Thanksgiving in Misery!!

We arrived home from Missouri this afternoon. The warm California air was delightful after the wind, cold air and even a few skiffs of snow while visiting Angela, Ben and Elizabeth in O'Fallon. I only called it Misery in my title because it is bone-chilling cold for us southern Californians! We went downtown to the arch in St. Louis on a cool day - not freezing yet! The museum was really interesting. I really enjoyed it. We all really enjoyed the salt water taffy that Dad bought in it's variety of fruit flavors. We went to Nauvoo - loved that even though I was feeling quite sick that day! We went to the records center where you put a family name that you think might have lived in Nauvoo into the computer and find out if they did. We put the Wixom name, my Dad's family, in and found them. They gave me a map that showed the plot of land where they lived with an X on it. It was a 4 acre plot and at least two of my Wixom relatives lived on that land. they made a CD for me with the information on it - you can't get that information any place else. I can make copies of that for my kids. I couldn't check my maternal side that Wixom was married to as I couldn't remember her last name so someone else in the family can check it out when they visit there. It really gets cold in that part of the country and I couldn't help but think of my relatives and the others who lived there not having the comforts of life we enjoy today. I thank them for their sacrifices although they probably didn't realize how uncomfortable their circumstances were since that is the way they lived always! I am so glad I was born in these days, I would have made a lousy pioneer! I know we have our own set of problems to deal with today, but I want mine, not theirs! It was great spending time with family. Little Elizabeth got to know us quite well since we stayed so long. She would even come to us and put her arms up for us to pick her up! Thanksgiving was great with all the turkey and goodies with it. We also went to Old Town St. Charles and it was a neat little town on the edge of the river. We just drove sown the street without getting out of the car. On Tuesday morning, the day before we left, an interesting situation arose. Angela said don't tell anyone, but then she said I should because it was funny! Angela had her bills out to pay them. She had one for her water that she had mentioned was a lot of $ until she realized she hadn't paid it the month before. I looked at the bill and saw a little sentence that said if it wasn't paid by Nov 28 their water could be turned off. I mentioned that to her and she said they wouldn't do that and she was paying it right then - that would be Dec. 2!!! Dad was in the kitchen making some hot chocolate, not paying any attention to our conversation when he turned on the water at the sink and said "Is something wrong with the water?" Angela and I looked at each other in shock realizing as he tried to get water from the faucet that it had indeed been turned off! We figured they were turning it off as we were having our conversation about it since I had used water just before then and there was water. One of life's little lessons - don't put your bills in a place where you won't see them and then miss a payment. She called them and paid the bill but it cost an extra 35$ for them to come back and turn it on that afternoon!! We all got a good laugh! It truly is COLD in St. Louis - I was freezing when we went out in it. We had a great time and are happy that we could spend that time and have those experiences with them. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!