Packages for Sister Teach

I'm a little surprised how much fun I have had putting together little packages for Teach. In October we packed some things she asked for and needed and then we used Halloween pretzels and Jack-o-lantern fruit snacks as packing material.

A couple of weeks ago we sent her another box. She had asked me for a simplified hymn book because she is living in a member's home and they have a piano so she can practice. She only took a year's worth of piano lessons and that was a while ago, so she has a long way to go before she can play from the regular hymn book. So I made a quick trip to the distribution center and picked one up for her. But it was a strange shape for shipping, like a legal size sheet of paper. It fit well in a medium flat rate box, but once again I found myself searching for packing material of some sort.

I finally settled on some tiny boxes of cereal. I took the cardboard part off and it worked remarkably well. Teach is a cereal-eater as you know, so she was thrilled to get them and they kept the book nice and flat during shipping.

Today I find myself putting together another box for her. She asked me to send her pea coat since it is so cold now in Texas (they can't seem to make up their minds on the temperature thing). I found a little box and stuffed her coat into it, but I still had several inches to fill. This one wasn't a flat rate box so I didn't want anything too heavy.

That's when it dawned on me that Teach would be missing her first major holiday with us next week. We have so many holiday traditions here I didn't want her to be sad. Remember our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving? Every year we choose someone to be Peppermint Patty and then we have Charlie's Thanksgiving for lunch and the real turkey dinner later.

Teach in her pea coat, prior to her mission.

The very first one was actually Teach's idea of a prank on the Dog Walker. He believed it! True. All captured on video tape.

Anyway, I knew immediately what I wanted to pack into the top of the coat box. I ran to the store and picked up the important stuff, jelly beans, pretzels, her favorite wheat bread for toast. I'm sending her a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast of her own!

Another favorite tradition is sharing the things we are grateful for during dinner. So I had each of the kids write her a letter and remind her what we are all thankful for.

And even though we are apart for the first time, I think this just might be the best Thanksgiving ever. There's nothing like having part of my family far away to help me remember what I'm grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, Teach.
I miss you.