A Thanksgiving Walk

"'Ah! So nice to see you again! It's me this time, Aaron Rochester.
Let me invite you to read the second and final part of my family's Thanksgiving story.
Now close your eyes...

Ivy clears her throat from behind me and peeks around. "Aaron, how can they read with their eyes closed?"
I rub my chin thoughtfully. "I was going to describe what our Thanksgiving hike looked like. It's easier to get a mental picture when your eyes are closed. You've told me that yourself countless times."
Ivy pooches out her lips, and shrugs. "Oh yeah. Well...carry on."
"Alright," I begin, turning back to you; my lovely audience. "As I was saying...

A Winter Wren chirps gaily from overhead as you find yourself on a forest pathway covered in vibrant yellow, red, and orange leaves.
The sound of laughter and chatter falls on your ear as you spot the figures of a group of people coming your direction.

"Ivy, if you take a picture of every single pretty leaf, your camera is going to implode."
Ivy looked over at Caleb with a crinkled nose. ''If it does, I can always have Aaron fix it."
I pulled my scarf closer around my neck, and raised my eyebrows at my twin. "One of these days I'm not going to be able to figure out one of your electronics. What then?"
She snapped a picture of me, and grinned; a dimple creasing her right cheek. "Nah, that'll never happen."
Caleb grimaced, and glanced at Dad; who was batting at a cobweb that had attacked his face."Well, don't you start hollering too loud when that camera finally biffs it."
After our Thanksgiving feast, which we have around three or four in the afternoon, it is our family tradition to take a hike in the nearby forest before returning home to settle down and watch the Canadian Football game on our DVR.
As is the normal protocol, Dad took the lead. Though this particular Thanksgiving, he collected a lot more spiderwebs on his face than usual. Sputtering once again, he rubbed his hands over his face and turned to us.
"Alright, new rule; Aaron, you take the lead."
I shuddered at the thought of running into my least favorite creature, and attempted to do the opposite of pulling rank. "You'd send your youngest child out in front to battle the elements? Alone?"
Mom bit back a smile as Dad narrowed his eyes to ponder the question.
Caleb raised his hands up in the air when he noted Dad's eyes flicking towards him.
"Hey, I'm the oldest. I have obviously been through far more than my baby brother. The Bible says that Tribulation worketh Patience; and Patience, Experience. Me thinks my young brother should be given the chance to learn some great lessons."
Dad nodded slowly. "Hmm, excellent."
I cringed, not being able to argue, now that the Bible had been brought into it.
Ivy grinned, and held out a stick in my direction. "Here, a cobweb wand."
I sighed, and took the stick. But as I stepped ahead to lead my pack, I remembered the last part of the verse Caleb had quoted.
Spinning around, and held up a gloved index finger.
"Oh, one more thing--Your quote also mentions that this Experience I am gaining produces Hope. So in the trying, patience, and experience I'm going through, I'm going to hope that in all of this, my brother will kindly take the lead, and battle the raging autumn spiders."
Ivy lowered her camera from a bright leaf, and squinted at me.
"Oh for goodness sake."
She brushed past me, and yanked the stick from my hands.
"I'll lead. Ya sissy."
Dad put his arm around Mom's shoulder, and laughed. "There now, Ivy saw a need, and took the initiative."
Ivy flashed a smile at me, and began marching ahead.
"Follow me! I'm not afraid of spiders."
As I fell in behind our parents, Caleb clumped his hand on my shoulder and grinned. "Teamwork."
I pushed my beanie back, and shoved my hands into my coat pockets.
"Why lead the way and get covered in webs, when we both know Ivy's going to end up doing the hard work for us?"

Well...Perhaps that statement would have been better off unstated--
Upon realizing that Caleb's and my plan had been to get Ivy to take the webs in the first place, Dad promptly ruled that the both of us were to take the lead...
Without sticks as our defense from the spider webs.

~ Fin.

Alright, so I hope you guys enjoyed reading my short story!

~ When walking in Autumn, do you often run into spiderwebs? ~
~ What are your after Thanksgiving traditions? ~

Alright!
I have been kindly tagged for a NaNoWriMo tag, so I will be returning soon with that!
Until then,

God bless!

Megan

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

*A cold breeze blows, a leaf swirls past*
*Two shadowy figures come walking through the early morning fogginess*
*They stop, and start waving. A light clicks on, and they are recognized as the Rochester twins.*
"Hi! Ivy here. Since Megan has apparently gone poof, my brother and I have stepped in to write up a blog post."
*I frown and cross my arms in front of my chest.*
*ahem* Guys, I'm right here. I've just been busy! I haven't had time to-
*Aaron's eyes widen* "Ivy, listen! Sometimes I can still hear her voice, off somewhere in the distance."
Okaaay, I'll just leave you two to your craziness. But if you get into any shenanigans...remember who writes your stories, eh?
Ivy; "Hmm, she has a point. Come on, bro. Let's get to the reason for our hijacking this laptop."
*The light clicks off, and you are transported to a kitchen where the savory smells of roasting turkey, pumpkin pie, and other culinary delights greet your nose*

