprints and following deer tracks. We slipped and slid our way down the hill to the pond carrying a bag of stale bread in hopes of feeding the ducks � a Thanksgiving tradition � but they were, unfortunately, unavailable for feeding. Instead we made snowballs and threw them into the pond to hear them splash in the water. Upon our return, we exchanged our wet coats for dry sweaters and slippers, warmed ourselves at the oven and made steaming mugs of hot chocolate and sat snuggled on the sofa (for warmth) and sipping cocoa while watching the Macy�s parade. AJ�s favorite was (what else) the Charlie Brown balloon (�Look, Mommy, he�s got a football! I guess he�s going to practice a few place kicks!�). He was mystified by anything that involved dancing (�What are those girls doing?�). Someday I�ll have an adequate explanation for a Rockette, but yesterday words failed me.

Dinner was an unmitigated success. The turkey, although perilously small for our number, proved remarkably meaty and particularly delicious. And of course, we had an excellent pie to person ratio (5:6), which always bodes well for a successful meal.

Today was spent dealing with the aftermath � much washing of laundry and dishes and floors � as well as visiting with our nieces who came out for a visit to play with AJ. AJ entertained us all by singing �Over the River and Through the Woods,� which is now not only fully worded and well tuned, but is acquiring some degree of musical nuance, in particular a delicate flourish on the final �pumpkin pie.� It is, as yet, unclear whether AJ is aspiring to be Caruso or a Backstreet Boy.

And despite my steadfast assurance that I would avoid any and all shopping excursions, I made two today. The first was a trip to the local bookstore to obtain some new read-out-loud books, as we�ve been sailing through the longer chapter books at alarming speed. I don�t think AJ�s quite ready for Harry Potter yet, so I decided to try him out on The Little House in the Big Woods, which I�m hoping is not too girlie for his tastes. The second trip was to a furniture store where we finally bought some dining chairs. Of course, our table has not yet been shipped, but now we are ready for instant dining upon its arrival.

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