Our English friend Chris had to go back home two days after Thanksgiving. That’s when we buckled down for pumpkin time. Daughter Lise adores pumpkin, which is something she doesn’t have in Denmark. We had pumpkin cheesecake for a big family dinner the weekend before the holiday. We brought the remains home and noshed on it for days. After Chris left, I baked Lise her own pie which she graciously shared with John and me. Come to think of it, I should have let her cut our slices. That pie was gone by the time we had Logan and his family over for dinner. (Logan comes first, because he is the one readers follow avidly.) Our dessert that evening was Pumpkin Pudding Crunch, a recipe printed in the October 2015 issue of Carolina Country magazine. It was an easy recipe calling for canned pumpkin and a yellow cake mix. You don’t want to know about the sugar and butter.

Our son John $ drops in on us regularly, but he spent several nights here to have more time with Lise. The weather was odd, warm enough that we had lunch on the porch one day and breakfast there the next. Our views were hazy with smoke from the forest fires, but we smelled burning wood only occasionally. I took a photograph of Lise at breakfast with the two horses behind her.

We were very happy to welcome the horses back a few days before Thanksgiving. They board next door, and we have the pleasure of giving them apples. $ is the one who seems to speak their language.

Being on the go for weeks, we missed chatting with the neighbors across the street. We also wanted to spend time with their daughter and her family, newly moved here from Istanbul. Logan was being very helpful, trying to get the baby to smile.

When Logan’s exuberance threatened to bring on punishment, Lise asked him to read to us. He opened the pop-up book and read Twas the Night Before Christmas smoothly from start to finish. He’s only six years old! He provided his own pronunciation for about five words but read the names of Santa’s reindeer flawlessly. He is amazing.

John went in the next room to play checkers with Logan while the rest of us chatted. They came back in the kitchen where John was preparing something for him, and the little toy camera caught Logan hanging on his elbows to watch. John said he was eyeing a candy dish which was practically under his nose. Reminder to self: move the candy before Logan comes over again.

All too soon it was time for everyone to go home. We took Lise to the airport and came home to follow her progress via texting. She changed planes in Atlanta, had a four-hour layover in Amsterdam, and landed in Manchester to stay for the weekend before flying to Copenhagen. The past two weeks were highly satisfying to me. We gave thanks for our many blessings with lots of dear relatives and friends. Who could ask for more?