In the midst of all the other things we celebrate and pay tribute to this month, November is also known as ‘Family Stories’ Month. I suppose that means we celebrate the stories that define our families. Awareness of our genealogy and heritage is emphasized in my family, both the one that birthed me and the one I married into. I’m amused and flattered when the boys pour over our scrapbooks and beg me to tell the story of the day they were born. I’m thankful for the boys’ grandparents who are always willing to share an interesting story from their own lives when we’re together.
Many years from now, if this blog post is re-visited and/or the scrapbook is admired by future generations … here is a snippet of a week in the life of our family.
He always gravitates to the driver’s seat. We visited the children’s museum this week and he absolutely had to steer the bus, the sports car, the fire engine and the ambulance. Although he insists he’s outgrown everything Pixar Cars related, I can’t help but wonder if we’re raising a future race car driver.
Almost overnight, the colors popped on the trees in our yard. Then a storm rolled through and all the red leaves are in a soggy pile on the lawn. Fall is our favorite season here and it passes much too quickly. 
He’s in this phase where he sticks his tongue out or makes some other kind of ridiculous face for every picture (see below). So annoyed. Miraculously, I caught him by surprise while he was ‘helping’ with the leaf-raking yesterday.
Let the record show that I despise Halloween. It’s just a necessary date on the calendar that must be endured so we can get to the holidays that really matter. But having children means getting in the spirit, at least a little bit. Steve more than makes up for my grinch-like attitude by donning his Darth Vader costume. This year we had big Darth, junior Darth, Spider-Man and a doctor. Our neighbors were quite generous with their candy distribution and now we have significant stash of chocolate that I suppose I will just *have* to help deplete. See? Every cloud has a silver lining.
Your turn: Do you have a favorite family story that’s shared annually around the Thanksgiving table? Are you faithfully preserving your family’s history for future generations?
