Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Thanksgiving Reflections

It is Thanksgiving once again!  Shouldn't every day be a day of Thanksgiving?  The bonus is that when  our minds are busy being thankful, we have not as much time for worrying or complaining! And most people I know can think of lots to be thankful for.  Being able to be thankful even in hard times is such a lifter-upper to others!!

We are enjoying a cooler day today here in central Florida after several days of humidity accompanied by LOTS of rain and all day thunder storms.

After "Coffee Hour" today, I helped others set up Sunrise Hall for our community/family dinner which will be at 1 PM tomorrow.  A new seating plan will help move things along a bit faster.   The tables are set up in a circular fashion around the hall.  The table at the front will be where the Turkey, Ham, Mashed potatoes, Gravy, and Stuffing will be served and this table is in the circle.  Folks also bring their favorite Thanksgiving dish to share.  This dish will be set in front of their place at the table they choose to sit at.  Time to eat, all will rise and those sitting on the inside of the circle of tables will take their plate and go around the INSIDE of the circled tables, reaching past the empty chair to serve themselves from the favorite selections down the center of each table. Those sitting on the outside will move around the circle of tables on the OUTSIDE. Moving around they will be served from the meat table and continue around, back to their places.  Also on the tables will be baskets of various breads.  Desserts will be on another long table and when ready, one goes to the dessert table and helps themselves, IF you have any room for dessert at this point!  We have some awesome cooks around here.  We have 60 folks signed up to be at our dinner.

I am thinking of Thanksgivings Past these days.  The first couple of years we were married, we went to either my family gathering or Dennis'.  I remember the wonderful HUGE hams Den's mom would prepare.  The best ham I have ever had!  Sometimes it was turkey at Thanksgiving and the ham for Christmas dinner.  I still make Mom's Raisin Sauce when we have ham, as my daughter, Angel does now too!  The family raised their own pigs as well as having a huge garden every year.  If we were at my family's Thanksgiving dinner it was usually Turkey.  Or maybe Turkey and Chicken and Dumplings, Aunt Ethel's specialty.  Uncle Herb was especially fond of the Chicken and Dumplings. She always made a big batch of biscuits too just in case you would rather have your chicken and gravy over biscuits.  And those wonderful creamed onions!  Yum!

I think it was five or six years after we were married that I first attempted to roast a turkey.  I remember pouring over recipes and pushing for the perfect menu.  We ate in the early evening that year  as opposed to the usual noontime repast. Going through some old slides awhile back I found a photo of that first Turkey dinner. I have a scanner, given to me by my sister in-law, Lea that has a special gadget that a slide fits into and makes it able to scan the slide to the computer.  This is one of the slides I scanned.   Our guests were my Grammie Della and my Daddy.  Dennis was the photographer.

That's little Matt peeking into the picture on the right!
Chip is on my left, Grammie, Daddy, Matt and 
Angel-baby in the high chair.

I used our very best dishes which were my Grandmother Amsden's best china. (These are Angel's now) The ruby- red tumblers were so pretty and were collected when I was a little girl, by Grammie Della.  They came with oleo in them!  That is back when oleo started being sold already yellow like butter!  Before that, it was sold in a plastic bag, white like lard, with a color/dye button in the bag that once you began kneading the bag, broke and the more you kneaded the more the nice yellow color distributed through the oleo.  The center piece here was real fruit.  A memorable time!

So I hope you have time to think back and remember good times with family and friends on Thanksgiving days long ago.  Remember the special people who have walked through our lives and made special memories for us to hold onto.  Another thing to be thankful for at this season!
HAPPPY THANKSGIVING!

I leave you with this from Psalm 100: 4-5 from God's Holy Word.

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations"






2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing the great memories. I'm so thankful that you have shared many of your talents with me. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your Florida family. Love you both. Angel and Paul

    ReplyDelete
  2. What wonderful memories! That is a lovely picture of a lovely lady, and yes, I knew the kids before reading the caption! It is so great to have pictures to look back on. Thanks for sharing these thoughts. Your time in Florida sounds like it was a happy time around the table with friends. By the way, I love that orange tree! who's that old man picking your oranges - OH, sorry Denny! just kidding!

    ReplyDelete