Tag: Thanksgiving

The Kitchen

Here, in the USA, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving next week. It’s a holiday that is always on a Thursday about the third week into November.

It is meant to be a day of giving thanks and gathering with family and/or friends and eating the most delicious comfort/fall foods you can get your hands on.

Unlike Christmas season, Thanksgiving is simple. No gifts. Just fun and food.

Easy.

Until I moved into this “temporary” house with the most annoying kitchen. I’ve lived several places with tiny kitchens. But this one is just annoying.

It’s cute and homey in some ways….. that is, until you start to prepare a meal or bake bread…. or prepare to make your favorite pies .

My rolling pin is longer than the width of the counter.

I could clear my counter space completely, but there is no where to put the things that normally live on the counter. The floor is good (keep dogs out while baking).

Then there’s the day when you decide to overcome your fear of applying icing in a one of those bag things with the tip to make pretty cake tops.

I did not know you had to twist the other end so icing comes out onto the cake and not all over the hand that squeezes the bag and then onto the counter and then the floor…. here doggies….

Frustration. But I will prevail! I will make those pies and those cornmeal crescent rolls and the sausage rolls and whatever! By golly! I will!

And someday soon, I hope, we will move into a house where you can dance in the kitchen and actually smile while you bake.

And then I will even invite friends over to partake of my creations.

Happy Thanksgiving……. Enjoy!

not mine but I have no doubt I can ace this just as well as this gal…..

Cate B

Thankful

This coming Thursday, in the USA, is Thanksgiving Day.  It represents the beginning of the Christmas season and a day to be thankful.

Most seem to celebrate by gathering with loved ones and feasting on a wonderful roasted (or fried or tofu-ed) turkey with stuffing and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce and pies and rolls and………. whatever food you love.

Others celebrate by shopping for Christmas.  I did the major day after sale thing (aka Black Friday) only once.  I. Will. Never. Do. That. Again.

I’m not a great shopper.  That means that the task is not pleasant to me.  Online shopping is wonderful.

Back to Thanksgiving.  It is a time to be thankful. Well, it’s always time to be thankful. But this is the season that more people give thanks than normal.

Today I am thankful for my relationship with Jesus.  He is my best Friend and always good.

I am thankful for my Family, and that includes the Friends that have become my family also.  I have the best sons and daughters and grandkids a person could possibly ask for.  I am thankful for my husband – even though he broke my favorite mug – he is the best for me.

I am thankful for my health and for my future.  I am expecting mighty things to come to pass.

I am thankful for the one daughter I gave birth to and lost too early in life.  BUT – I truly am thankful to have been her mom and known her.  The memories I have are amazing.

Giving thanks, in general, brings smiles and peace to your heart.  It’s a good practice and I believe opens the windows and doors to a better life no matter what your circumstances.

May your mouths and hearts be full of thankfulness this season and always.  Give it a go!  You may be surprised how your perspective changes over time.

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Enjoy!

Cate B

Second to Last

http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo

It is the twenty-ninth of November and do you know what that means to me?  It is my next to last blog with the blogher.com thirty-day blogging challenge.  I have posted once a day for twenty-nine days.  It really wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.  I don’t think some of my posts were up to par, but that is what these types of challenges can do for you.  They cause me to look at what I accomplished and therefore what I can change for the future.

And today, the day after stuffing myself with Thanksgiving food, I am like unto a SLUG.  I am so tired and sluggish as I’m guessing many Americans are today.  I did not go out in the dark of the wee morning hours to stand in line to buy a greatly priced item on the Black Friday sales ads.  Nor did I sleep in a tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot or any other parking lot.  No, I arrived home from my son’s with my grand-daughter at about eight o’clock last night and the two of us put on our jammies and cuddle up in front of the television to watch Elf with Will Farrell.  Great movie.  I tucked her into bed and an hour after that I climbed into my bed and two hours later the poor dear woke with a fever and sniffles.  I’m beat.  The good news is that she only has a mild cold and has gone home to her own bed and here I am rambling on to you readers.

Tomorrow I will bring you my final post of this challenge.  I promise it will be more interesting than this one!

Sleep well or good morning…… wherever you are, Friends!

Enjoy!

wingedprisms (cate b)

USA Thanksgiving

I know the internet is being bombarded right now with blogs and such of Thanksgiving and being Thankful posts.  I don’t always feel compelled to join the crowd…… but here goes.

