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| Out shooting on the ice |
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| The Northern Lights at 5a.m. |
This weekend's fun started on Thanksgiving Eve when I had everyone over to play games and hang out. In addition to Sam and Racquel, all of my Nondalton coworkers were over, so it was basically just a dress rehearsal for Thursday. The girls and I stayed up late to go to the airport and see the Northern Lights, and an amazing view of the Milky Way. However, the lights were a bit faint and the real entertainment was a curious fox who wanted to be our friend. Luckily, Caitlin called me at 5a.m. to tell me that the Aurora was out again, and the two of us took a quick walk down the beach to watch them as they danced in the dark. Watching them is something that will never grow old or become any less amazing.
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| Our Thanksgiving Dinner! |
While Thanksgiving has always been a great time to gather with friends and family in the past, I had never felt the stress of being a hostess for the holiday. In past years, I have just helped out or simply showed up to see my family and eat the deliciousness that had been cooked up. This year though, Sam and I decided to host Thanksgiving at my place and therefore I went into hostess mode. On Thursday, along with Racquel, we spent most of the morning preparing for the feast. It was fun to spend the day sharing memories of past Thanksgiving get togethers and family traditions; the smells that filled my apartment made my stomach growl for most of the day. Thanks to a very generous Alaskan man, all of the people in my village get a turkey for Thanksgiving, and thanks to Cassie, I was not in charge of cooking mine for our dinner! I made some pumpkin spice cookies and used my grandmother's recipe to try to recreate her famous, delicious mashed potatoes. When the rest of the crew joined us, our combined contributions made for a mouth watering buffet style feast.
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| My newest dream catcher:) |
After we had eaten, instead of letting ourselves lay down for the naps that our bodies yearned for, we were all rather productive and creative. Sam, Caitlin and I went out on the ice to skeet shoot for a little while which was a first for me. It was fun, but it was also very cold out so we didn’t stay out for long. We came back into the apartment and joined Cassie, Emily, and Racquel for a few hours of crafting. Emily, Racquel and I made dream catchers while Cassie sewed mittens and Caitlin worked on her newest hobby of jewelry making. I appreciated the time to sit around and to productively relax after our dinner. We then went down and ended the night by sitting around a fire on the snowy beach. Days like this make me feel as if I am getting a handle on this whole “adulting” thing!
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| Ugly Dog! |
The rest of the weekend followed suit in terms of being fun, creative, and productive. After eating green eggs and ham for breakfast on Friday, I went out and fed my “Ugly Dog” his meal of Thanksgiving leftovers. Ugly (whose real name is Snoopy) is a mangy dread-lock covered stray village pup that I have fallen in love with. I have been thinking very seriously of taking him in, but for now I just feed him whenever I see him going by. He even responds to me whistling for him and yelling “Ug!” down the street when I have something for him to eat. It certainly isn’t helping this whole crazy dog lady thing that seemingly worsens by the day..
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| A beautiful, snowy ride |
After feeding Ug, my priorities for Friday included watching Gilmore Girls and being a bum. I think I did a pretty good job of that, but was also glad to get out of the house when Sam and I went to take Racquel back home to Newhalen. The trip was refreshing, but also solidified the fact that winter is right around the corner. The temperature has been dropping and not stopping, and the ice is getting thicker by the hour. We should be able to cross any day now, and hopefully it will be a longer freeze than last year in which we only got to cross for one weekend. As the tundra is a glistening winter wonderland right now, it was a gorgeous ride to Newhalen and then back home. This past week has shown more snow than I’ve seen during my entire time of living in Alaska, and I am hoping it is just the beginning for this winter!
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| Red pancakes with green eggs and ham:) |
Saturday brought with it mine and Sam’s second anniversary and I was grateful that we could be together for it. Though we thought about hitting the newest restaurant in town and then seeing a movie at the theater (just kidding, those don’t exist where we live), we instead spent the day outside Christmas tree hunting and enjoying the snow. Though the trees are simply not Wyckoff’s Tree Farm material, the Alaskan wilderness has some pretty nice trees to offer and it didn't take long to find one that we both liked. We chopped it down and quickly got it put up and decorated. I love being able to look up from my chair and see it standing in the corner!
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| Christmas is around the corner! |
Today was a recovery day from all of the socialization and activities from the rest of the weekend. It was nice to just sit on the couch and binge on some more Gilmore Girls. I did have to "adult" for a bit and get some paperwork done, but I didn’t mind it. I felt that I had received plenty of time for pleasure this weekend and that was definitely worth spending a few hours working today. I am looking forward to seeing my kiddos tomorrow and hearing about their Thanksgiving dinners and their snowy adventures from the long weekend. Let’s hope they got some sleep and aren’t too grumpy or wild tomorrow! I only get one full day with them before I hop on a plane and head down to Pilot Point on Tuesday where I will spend the rest of my week. While I will be missing my Nondalton students, it has been a while since my last visit and I am eager to see the students and teachers down there!
As always, I am thankful that you join me as I reflect on my adventures and excursions! I hope you all gobbled 'til you wobbled and got to spend time with family and friends this weekend!
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