Relocation: The Day after Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving needs a name other than "Black Friday." A nice term for business, but it doesn't convey the joy of simply hanging out at home. We spent the day sorting, packing, and giving away. Beginning when Brendan and Colin were preschoolers we packed boxes with memorabilia (drawings, journals, awards, and so forth). Finally after years of urging them to take their box, they made it into their respective cars.

When Doug bought boxes to pack china for Brendan and a painting for Colin, he discovered U-boxes. We will buy and pack them; U-haul will pick the boxes up and deliver them to Indianapolis. At less than US$2,000 this is a solution we can afford. Brendan's china is from Doug's family. Colin's painting is from my parents. They gave it to me when I finished my PhD. Now is the appropriate time to pass it on to the next generation and express our pleasure that Colin is almost finished.

At dinner time the family members still in Raleigh came to dinner - a combination of Wednesday night's and Thanksgiving left overs supplemented by pizza. After dinner we broke open our stash of "games." Raise the Titanic and Trivial Pursuit are Thanksgiving staples. Brendan took custody of Raise the Titanic and his cousin claimed one of the four versions of Trivial Pursuit. When Stock Market was spotted the cousins and Jenny started playing. Colin took over ownership - the agreement with Jenny was that he wouldn't complain when she buys wool. Michaela, a niece, claimed the extensive collection of jigsaw puzzles (they filled the blue Ikea box pictured on the left). Her parents weren't thrilled. Doug got her to agree to keep her room clean and post a picture on face box to prove it.