I know we sure did. Although I was tired from cleaning the house (when I’m seeding various veggies in the living room, everything else is put on hold), as well as cooking the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, it was worth it. Grandson, Drew, daughter, Randie, son, Bill and his family (Kelly Jo, Mason, and Ava). David and his family spent Thanksgiving dinner with Elizabeth’s family. But they showed up later on in the day to have a nice visit and dessert.
Before Thanksgiving, we got about six inches of fresh snow. So, it was Christmas card pretty outside and the driveway, although not plowed yet, was easy to travel on. (We did make a couple of passes in and out with the big red truck and car, just to make sure folks wouldn’t have trouble.
I served a nice roasted turkey, stuffing, potatoes and squash from the garden, as well as nibbles like cream cheese on crackers with Gaucho Relish. And, of course, there was plenty of dessert. Kelly Jo brought a wonderful strawberry fluff Jello salad too. Yummm. I made pies from Hopi Pale Grey squash (our favorite, of course), gluten and dairy free apple crisp, and chocolate brownies, plus stuffing for Randie, who has several health issues right now, plus two of Will’s cheesecakes, one with raspberries, the other with blackberries. We were all grateful to be together.
After dinner, we sat around visiting and catching up. Meanwhile, Will, David, and Bill got the Christmas tree from out of the woodshed and got it stood up in the living room. I got to sit awhile with Buffy on my “ahem” lap, enjoying the nice warmth from the relatives and wood stove. Drew had to leave early, right after dinner, as he lives in St. Paul, a few hours south of us, and had to work on Friday. But Randie was able to stay with us until Sunday. That was so nice. We visited and visited while seeding out some squash. On Saturday, we had a squash tasting party at dinner, tasting the Hopi Pale Grey, Arnie’s Golden Buttercup, Gueramon Martinique vs the Porcupine squash. That was fun! We all ate so much squash, I thought we’d pop. I won’t tell you the winner, but they all were rated excellent.
I can tell you this, we are all very thankful for all of the blessings we have, especially family. Of course, a comfortable roof over our heads, plenty of wonderful food, and peace were right up there too. — Jackie
When we got married, we rotated T-Day every other year – it worked. T-Day was hosted by an out of town relative of my husband.
Xmas Eve was my side as Xmas Day was when his parents hosted for their siblings/nieces/nephews. My late MIL loved Xmas as do my husband and younger daughter.
Yes, it sure is nice when you can rotate holiday get-togethers. When my son, Bill’s, in-laws were alive, we did that. Now they’ve passed away, we try to work things out with David’s in-laws the best we can. We sure love when we can all get together!
Lovely to hear you had the family for a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. I appreciate that our Thanksgiving is in October here in Canada so we get a good break between then and Christmas. I’ve got my Christmas decorations up. I’ll be away with family and friends for Christmas but love to decorate anyway to bring festive cheer into the house during these grey rainy days. Im not complaining about the rain- we need it after severe drought this past summer. Hope the snow stays away until after Christmas so the roads are safe for my driving, but then it can snow as much as it wants! I will enjoy it then!
That’s such a good idea to have Thanksgiving in October! Oh well, we have to deal with what we have. I’m glad you’re getting rain, as I know how dry it was, not only in Canada, but here as well. We are getting snow and cold. But, hey, it is winter!!
As I said earlier, we got 10 inches Saturday (thankfully we shoveled twice Saturday so Sunday did not require shoveling it all on Sunday). Then another two inches Monday. Shoveling snow as well as trudging through the snow is quite the workout. Saturday’s snow was wet and heavy, yesterday’s light and fluffy. Come Thursday, the temps will drop.
I’m sure you sent Drew on his way with leftovers and glad Randie could stay through Sunday (it would not have been a good drive home on Saturday as I believe she’s in my state).
From what better half observed today, appears some gene diversity (we hope) for next year’s fawn(s). All four twins and their mothers are in good shape for winter.
Buffy had good karma on her side – she found a good furever home. Sad to say our hopes of two kittens did not happen. But perhaps our late best-cat-ever has other plans. I hope it happens soon as his buddy is lonely.
