Thanksgiving in Ohio

Jeff and I spent the past two weeks (Nov. 21 - Dec. 4) in Ohio visiting family and friends, shopping and...er... eating. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at home, but the time always goes too fast!

I'll try to give you a day-by-day account of our trip.

Saturday, Nov. 21: We flew from Bristol airport to Newark and arrived in Columbus on time at 5:00pm. Mom, Norm and Dad were there to greet us! The five of us went to Champps at Easton for supper.

Sunday, Nov. 22: I woke up at 4:30am (due to jet lag) and started the fun of scouring the Black Friday advertisements in the newspaper. I have always enjoyed looking at the "innards", so this was a great way for me to start off the day. Norm made his yummy slow-cooker oatmeal for breakfast. In the afternoon, Jeff and I stopped by the Sabo's house for an hour before heading over to my dad's. Ethan and Dominic were so excited to show us their new puppy, Koa, that Santa Claus brought them early (two days before we arrived). I was glad to see Pam, a friend of mine since freshman year in college, and Aaron even though it was brief. We then went over to Dad's for a little while before heading over to Sharon and Kurt Hilliard's house for Thanksgiving dinner #1.

Jeff with Koa.
The beautiful Thanksgiving table at the Hilliard's.

Tuesday, Nov. 24: We drove up to my grandma's house in Massillon, which is about a two-hour drive northwest of Columbus. After lunch at Grandma and Bob's, Grandma drove us to the McKinley Monument and Museum in Canton. When I was little, Grandma would take Jason and me there often, but it has been at least 10 years since I've been there. The three of us walked up the stairs of the monument, took a quick look inside and then went down the stairs again and into the museum. Though the museum is small, it is nice. It has been renovated since the last time I was there. The "old village" is still there, and we walked through the streets and into the stores filled with antiques. Grandma always gets very excited in the Gibbs' Toy Store; she points out the toys that were in her office when she worked as a secretary for Mr. Gibbs. That evening Bob, Grandma, Jeff and I played a few rounds of dominos... a must when we stay at their house.

Wednesday, Nov. 25: Wednesday morning, Grandma, Jeff and I made our annual visit to Amish Country, just 30 minutes south of where my grandma lives. We stopped at the Troyer's Trail Bologna store, where the bologna is made and sold. I've enjoyed eating this unique bologna since I was little. The smell of the smoking of the bologna just lures me in each time. We then headed down the road to Charm, where we went into the Keim Lumber Hardware Store that Grandma just had to show us. It was probably the most beautiful hardware store I've been to. The Amish sure know how to use wood to make a space beautiful! If you're ever in Charm, it's worth a drive through. We also bought my in-laws' Christmas present and ate lunch in Charm, then drove up to Walnut Creek for a browse through the Carlisle House Gift Shop, where I bought Mom two "oaknut" ornaments.

Jeff and me in front of the Troyer's Trail Bologna store, in Trail, Ohio.

Thursday, Nov. 26 - Thanksgiving: Sadly, the time at Grandma's went quickly. Next was Thanksgiving dinner #2 at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in North Canton with Mom, Norm, aunt Linda, uncle Dan and Grandpa. It sure was good and very filling! We then spent the afternoon at Linda and Dan's. Linda bought me a Johnny's cake, my favorite, since I miss out on other Johnny cake opportunities, i.e. birthdays, throughout the year. I did manage to eat a slice of the cake later in the evening. Yum-o!

A few pictures with Grandma and Bob before we left.

Thanksgiving Dinner at Cracker Barrel.

The yummy Johnny's Cake.

Me and Jeff with Grandpa.

