I was fortunate enough to get an invite to my brother’s house in Hutchinson, MN to celebrate Thanksgiving. My brother has five young boys – of which four were around for the holiday. The oldest was on a mini-vacation in the Duluth area. My daughter stayed back with her mother in the Cities, so I was by myself.
I put together a couple of simple items to share, including:
- a basic apple pie – using Haralson apples and Pillsbury pie crust (very Minnesotan of me)
- a pumpkin roll straight from the Libby’s website
- some of Alton Brown’s dulce de leche – for a topping to the pumpkin roll
- a simple greek pasta salad
My brother’s family had celebrated Thanksgiving the weekend before, so there was already plenty of turkey that could be made into simple sandwiches. It was a good meal.
Of course, the real point of the visit was to simply enjoy the company of the Jenum Boys. My brother’s house is in such a contrast to my own – as my single daughter has always been fairly quite and can be generally found in a corner of the house working silently on an art project or reading a book.
My brother’s house is a little – shall we say – noisier. But, in a good way. Each of the boys are constantly seeking out and exploring new things. They all have such differing interests, it’s a joy to turn around and have to change a conversation mid-sentence when another one gets my attention.
When I got to the door, I was first met by Charlie and David. David took the opportunity to “dress up for Thanksgiving” and decided he needed to wear a suit and tie for the day. It made me feel a little under-dressed for the occasion.
Not long after I arrived, the boys needed to engage in a game. Charlie dug out a deck of “Old Maid” cards and I helped deal them out to Charlie, David, and myself as players. Since David’s a little young, Riley jumped in and help him out. Things were going well, until I got the Old Maid card and was stuck with it for the last turn of the game. It was probably for the best that I was the loser – as both the boys could boast of beating their Uncle Jeremy.
Matthew’s focus for the afternoon involved anything electronic. He had recently sent his cell phone through the washing machine and was feeling pretty bad about losing such an important tool with today’s teenagers. My brother ended up surprising him later in the day with a replacement phone – mostly because he was getting tired of the constant reminder that Matthew wanted to go look for a new phone at the store.
It was a good family day – offering a chance to get some photos of the boys. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
David decided that Thanksgiving was special enough to warrant a suit and tie. He put the rest of us to shame with his top-notch clothes.
As in my own household, electronic gizmos are quite popular. Matthew spent a considerable amount of time taking “virtual vacations” – using Google Maps to see famous places from above.
I actually coaxed Matthew into a nice smile for the camera – a rare event, indeed!
Charlie’s freckles are still the most photographical feature of all the boys. His nose is lifted right off the pages of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer.