Sorry to hear your new kittens didn’t happen. I’m sure your next wonderful cat is coming soon. Yep, we were glad Randie stayed until Sunday. When Bill drove down after work on Wed., the roads were terrible. He’s a good driver but boy are there some horrible drivers out there that scare the heck out of us!
Other drivers are scary these days – so many don’t allot for extra time and far too many are going from one part time job to another. Add in those that just don’t do time management well or those who think where s/he needs to be is more important than safe driving. Sibling and I won’t let dad drive in the crazy part of the large town near us. Whether he thinks so or not, his reflexes aren’t what they used to be. We divide and conquer doctor appointments.
And I’ve read more than once that many believe the beloved deceased pet has plans for the next one(s) that join your home.
No surprise given our other cat’s start in life that teeth cleaning will be happening soon. She turned four this past October. I am glad we have the funds to do it.
Oh my! I have a cat (I rescued here a number of years ago as a kitten from a highway with a lot of rock truck traffic) that loves my “ahem” lap as well. These rescues can be ever so wonderful and rewarding. We have been cold for our area (N. Central TX). Where your cold keeps the “riff raff” out, our summer heat (triple digit with no A/C) keeps the riff raff from our place! Just flip our situations. LOL
Yes, our rescues have always turned out wonderful. Our other cat, Mittens, was found at a yard sale. The woman told us her husband was going to shoot her if someone didn’t take her that day. Poor Mittens!!
Glad you had a nice Thanksgiving with family! We generally celebrate holidays on off days. Years of work and nursing schedules and now travelling for distant family made that necessary. We no longer travel due to spouse health so now we just feed whoever shows up!
And that is a very good plan!! We’re thankful when any family shows up and certainly enjoy feeding them too.
Happy Thanksgiving to all from Mid-Missouri. We are having snow and cold….most unusual for December. But the weather seems to be strange these days.
I love the season…good food, good friends, lights and sounds of the holidays. I wish they were not all smushed together in just a few months. The calendar according to Susan would be Halloween in October, Thanksgiving in December and Christmas in February! But that would surely cut into all the planning for next year’s garden.
We are grateful for all of our gifts.
Blessings to all.
I agree. It would be nice if the holidays weren’t so close together so one could breathe between them. We’re not so much Halloween folks as the kids are all grown up. But it would be nice if Thanksgiving and Christmas were a little further apart. : )
Looks like you had a great Thanksgiving. It is truly a great time of the year for family, friends and being thankful. It has been really cold here for us for several days. The highs in the 40’s and lows at 25 degrees. We have not gotten anything but flurries so far; but I get just as excited as the school kids. LOL I checked on my supplies for my birds. Yes, I spend a lot of money on outdoor friends, too. But their beauty and grace are wonderful to watch. We had so much food and it was all wonderful. I have a stocked pantry and this year I have canned meat since I got your canning instructions and got brave. I plan on a good vegetable soup with canned chicken later on this week. In cold weather a good hot soup is just the right dish to serve. Hope everyone has a great upcoming holiday. Love to all.
I too spend on my birds, wild turkey (who I expect to show up again soon as we got 12 inches of snow from Saturday and Monday), rabbit/raccoon/possum and my favorite, the deer. Will be a retirement budget line item. Best part is purchase all but finch food from a small local seed business. Ear corn from a local farmer who lets us pick. As most farmers don’t pick ear corn, we have a lead for next year of the farmer picking and we purchasing for X dollars for a full 8 foot size pick-up bed.
We’ve made our 5 acre homestead and the almost 5 acres we own close by habitat for wildlife. We’re occasionally blessed when we see eagles – we’re not all that far from a river (but *not* in a flood zone).
Yep, we spend a lot on feeding our birds and wildlife. But it’s money gladly spend as we so enjoy the sight of birds on our feeders, the turkeys (and of course blue jays and ravens) on their corn plus the deer on their corn and hay. We feed the birds all summer too, enjoying both the bird song and them eating lots of harmful bugs and weed seeds while they’re about.
With the house built on a high rise above the small beaver pond, we not only get to watch beavers but otters, herons, pelicans, sandhill cranes, Canadian geese, ducks and other marsh birds but wolves, fox and coyotes on the ice in the winter. The show never ends.