Friday, Nov. 27 - Black Friday: I wanted to give Jeff the full American Thanksgiving experience, so of course he had to experience Black Friday - the day that stores open crazy early for "early bird" sales. At 3:10am, we got up, got dressed and went to Kohl's with Mom and Norm. Mom was after a $10 waffle iron. We arrived at Kohl's at 3:55am to find a line of people wrapping itself around the Kohl's store. Luckily, since the store opened at 4:00am, we only had to wait 10 minutes or so outside... and it was cold! The swarm of people made a bee-line to the kitchenwares, just like us for the waffle iron. People were grabbing anything they could get their hands on. The line to check out was wrapped through the aisles to the back of the store. Ahhh... typical Black Friday madness... and Jeff got to experience it. We shopped in Kohl's until 6:30am, then went to Dick's Sporting Goods to buy a couple of pairs of Merrill walking shoes, then went to Bath and Body Works to grab some good bargains there. We were back home by 8:30am and exhausted! But we didn't have time to rest! A few hours later we were on the road again, headed to the Indiana boarder to meet Colleen McConnell, our close friends from Munich and one of my bridesmaids, at the Bob Evans in Richmond. She has spent the past year in St. Louis attending a seminary and was in Indianapolis over Thanksgiving to visit her dad. It was really nice to see her again especially since we don't know when our paths will cross again since she's moving back to Toronto at the end of the month. After our time with Colleen, we drove over to my dad's for the evening.

Jeff, Colleen and me at Bob Evans in Richmond, IN.

Saturday, Nov. 28: Lisa, my step-sister, came over in the morning to spend the day with us. I haven't seen her since her operations, so it was a relief to get to talk with her and fun to spend day together. Norm, Mom, Lisa, Jeff and I went to The Morgan House in Dublin for lunch. It is mainly a large gift shop, but also has a dining room that serves sandwiches, salads and the like. It's tradition to go there each time I'm home. In the afternoon, we broke out the Christmas decorations. Jeff helped Norm put up the Christmas tree, while Lisa and I unwrapped ornaments. Mom collects acorns - or in my family "oaknuts" - so there plenty of oaknut ornaments to unwrap and hang on the tree. I really enjoyed decorating and spending time with my family on this day, since I hadn't decorated a tree since before I moved to Germany, which was 6 years ago.

The Oaknut Tree

Mom and Norm

Sunday, Nov. 29: The Sabos invited us over for our third Thanksgiving dinner. It was so nice of Pam to cook an entire meal for us! Dominic set the table and even thought to decorate the table with leaves he found in the backyard. While Pam was preparing dinner, Ethan was playing Santa Claus... it was so cute. He'd go up stairs, wrap some of his toys, bring them down stairs, and then say "Ho, ho ho!" and place the wrapped "gifts" under the Christmas tree in the window. We even got to unwrap them! After our delicious dinner, we had a bit of time just to sit and talk. Then it we were off again... this time to Mike's (my step-brother) new house in Hilliard. We were only there for a half hour or so, then we headed just south of his house to Allison, a friend since 8th grade, and Scott Wenger's new house in Galloway. After a tour of their house, we headed out to dinner at Apple Bee's, where we talked for 3 hours.

Ethan (right) and Dominic Sabo.Pam, Dominic, Ethan and Aaron Sabo at their home in Columbus.
Me and Pam Sabo.

Allison Wenger and me.

Tuesday, Dec. 1: Jeff and I drove downtown to meet Dad for lunch. We went to First Watch. Jason, my brother, and Angela, his girlfriend, returned from Columbia (South America) on Sunday, so this was our only opportunity to see them. They live in Cleveland, so we met them in Ashland, at a Bob Evans (where else?) for dinner. They told us more about their trip and brought us goodies to try.

Us at Bob Evans.

Jason, Angela and Norm.

Wednesday, Dec. 2: Wednesday evening, we visited Laura, a friend I knew from college and I was one of her bridesmaids, and her family in Columbus. Since the last time I saw her and her husband Aaron, they've had two sons, Cameron and Nathan. We enjoyed catching up, being entertained by Cameron and seeing pictures of their trip to Austria a year ago.

Cameron, Laura, Nathan and Aaron Stonerock

Thursday, Dec. 3: We met my dad again for lunch and said our good-byes. We spent the rest of the day packing up our suitcases. That evening we took Mom and Norm to dinner at the Bonefish Grill in Dublin... very good.

Dad and me.

Friday, Dec. 4: All good things must come to an end. Our flight was just after noon. We had a 7-hour layover in Newark. Something I enjoy most about flying is the sunrise on the eastward flight (back to Europe). Take a look at these pictures.