Merry Thanksgiving!

Well, we all know that Thanksgiving is the holiday that ushers in the Christmas season...which means that Thanksgiving sometimes gets ignored a bit. This year that happened even more so...partly because I got the stomach flu the day before Thanksgiving. We moved our Thanksgiving dinner to the Sunday after Thanksgiving...in which we promptly received 4 inches of snow and blustery conditions...so it just feels like Christmas--I started dragging out the holiday decorations and managed to get the stockings up and the mantle decorated. We had a great Thanksgiving meal; Rob's pie was excellent! I look forward to the leftovers. I do not, however, look forward to this next week of school. I have papers to grade and gradebook numbers to crunch...but in two weeks the semester is over...so I suppose there is a little pinpoint of light at the end...way...way...down there. So to all of you: Happy Belated Thanksgiving! And a Happy Holiday Season!

Thanksgiving Quiz

In past years I have given this Thanskgiving Quiz to my students in the class period before our Thanksgiving break. Give it a try! (Answers will be posted in the comments.)

1. What year did the Pilgrims have their feast?
a. 1642
b. 1621
c. 1711
d. 1777

2. Originally a goat’s horn, the Horn of Plenty (or Cornucopia), which symbolizes abundance, originated in which country?
a. Switzerland
b. Ireland
c. Greece
d. Norway

3. The first pilgrim feast lasted for three days, what didn’t they eat?
a. clams
b. venison
c. pumpkin pie
d. wild fowl

4. Were the local Native Americans really invited to the first pilgrim feast?
a. Yes
b. No

5. Which President declared Thanksgiving a national holiday?
a. Thomas Jefferson
b. George Washington
c. Abraham Lincoln
d. Franklin Roosevelt

6. Which President moved Thanksgiving a week earlier to try to lengthen the holiday buying period but was forced by public outcry to return it to its original Thursday?
a. Thomas Jefferson
b. Calvin Coolidge
c. Dwight Eisenhower
d. Franklin Roosevelt

7. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been held for about how many years?
a. 40
b. 60
c. 80
d. 100

8. The pilgrims didn’t call their feast a Thanksgiving, what did they consider a Thanksgiving to be?
a. a festival
b. a religious holiday
c. a harvest gathering
d. a type of song

9. Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada on which day?
a. 1st Monday of November
b. 4th Thursday of November
c. 4th Thursday of October
d. 2nd Monday of October

10. How did the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade end?
a. the appearance of Santa Clause
b. a performance by the Rockettes
c. releasing of the giant balloons
d. a speech by the mayor of New York City

I have been REMISS!

This fall feels like a blur....I feel like the whole fall has been filled with me either having a cold or grading papers....but there is a light at the end of the tunnel....and it's multicolored and blinking in a chasing fashion. I am so glad that Christmas falls when it does....just as we're spiraling into the depths of cold and everything is brown and dead looking. So just to put you in the mood:



And don't forget what Christmas is all about:

13 things that make me happy

1. Trees. I freaking love trees.
2. 70 degree days.
3. New CDs.
4. Voting for a presidential candidate that I actually liked instead of voting for the lesser of two evils.
5. Polka-dotted sneakers.
6. Playing board games with my friends and family.
7. Ice for my drinks. :)
8. Good chocolate.
9. Reynolds Non-Stick Foil (this has made it on to other lists of mine also, it’s the best stuff ever, really, and I’m not even getting money from them to say so).
10. Christmas Music. I know it’s still early, but I love Christmas music….on the day after Halloween I ripped my entire collection on to my computer…anyone up for an a capella Christmas mix? How about a cd of nothing but different versions of White Christmas…..I could soooo hook you up.
11. Stewart’s Orange ‘n Cream Soda.
12. Half-priced seasonal merchandise. There is nothing I like better than scrounging the seasonal sections when they go on clearance.
13. New episodes of my favorite tv shows (Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, House, and Bones).

Jambo and the Settlers of Catan Expansion

Before we went to the family reunion in MN, we bought the Settlers of Catan Expansion so that we could play with 5 or 6 players...and while we were at the game store, I couldn't help but pick up another game...so we bought Jambo which is one of a series of two-player games by Kosmos. We have Lost Cities from this series and like it quite a bit, so we thought Jambo would be a safe bet.

We have played with the Settlers Expansion twice now. The first time we played at the family reunion, we neglected to include the special build phase which helps players keep under the 7 resource limit (and speed up the building). The game seemed to drag on forever. When we played with the expansion the second time with Rob's college friends, we made sure to include the build phase and the game played like normal--and was fun. So if ya get the expansion--don't forget the special build phase :). One thing to keep in mind though, If you have the old version of Settlers of Catan the expansion that you can get now has slightly different art on the tiles and the water tiles now link together like puzzle pieces, so things are a bit mis-matchy. You may be able to get the expansion with the old art online--I haven't checked.

We played Jambo for the first time this weekend. It is a fairly straightforward game. The goal: get the most gold. You draw and play cards to buy and sell wares. Like Lost Cities, it's easy to learn and fun to play, but still incorporates enough strategy to keep you interested in the game. I give this one a thumbs up and look forward to playing it more. Here's a picture from our first game. I beat Rob by 3 gold. :)

Rock the Vote...for your favorite peanuts character

http://www.peanutsrocksthevote.com/