Ivy looks up from her position in front of the oven. "Hey mom, could you toss me that hot pad? I think my sweet potatoes are finished."
The Rochester family was hard at work preparing their yearly Thanksgiving supper.
Mr. Rochester was bent over the turkey, carefully basting the bird; as was his assigned kitchen duty.
The task of overseeing, and perfecting the pumpkin pies was Mrs. Rochester's job, which she took very seriously.
The twins' brother Caleb, who was four years their elder, always took it upon himself to make sure every dish and utensil was spotless, and the kitchen as free from clutter as he could keep it.
Utilizing the hot pad her mother had chucked to her, Ivy pulled out her dish of piping hot sweet potatoes, and set them on the stove top.
"Dad, is the turkey ready yet?"
Mr. Rochester replaced the lid on the turkey roaster and wiped his hands on his borrowed apron.
"Nearly. I'd give it ten minutes."
The backdoor swung open at that moment, and in came Aaron; a steaming pot in his hands.
"Make way, hot potatoes coming through!"
He shuffled to the sink, and there he placed the steaming metal pot.
Caleb backed away, and frowned at his younger brother.
"Aaron, that pot is covered in soot and charcoal, what did you do to it?"
Aaron chewed his lip, and tilted his head to better look at the blackened bottom of the pot.
"Hmm, I guess I turned the flames up too high on the burner..."
Caleb removed his glasses indignantly; rubbing the fog that had condensed on the glass.
"Burner is a good word for it. My spotless sink is ruined."
Mrs. Rochester tisked from where she stood at the kitchen island, pressing the pumpkin pie crust.
"Oh Caleb, it's nothing a little scrubbing won't fix."
Caleb grunted in response as he replaced his glasses.
Ivy slid a bowl over to her twin, and grinned. "Here, mash the potatoes in this." She shifted her look to Caleb. "Would you like me to scrub the sink for you, Caye?"
He shook his head, and rolled up his already bunched sleeves. "I'll do it."
Aaron dumped the potatoes into the offered bowl, and returned the burnt pot to the sink.
"Sorry it's so messy."
Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry about it. If the mashed potatoes weren't my favorite part of the meal, I might complain a bit more." A grin cracked through his frown, and he winked good-naturedly.
Aaron grinned as he pulled out the potato masher. "Saved by the love of food. I love Thanksgiving."

(to be continued)

Thanks for reading, we'll be back soon to share part 2. :)
Hope you enjoyed, and happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers!

God bless!

Megan Ivy

On the 8th Day of Christmas...

Hello! Ivy Rochester here.
It is now my turn to write something for the blog!
I wasn't sure what to write, so I decided to share a snippet of what my day has looked like so far.
Our parents had left for a trip to town this morning, leaving me and my brothers home.
The following is what happened earlier this afternoon:


"In the bleak mid winter, frosty wind did moan...”
I shivered, and continued to stare out the frosty windowpane. “Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.”
“Bemoaning the cold, sister dear?”
I turned around and saw my big brother leaning in the entryway of our living room; steaming coffee mug in hand.
“Oh, hi Caleb. No, just singing to myself. The song perfectly fits the weather today.”
He straightened and wandered across the room to look over my head out the window. “Minus the snow falling upon snow part.”
I nodded slowly and sighed. “True. I wish it would snow. Everything is so much prettier when there’s snow.”
He grunted in agreement, and took a sip of his coffee. “It’s -7 degrees outside.”
I groaned. “It should be illegal for the temperature to run this low.”
“That’s 18 degrees, if we were in America.”
I furrowed my brow in thought. “It doesn’t sound so bad when it’s in Fahrenheit—”
Right then, my twin entered the room and our conversation simultaneously. “Santa called! He wants the North Pole’s weather back.”
I turned and stood up from my seat on the window seat. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he did.”
“It would me,” Caleb mumbled, sipping his coffee again. “if “Santa” called...”
I threw him a disgusted look. “It’s a joke, big bro. Of course we don’t think—”
Aaron plopped onto the couch and leaned forward to steal a cookie from the abundance of the platter on the coffee table. “Gosh, didn’t mean to start a Santa debate...”
I grinned. “Don’t worry about it. Besides—” I wandered over and grabbed my own cookie. “We don’t have snow. I doubt it would go over well at the North Pole if there wasn’t any snow.”
Caleb set his mug on the fireplace mantle, and studied the barometer that hung next to our family portrait. “Hmm...It’s forecasting a change in barometric pressure. The humidity level is rising, so we may well have snow by tomorrow evening.”
Aaron leaned back on the couch pillows and grinned. “Who needs weather men when we’ve got a magic weather guesser, and the sage announcer, Caleb Rochester?”
Caleb shook his head. A grin was not on his face, but it sparkled in his eyes nonetheless. “Magic nothing. It notes the level of pressure—”
I laughed. “I would hope he knew how it worked, Caye…” I winked at my twin. “He built it.”
Aaron shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure, but it was really easy.”
Caleb grinned. “Easy, he says!”
“Aye, easy says I.”
I laughed. “Ok you two, enough of this; who’s up for a game of Risk?”
They both perked up at the mention of one of their favorite strategic board games.
I nodded in satisfaction. “I thought so. I’ll get it. Aaron, please clear the cookies?”
He eyed the scrumptious delicacies, and slowly nodded his head. “I can do that.”
Caleb hurried over and scooped the plate up before Aaron had the chance to grab it. “Ohh no you don’t. She meant; clear the platter from the table—” He waved his index finger in front of Aaron’s nose. “Not the cookies from the platter.”


It's not exactly a complete scene, but I hope you enjoyed reading!
I think I just heard the truck pull up, so I'd better go see if I can help my parents with the groceries...
Laters!


Thanks Ivy.
Only four days to go now, until Epiphany!
That means four more posts until the 12 Days of Christmas come to an end.
I hope you are enjoying these posts so far!

God bless,

Megan


In the Bleak Mid Winter - written by Christina Rossetti - Written by memory.