While skimming through posts and Facebook I saw someone ask what is the American Thanksgiving all about?  It has definitely lost a good portion of its meaning over the years.  Here is a nutshell of its origin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)

To my family, we love to get together and just be.  We love each other and get along.  We absolutely love the feasting and talking about the feasting and next years food.  We do give a prayer of thanks to our Lord for each other and for all He has done for us.  And we eat, and eat and enjoy each other’s company and miss the ones who couldn’t be with us.

There it is.  I am thankful.  I have very little needs and have more wants than needs I think.  And I usually whittle my wants list to one or two things when I realize I really don’t need most of the wants.  We are healthy.  One thing I do want is to see more positive posts on Facebook instead of hateful and angry posts how our country and it’s politicians are so stupid and wrong.  I know they are.  I’m not blind and I don’t turn a deaf ear, but being angry at the angry and stupid people will never solve anything.  I choose to try my best to hear all sides and pray that God will have mercy and that He will be heard by all who cry out to Him for the future of our nation.  I choose to do my best and vote for the right people.  Not any one group is 100% correct.

So on that note, I wish all you Americans a wonderful and thankful Thanksgiving holiday.  And to all my friends in other nations I wish you health and prosperity in all forms.

Enjoy!

wingedprisms (cate b)

http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo
http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo

There Is a First Time for Everything

Here it is, the Tuesday before America’s Thanksgiving Day holiday.  Guess what I did yesterday?  It is something I have NEVER done in my entire life!  I decorated for Christmas.  Yes I did.  I put away the fall decorations and hauled out my Christmas ones.  I have no idea what got into me since I was so cranky yesterday.  But guess what?  The crankies went away.  The cup of coffee and the decorating took it away.  So now I am ready for “The Holidays”.

Today I make Peking Duck and tomorrow is PIE DAY!  I will be making pies for our family and my friend’s family.  My little Lucy is coming over and she will help me finish decorating the Christmas tree.  What can I say?  I’m still amazed I did this.  It goes against all of my wanting to put each holiday in its rightful time slot.  I don’t like that America has made Halloween a Holiday and begin Christmas season right after it .  Where did Thanksgiving go?  I love Thanksgiving.  It’s always been so special and homey and a great way to kick off the Christmas season.  Halloween?  Really people?  I think Halloween is festive and always was fun as a kid but never a holiday.  Let’s bring back the Thanksgiving and slow the holiday rush down a little.

When I was a kid we didn’t decorate until just about Christmas Eve!  Now that I’ve totally contradicted myself about decorating early…….  So many people, every year, talk about Holiday Stress – then why do you do it?  Why do you jump into the pressure that surrounds us and join the masses of stress-filled holidays?  It’s your choice.  We stopped buying gifts except for the grand children.  Less stress, less money spent.  More relaxation and enjoyment.  Find a way this season to enjoy it.  Giving should be cheerful.  Even the bible talks about that and I don’t think it is only about your offerings to the church:

 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Cheerful Giver

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully[a] will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart,not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

God loves it, why shouldn’t we.  Cheerful givers are a lot happier than obligated ones.

I dare you to change your traditional stressful holidays into joyful, relaxed holidays.  Go on.  You can do it.

Enjoy!

wingedprisms (cate b)

http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo
http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo

Black Friday

Next Friday is what we call Black Friday.  It is the day after our yearly Thanksgiving celebration where Americans gather to give thanks and eat a lot of food.  Schools do little skits about Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing foods, etc.  It also marks the beginning of the Christmas season to many.  Well, it use to.  When I was a kid we would spend Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy’s Thanksgivings Day parade live on TV and then football and a wonderful turkey dinner and pies for dessert and watch the original Miracle on 34th Street with Maureen O’Hara.  Love this holiday.

Then somewhere along the way Friday became the day of mega sales and shopping for Christmas and talk of stores being open Thanksgiving Day to get a head start on shopping.  I’m not a good shopper.  As a matter of fact I would rather do it online and even then I usually know what I want and am not swayed by sales gimmicks.  Once, my husband and I did a black Friday shopping trip.  I confess I didn’t even know about that day of sales and mania.  We were living in Southern California at the time and drove up to Anaheim to spend a few days with the in-laws for Thanksgiving.  I think we had two children at that time.  At Thanksgiving dinner we were told that we were going Christmas shopping the next day and grandma and grandpa were going to watch the kids and then they handed us a check.  We were very grateful for the financial assistance and the babysitting.

