Cape Cod is beautiful this time of year.

True, the ocean is too cold to swim and the skies mirror the sea in shades of Atlantic grey, but there are beaches to walk and there is much yet to enjoy.

Whenever we rent a house somewhere guests are quick to follow. We love being everyone’s vacation spot and having a houseful of laughter and love. No sooner did we unpack than the door was wide open:

• The unexpected return of a girl we traveled with in Europe for a weekend of laughter, reminiscing and photo slideshows.
• Our buddy Duane, from Honduras, who we met in Guatemala, hosted a concert for in Canada and picked up at the Boston bus station late at night for a 24 hour hug fest and bread making lesson
• Work related folks who are also friends with whom we passed a pleasant evening of guitar music and story swapping.

Thanksgiving week found the cottage bulging at the seams with old friends, toddlers and turkey.

The boys and I walked miles along the Cape Cod Canal with my old friend Lee. They wiggled ahead on ripsticks while we counted lobster traps and cormorants, talking all the while. Perhaps not solving the world’s problems, but at least making a dent in our own. There’s nothing like someone who’s known you for 20 years, who keeps a laundry list of your successes, glosses over your failures and knows you well enough to know when to talk sense to you and when to just shut up and offer a hug. There aren’t enough of those people in life, it seems that if we find one over the long haul we’ve done better than most.

Add to that little curly haired cuties who spontaneously cover you with sticky kisses and make peanut buttery handprints on the glass door to leave as happy reminders of childhood and you’ve got a recipe for holiday perfection. Old friends, little children & food… what more do we need?

I love to cook on any given Tuesday, but for holidays it’s my greatest joy. Baking turkey, bread, potatoes of two varieties, casseroles of three varieties and five pies for 11 eaters might seem overkill, but I can’t help myself. I’m going to be one of those grandmothers who stuffs her grandchildren in a perennial effort to fatten them up. I aspire to that. I don’t even mind the leftovers.

Day before yesterday our Thanksgiving guests went home. Tomorrow the next round arrives; this time in the form of a traveling buddy we encountered in Belize two years ago and haven’t seen since. She and I will walk the beach, pick up shells, and remember a warmer beach with prettier shells shared at the other end of the continent.

And we’ve only been here a month!

I’m thankful, most of all, for the kaleidoscope of people who paint the windows of my life in colourful patterns as they pass by. Their reflections make life more beautiful wherever they find us. Having a cottage for a few months to host a few of them is an extra blessing. Our time here will pass so quickly; our door is wide open to the many who would find us before we’re gone again.

Elisha & B tossing stones into the bay

Sword fight on the beach (It's all fun and games until Ez get's whacked by his Dad!)

Hannah making treats with the littles.

The Thanksgiving Dinner crowd, minus Daddy, who's taking the picture!