Don't eat the jelly from the village...

My 5 year old granddaughter Tegan was playing 'Mail Lady' a while ago, delivering mail to the adults in four different rooms of the house. I was checking email and heard her just down the hall at the room where Mimi and Tim slept.

"Auntie Mimi," Tegan said, "You've got mail."

"Thanks, Mail Lady," Mimi answered, I  hope my New Yorker came.

Tegan moved a couple of steps away, then went back.

"Don't eat the jelly from the village," she warned.

"Why not?" Mimi asked, always wanting to know 'reasons'.

"They fed it to the rats," Tegan almost whispered, delivering bad news along with the mail, "and the rats died."

"What should I do?" Mimi questioned.

"Don't even buy it," Tegan said, continuing her route.

Having the granddaughters here is better than Monty Python...and just as odd sometimes. I told Cathy what Tegan had said and she shook her head, "whatever goes on in my child's head?"

It has been an enchanting few days. Our whole nuclear family here with us (I don't understand why people made fun of George W. Bush's pronunciation of 'nuclear'--it took spell-check for me to spell it!) along with a friend since college (John) and three friends of nearly 30 years (Jack, Sherry and Hanna) for Thanksgiving dinner.

Morgan made place tags to tell people where to sit and helped me set the table--really two identical tables end to end that should seat 10 but we made seat 13. Emma and Morgan made menus, listing the whole meal, along with pictures of the dishes. And we ate and ate and ate and laughed and laughed and laughed and, each in our own way, silently pondered how Thankful and Grateful we should be.

Our Puli, Bela, met Josh and Cathy's Pit bull, Laura, for the first time and they got along! Praise the soon to be center of attention Baby Jesus!!!

Unfortunately, Laura decided to eat our Maine Coon Cat, Lukie. We have a Federalist House, which means there are stairways in the front and back--Laura and Luke made two circuits before Laura cornered Lukie at the back stairs and Cathy grabbed her before true mayhem could ensue. Since then, Luke has been locked in our bedroom with food and a litter box. He has the look about him of a catatonic mental patience (get it cat-atonic? OK, not funny for him.) We visit him from time to time with turkey to coax him out from under our bed. Reentry tomorrow might take awhile. But John works at the West Haven VA with post-tramatic-stress disorder, so we can call him in if needs be.

Really, it has been so full of joy and wonder. And I couldn't possibly put my arms around how much I am full of gratitude for.

But don't eat the jelly from the village, whatever you do....