The Boy came over, and as promised, I made three dozen pumpkin whoopee pies.  Two dozen went home with him for the long trek to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving with the Brothers, the remainder are going with us to my mother’s cousin’s house, where we will spend after-Thanksgiving.

Also, this will be the first holiday that my brother will be in Japan, and my mother is taking it kind of rough.  This time of year sucks for her because my grandmother’s birthday was on Christmas and my uncle died in early December.  So, since both sides have Skype, Binkles is going to get up at six in the morning and have “dinner” with us with the laptop set up in his seat.

We’re going to have a scaled-down dinner with just the intimate family and small portions of the classics.  Which to me, is the perfect low-key way of spending the holidays.