We got up the next day and headed to their bank to cash their check.  That took forever.  The line at the bank was ridiculous.  I doubted then that perhaps we shouldn’t do this.  We left and went shopping.  I can’t even remember if we bought anything.  The crowds were overwhelming.  I questioned whether this was even worth all this trouble.

Some people love it.  I have a relative that thrives on it – it’s a high for her.  It’s a downer for me.  It’s like flying from Philadelphia to Kansas City.  It’s a two, maybe two and a half hour flight one way.  To “save” money you can purchase the flight that is not direct.  It can take up to eight hours or more via Detroit, or Houston or lower Swabovia.  OR you can purchase the direct flight and be home for lunch and dinner the same day.  I say spend the extra.  It’s not that much more.  I enjoy living a life with the least amount of stress as possible.

Back to black Friday shopping.  Hats off to those of you who love it and can actually find bargains and things that you really wanted to give as gifts to someone.  But personally, if you are buying just for the sake of buying and for the sake of a great price and you didn’t really plan on purchasing that gift to begin with, then is it really worth it?  Convince me, please.  Give me your best case.  I’m open, sort of.

As for me, I will be enjoying a warm house next Friday.  I will be decorating for Christmas or crocheting or reading a good book.  I will also be eating left over turkey and pie and probably blogging about it.

Enjoy!

cate b

http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo
http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo

Day Twenty-Two

Twenty-two days of blogging with the NaBloPoMo thirty day blogging challenge.   What have I learned the past twenty-two days?  Well, I learned that I can do it, though there are some days that I just don’t feel like it.  I am away from home three and a half days each week and when I come home I decompress.  It takes a lot of motivation for me to re-enter, so to speak.  I learned that my reasons for doing this challenge have changed over the past twenty-two days.  Originally, I had a large ego and I that thought I would be noticed – hahahaha.  I even took their advice and read some other challenger’s blogs and commented.  That didn’t last long.  I had very little response from posting on their website, not to mention it was rather difficult to understand how exactly to get pictures posted.  It stopped posting my pics so I stopped posting on their site.  Oh well.  I’ve found that many bloggers, like me, want to be noticed but not necessarily read too many other blogs.  That’s not good.  So, I have given up the need to be noticed so much and I am doing my best to notice others.  It really is a nicer way to live.  Selfishness is over rated.

Please don’t misunderstand, the blogher.com website is full of talented writers of all kinds.  I honor them.  But for me it is a very busy website and hard for me to navigate with so much on there.

Also, did you know it is Thanksgiving this coming week?  I’m a little behind.  I must get motivated to think about cooking and I also want to decorate for Christmas.  Kind of.  I usually don’t do it until the day after Thanksgiving but I do think I will do it sooner.  Maybe.  I also realize that my decorations have gotten old and I feel like moving on.  But boy, that costs way too much for me.  I thought of one way to get a new Christmas tree theme and save a lot of money doing it.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/24-Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Tree-With-Blanket/32660060
http://www.walmart.com/ip/24-Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Tree-With-Blanket/32660060

What do you think?

So blogging on here, on this very cold, cloudy twenty-second day of November.

Enjoy!

cate b

http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo
http://www.blogher.com/nablopomo

November 1st! Here We Go!

As I posted in my last couple of blogs, I have had a difficult time blogging lately.  So I decided to take the plunge and join the crowd at http://www.blogher.com/  and I will be blogging once a day for the month of November.

NaBloPoMo_November_small It is now November 1st and as far as I am concerned fall is about over.  Peak colours are through and leaves are falling everywhere.  I love the change and the colours and I absolutely love the thought of Thanksgiving.  It’s the time of year when whatever family is available to gather we do.  And we eat. And as we are eating we begin discussing what we will prepare next year.  I know, that sounds crazy.  But I have birthed sons who love to cook and create flavours.  We have turkey prepared a different way each year.  I make the yeast rolls and the pies.  This year I am adding a duck into the mix as appetizer.  Oh!  And the Pineapple Wassail!  Yum.  I can’t wait.

What are your traditions?  Please comment ideas and recipes and the things you like and don’t like.

I know Thanksgiving can be hard if you have difficult family situations.  Let’s help each other.  Start new traditions of your own.  Family goes farther than just blood relations.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Find hope and love during this season – it is a necessary ingredient in life.

Enjoy!

cate b

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