Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart . . .

Yes, I am thankful for so many things. As we began our Thanksgiving meal, my mother-in-law asked us to each say something for which we are thankful. Goodness gracious, where should I begin? I did say that I was thankful for gainful employment (we couldn't repeat anything that had been said!!). Grace, who is in middle-school, couldn't think of anything and I prompted her with, "lots of flavors of ice cream." We were (and are) thankful for family and "relatively" good health (Bill - who has Parkinson's made this comment!!), and kids and having a job where we actually help someone. Our list goes on and on!! We don't eat Thanksgiving lunch . . .we eat dinner!! Our dinner began with Laura's appetizer - brie wrapped in puff pastry and drizzled with maple syrup. No alcohol is served (ever!) at my mother-in-law's house, but we always have ginger ale mixed with cranberry juice.
Here is a picture of Laura wearing her cute turkey shirt that we made one night this week. It turned out so cute!! She wore it to work on Wednesday and one of her little girls said, "I like your chicken."

Mark normally carves the turkey, but as you will see in another picture - he is SICK this year. So Glenn was learning to carve the turkey. I believe that Bill was giving instructions.

Look - here comes George Elliott through the door. George, Glenn and I all had on orange shirts!! Mark is sitting as far away from the food as possible . . .and he is holding his box of Kleenexes. His momma was sick last weekend and Mark has been sick now for a few days . . .and now I'm fighting it. "It" is a very nasty cold and cough. Mucinex, Robitussin, Motrin and Kleenexes are our friends.

Laura has a special job each year . . .the "job" is to put out all the little pilgrim candles. Some of the candles are as old as her daddy. She has been putting out the candles since she was a little bitty girl. Grandmother always saves them for her!!

Since I bought my camera this summer, I'm always playing with it - turning off the flash, turning on the flash, using different settings. I thought this one of the centerpiece turned out great.

Here is a shot or two of the ridiculous amount of food. Let's see . . .turkey and dressing (not stuffing - cornbread dressing) and gravy (I would be happy with those foods alone!!-one of my all-time favorite meals). I made mashed potato casserole (thanks Dona Green for the recipe) and sweet and sour green beans (thanks Bert Gaddis for the recipe!!). I'm glad that our friends are such good cooks. I also made the pumpkin casserole, which is really butternut squash but for some reason, Mark's family calls them pumpkins. This casserole is sort of like sweet potatoes except "lighter" - not as heavy or dense as sweet potatoes. Rebecca and Bill brought squash and zucchini and cauliflower (she is allergic to latex and has to be very careful about her food choices). Alice brought apple and cranberry casserole (It is delicious) and she also brought the relish tray which included Wickles and even Wickles okra. I think it is so neat that those wickedly delicious pickles are made right here in Alabama. Check them out http://www.simsfoods.com/

I also made deviled eggs because my family always had deviled eggs for every holiday. Grandmother stuffed celery with cream cheese and olives - yummy! Grandmother also made 6 pies and I made cookies and cupcakes. Good grief - lots of food!! Oh, I almost forgot - Lauren and her mother, Ann, brought a corn casserole.

Grandmother makes a large casserole of dressing but then she makes a bunch of small ones in muffin tins. These are my favorite because they are crusty all the way around.

After dinner, we washed dishes and sat around and visited and I think there was even a movie on at some point. We didn't stay too late because Mark was feeling really lousy and to be honest, I was beginning to feel sort of yucky myself :-(

I am so very thankful and do indeed give thanks to God for all the blessings in our lives.