Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving had all the right ingredients: brilliant colours, fresh air, family, and lots of food. We also had cottagers at Waupoos this weekend, for the first time since the end of summer. After the constant activity of summer cottage season, it was nice to have some down time, but this weekend reminded me of how much fun it is to be at Waupoos when cottagers are here!

This weekend was extra special for me because my friend Maxine and her 5 year-old daughter, Adélia, came for a vacation. It’s nice to meet new people here, but it’s also great to watch people you know fall in love with Waupoos. I hope that my friend and her daughter will be back. If Adélia has anything to do with it, I’m sure they will. Apparently, when her mom said something about going home at the end of the weekend, she replied with, “But THIS is our home!”

We didn’t have a host family this weekend, so the Farm Management Team took over the hosting duties. I led chapel time on Saturday morning, and Sabrina organized a cute fall craft for the kids. In the afternoon, Brendan started a game of soccer, which was followed by our traditional open house activities: wagon ride, Mass, and potluck. We had quite a few guests at the potluck - enough to polish off 50lbs of turkey!

Sunday morning we painted and carved pumpkins. In the afternoon, the Jackson’s and the Genest’s came by for a visit. We went for a walk around the property and then watched the kids play in the park. We even managed to get a picture of all the cousins!

There were no activities planned for the cottagers on Sunday evening, so I invited Maxine and Adélia for dinner. Maxine came in and swept through my house in a flurry of activity, putting toys away, doing dishes, and helping to prepare dinner. The place looked a hundred times better when she finished. I told her she could come back anytime! We had a nice visit and enjoyed watching our kids play together. Adélia only speaks French and Liam only English, but that didn’t deter them. They were inseparable all weekend. Whenever he wasn’t with her, Liam would ask when he’d get to play with Adélia again!

The cottagers left on Monday around midday. After a meeting with the farm families and afternoon naps for the boys, we went to the Genest’s for dinner. Jess and Joel served a delicious Thanksgiving spread to cap off a great weekend.

Our next event at the farm is Fall Clean-Up on Saturday, when we’ll be preparing the farm for winter. Despite it’s inevitability, I’m trying to delay the thought of winter as much as possible… yesterday’s balmy weather helped!

The farm's newest resident: Hoggle