Subject: Weekend Update: November 22-26
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 14:58:14 -0500

As in all the years I have been married, the Crawford Clan assembled
for their annual rite of familial identity, the Thanksgiving dinner.
Dad Crawford had already been with us for a fun-filled week, which he
really seemed to enjoy. I took Wednesday off, running to ENC to pick
up Mandy, Jessie, and their roommates, Amber and Brooke.  Later that
day, Joy's sisters, Faith and Hope, arrived with John, Tom, and
Charity.  Last but not least, my nephew Tom and his wife Erin arrived
later that evening, to make our first complete family assembly since
Joy's mom passed away three and a half years ago.  Thanks to the
visiting roommates, we even got pictures of us all in the same photo.

The Metcalfe clan, sans me and mine, gathered at Steve's house.  Our
big family gathering is usually around the 4th of July, although we
try to assemble at Christmastime. However, Christmas for my brother
Russell is like Thanksgiving for me: committed to the in-laws.  (I
think it was somewhere on the marriage certificate or something like
that because it seems to be written in stone.)

I believe we met every Thanksgiving tradition requirement from the
keilbasa that was roasted with the turkey, to Faith's mystery
vegetable dish, the pecan pie (and others), and the traditional
after-dinner walk.  Well, now that I recall, the dreaded shredded
turnip didn't turn up (one of Dad's favorites).  At Amber's
suggestion, we let our meal cool a little while longer for each of us
to state one thing for which we were thankful.  I know some people
were thankful to start eating, but I enjoyed hearing what each person
had to say.

The door to the spa room was installed on Wednesday, giving us
gloriously convenient access to the room.  The weather was subfreezing
in the room which gave us ice on the floor at all the access points to
the spa.  Brrrr!  But we gave the spa a good breaking in during the
time off.

I stopped in at New England Coin-Op in Norwood on my way to Quincy
last Wednesday and picked up some pinball parts.  High Speed has been
out of order probably for about a year.  I was amazed as some of the
machines they had displayed for sale, amazed at the prices of some of
the machines, and amazed that I was able to fix High Speed all by
myself, including the soldering and simple troubleshooting.  Now I
have all of my pinball machines back in order for the upcoming
parties: College Night December 1, Teen Night December 8, and Church
and Friends night on December 16.  For those of you in the area, you
are cordially invited (on the 16th!). :-)

By Friday, the extended family had all gone home and the kids and
college girls were left behind to help begin the task of decorating
the Manor for Christmas (and for the parties!).  The energy level of
the kids is most impressive at the beginning of this venture, pulling
up all the boxes from the basement and starting to decorate every room
at once.  However, we have found that enthusiam can fade faster than
cheap chewing gum flavor when every room isn't magically transformed
immediately all by itself and effort begins to take its toll. In fact
the kids did help in decorating, but it is Joy who keeps at it, (doing
a great job!) and will probably continue throughout this week.

Saturday was no time to relax.  College kids went bowling, Joy and I
did outside decorating, Mandy did course work, one college girl was
ferried to the commuter rail to get back to college, the Magnusons
came over for dinner, and I went to choir rehearsal.  It wasn't until
Sunday night when I got home from transporting the rest of the college
women to ENC that we returned to our abbreviated family of four and
had a few moments of peace and quiet.  But don't be mistaken, we loved
every minute with each and every one of our friends and family!  And
soon, we'll be ready for more!!

Mark
--
+---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, metcalfe@cadence.com
| c a d e n c e | Cadence Design Systems, Inc.    Phone: (978) 446-6451
+---------------+ PCB Systems Division, Technical Communications Manager