Thanksgiving at Plymouth and Vermont

After flying home on November 16th we stayed with our oldest son Joshua and his family - wife Michal, Daniel 4, Ariel 3, and Maya 1 in Newton, MA. He is a radiation oncologist at Lahey Clinic.
We went down to the Plimouth Plantation, a recreation of the original settlement and an Indian village like the one which would have been nearby. Volunteers play the parts of both the settlers and the native Americans and answer questions from the visitors. Our older two grandchilren were fascinated by the people, their stories and the way they lived. This was particularily interesting to all of us because I am directly descended from one of the original settlers who arrived on the Mayflower - Stephen Hopkins. That's "him" on the right here with Daniel and myself.
That's a shot of the plantation below and on the left Joshua and Maya. Further down is Michal with Daniel and Ariel in one of the Indian tents. My sister Paula from Maryland took the train up to spend time with us through Thanksgiving and both our younger sons arrived together in a rented car. Scott's brother Brent, his wife and daughter all joined us too for Thanksgiving. Counting a friend of Sean's from Dartmouth, we were 14 over the weekend and happily our new home can accomodate everyone!
I made two turkeys, tons of stuffing, squash, mashed potatoes, green beans, turnip, and gravy with apple and pecan pies for dessert. Scott and I put ourselves on a much needed diet after everyone left!
That's our second son James surprised in the act of eating by the camera followed below left by Sean with his friend Roe from Taiwan. Last is my sister Paula with Daniel and Ariel. The weather has been very unusual this year. It has been the whitest fall (winter doesn't officially start until December 21st!) for many years. Okemo Resort where I teach skiing opened mid November and the snow just kept coming.
Daniel is already skiing, stopping and turning by himself. We had a fun day cheering him on. Ariella has been coming along in a backpack on Joshua. All three of our sons have taught skiing at Okemo at one time; James for many years. I've put in my clinic days and several days teaching but holiday activities have kept me from working a lot.
James now works for Binder & Binder in NYC representing clients applying for social security disability in court. Our youngest Sean is in Washington working on Clean Energy policy issues with the national office of the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
Our daughter Zoe, a Child and Family Counselor, is in California with her husband George and sons Nicholas 4 and Tommy 1. We'll be visiting them for 10 days in January - spending three days skiing and boarding at Heavenly Valley at Lake Tahoe.