the education of henry

Thanksgiving Week

2025-11-30

Monday

Dad took the week off from work for his birthday and Mom and I mostly took the week off from school. We needed to get our bag of free bulk LEGO for the month, so went to BAM and picked some bricks. And then we picked a second bag. I bought a Medieval Town Square set that was used, and another ten Lion Knights in some store-made battle packs. We also got to see Rob again, which was fun.

Digging for bricks.

After BAM we went to see GG and Grandpa Kevin. They had a couple things for me.

My LEGO Advent calendar for this year.

An ornament?

This will go well with the Kevin and the pot of chili ornament.

We forgot to get the picture at the store - here are the bags of LEGO we picked.

Dad got to pick the menu for the week, and he chose wisely for tonight!

Veggie sandwiches - yum!

And Mom made monster cookies!

Tuesday

Mom had an appointment, so I was alone for some of the morning, working on my LEGO projects. Not much else happened the rest of the day. Dad worked on LEGO and read his book, Mom made some food. Just a relaxing day.

My new chef coat arrived.

Wednesday

Dad and I worked on LEGO projects. He sorted out all 3,304 pieces of the Medieval Town Square LEGO set for me, so I could build a different set of buildings than the official instructions. And Dad finished building the Auspicious Dragon he started yesterday (which was his birthday present last year).

Thursday

Working on my alt-build of the Medieval Town Square.

Mom and Dad washed all the bulk LEGO.

Letting it dry.

Later we had to move them to the floor so we could make food.

Roasted potatoes and roasted tomatoes with pesto and fresh mozarella - and homemade buns.

Friday

We made cinnamon rolls - which were delicious! So so good! And we put up the tree and decorated it while watching Christmas Vacation.

Christmas tree day! I've got my Dwight Christmas sweater on.

Getting ready to make some cinnamon rolls.

This is the secret trick to make the dough soft and pillowy.

While we let the dough rise, we put up the tree.

Before we decorated the tree, we had to get the cinnamon rolls formed.

The dough really grew....

Gotta get it all out.

Applying the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Now we have to keep them warm and let them rise.

We are proofing them in the oven with hot water to keep the temperature up.

And back to the tree - Dad got all the lights on while we were getting the dough rolled.

Daniel Striped Tiger goes on first.

Taking a break to watch the movie.

The cinnamon rolls have risen! They have risen indeed!

We don't let icing go to waste in this house.

The last step before we can eat them...

So good!

The tree looked great with the lights on in the dark.

So we might have a little bit of a Griswold vibe going on the with the tree....

Dad finished another LEGO set - the AT-AT Driver helmet.

Saturday

We had snow! In November! We stayed home and worked on projects. Dad and I did go for a walk in the snow - that was fun.

Mom made another batch of cinnamon rolls.

Sunday

We had about 4-6 inches of the white stuff, so Dad and I went out to clear it once it got light out. We did our sidewalk and driveway, and two of the neighbors. While we were out, Mom made lemon blueberry muffins.

I'm getting the hang of this.

I had to use the shovel, too.

Tired from working hard.

Dad, too.

After lunch we went sledding with Jonathan. Anthony and his sister Asiana met us there, since our chosen hill is a few blocks from their house.

There were a lot of people excited to get out in the snow.

As in previous years, Jonathan and I try to find new and interesting ways to go down the hill.

Even though we were kind of off school, I still read Lord of the Flies every day, and Dad and I worked on my paper about All Quiet on the Western Front every day. I am almost done - just need to do a second draft and a final copy.

This week we watched episodes 2-5 of The American Revolution. We also watched Dad's favorite Thanksgiving movie, Home for the Holidays. And as mentioned already, we watched Christmas Vacation and Vegas Vacation. We also continued watching Battlestar Galactica and Big Bang Theory.

Mom didn't do any puzzles this week, but she did manage to finish all the Christmas shopping and wrap all the presents.

And that was my week! Take care!