The Common Road in Waitsfield, Vermont has become an integral part of our family’s traditions. As this picture shows, we have spent many summer evenings strolling it’s packed surface, admiring the speckled brown and white chickens in the barnyard of the Von Trapp family farm and then circling the Skinner Barn, our ears pricked for arias coming from the magical interior where paper lanterns seem to float against the brown rafters (musicals like Man of La Mancha are there performed in July and August).
But it as at Thanksgiving that I truly treasure this road. Every year on Thanksgiving morning we go for a walk there. No longer lush, the fields are brown, the mountains deep and winter purple (if not dusted with white). We talk about the things we are thankful for. And always, always, I am thankful for my boys, my husband, and for this beautiful place, so thankful that I could run and sing and shout, but I don’t. I watch my children and I give thanks to the universe for its grace and generosity.
This is for Photo Friday at Delicious Baby. I hope you’ll stop by there and check out the many other wonderful contributions.
I've taken with my children and those I want to take. Explore and you'll find family travel tips, information about vacation destinations, and lots of stories about our adventures! 
what a lovely tradition. when i first met my husband, the first thing he talked to me about were the walks him and his dad used to take together all the time into the mountains. so your kids will cherish this forever.
Photo Friday: Rock Climbing in Costa Rica
Beautiful! How diverse our country is—I’m dying to take my kids on a cross-country trip to see it all (though obviously that would be suicide). I sometimes think I should dig a little deeper here at home before striking out for other shores.
Thank God for the important things in life
Such a nice tradition. I love seeing extended family, but sometimes the hustle and bustle of holidays can be unnerving!
What a calming tradition. I bet this is something your boys will bring into their own families when they are grown.
Your Tgiving morning stroll sounds beautiful, and I hope you all enjoy the holiday. And, I think this year, if you feel like running and singing and shouting, you should do it. Praise, praise praise when you feel so moved!
I’m feeling especially blessed this Thanksgiving, too — maybe “hard times” make you stop and think more earnestly about the important things.