Such a look of thankfulness and gratitude on Both Muffy and your faces! Happy so many of your family members were able to share your Thanksgiving! Hopi grey pie will definitely be on my menu next year. I used the last frozen pumpkin for the pie s this year. Gotta get the freezer cleaned out for the elk my husband bagged. Definitely going to be canning HopiGrey as so many grew well in the garden. Fact The only squash to grow! Sure was an unusual growing season. Curious to hear what the top squash flavor won in the squash taste off.
Okay, okay, you’ve twisted my arm. Of course it was the Hopi Pale Grey, followed closely by Arnie’s Golden Buttercup and Porcupine. But all were excellent. Who the heck would bother growing acorn squash anyway?? We think they’re near the bottom of the taste test for sure.
thank you! sorry bout the ‘sore ‘twisted ARM! THIS MADE ME LAUGH THANKS,
So glad to hear you had a good Thanksgiving with your family! After Thanksgiving mass we visited with friends, then our daughter came for lunch and we had turkey, ham & all the usual. Saturday we were supposed to go to our son’s for the larger family get together, but a ice and snow storm said Nope! Not today!. It got up to 32 today so we put bales around the north side of the house so the bathroom pipes don’t freeze, -2 predicted for Thursday. Carrying the bales through the snow was hard, so we got a toboggan and pulled them on that. Gotta adapt as you age! Stay warm & safe, Peace to all.
Yes, you do have to adapt. Around here, we work smarter, not harder. Of course, we still work hard, but try to temper it with easier ways to do the same jobs. It’s been cold here too. Boy, the birds and deer sure come quick for their feed. I’m so glad you were smart and didn’t travel when there was an ice and snowstorm. It sure ruins a get-together when someone is in a car accident, driving in bad conditions.
Jackie, Could you share your apple crisp recipe? I also am gluten and dairy intolerant. I saw the apple crisp recipe in your canning book on page 220 (I have both your canning book and the cookbook), but that recipe uses flour and brown sugar. I do not mind the brown sugar, just need a suggestion for the flour replacement that will help bind the crust.
Sure. I had to wing it as we are not gluten/dairy intolerant. This is what I came up with:
What I do is mix sliced apples with honey and cinnamon until to taste, then pack into a lightly greased 8″x8″ pan.
The toping is this:
1/2 C almond flour
1/2 C rolled oats
2 Tbsp honey
1/3 C peanut oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pecan pieces to top with
In a medium bowl, I mix all of the toping ingredients. If it seems a little dry, add just a few drops of water. Pack down lightly over apples, sprinkle pecan pieces on top and bake at 350 degrees F for 1/2 hour.
This turned out nice. We even ate it for breakfast!
Thanksgiving is truly the best holiday. I was able to harvest a ten point buck. We recently got 10 inches of snow and love its beauty. It’s a beautiful white blanket. Chores take longer but we have no reason to hurry. My chickens are in an unheated coop and must check for eggs twice a day to avoid frozen eggs-any solutions to this? It’s time to catch up on paperwork I tend to neglect. The food you served sounds delicious.
Wow, Everett, a ten point buck!! That’s a big guy! We got six inches, then another six, so we, also have a beautiful snow blanket over the ground. It brought our wild turkeys looking for food, and we are now feeding two dozen of them, plus the deer. Hey, I spend more for wild critter food than we do for the poultry in the chicken coop!!
Nope, I check eggs twice a day too to keep from finding frozen eggs. Unless you put a heating pad in each nest box, I don’t know of another way to prevent them from freezing.
Yep, I’ve got plenty of indoor catch-up work to do also.
Looks great! That cat hadn’t missed a meal(like me!). The north and Midwest sure getting the snow and cold! Here in Northern California, lows just down to 30’s and 50 in day. I do not miss the cold in Iowa but sure miss the people!
Nope, since we found Buffy, half frozen, and tiny, in the ditch, on the way to town, she has not missed a meal. Yep, she’s kind of plump! Our lows are hovering around zero and the highs? Maybe 20 degrees above zero F. But, hey, it is northern Minnesota! The cold just keeps out the riff raff. LOL