Blessings Upon Blessings

Son, the tea for sure, not so sure about the fire!

I'm sorry.  I tried waiting until tomorrow morning but just couldn't wait.  We are having such a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It began Wednesday evening as I began preparation for cooking the next day i.e., chopping onions, celery and baking the cornbread for the Sausage Cornbread Dressing.  By the way, wonder why they call it dressing instead of stuffing?  Is it because we're dressing the turkey and not stuffing it?  Just asking.  Boiled eggs so they could cool for making Deviled Eggs (is that indicative based on the people who eat them?); made great-grandpa's favorite Cranberry/Nut Jello Salad. Tell him sorry, there's none left but it sure was good with the turkey: just like always. All the while, dad is running from store to store trying to find some Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage.  Nope, five stores later and still no Turkey Sausage.  I'd tell him "I told you so", but he's never heard me say that so don't think I'll start this year.

Thanksgiving table 2011

Thanksgiving Day morning.  Oops! We didn't get to bed until 1:30am and so we didn't get up until 10:30am.  I don't think I've seen dad sleep that late since the first year I knew him.  It sure was a good thing I had done all the prep work the night before. Everything was ready to go so it was just a matter of putting things together.  I started by making the Blueberry Pie.  Dad says he's decided he likes the Blueberry Pie better than his all-time favorite, Raisin Walnut!  I know, I couldn't believe it either. Go figure!  Dad did the cleaning and I did the cooking until it came to stirring the dressing and my arm just wasn't up to it so he took over.  You have to watch him close though.  He has a tendency to "drown it", with chicken broth.  He did a great job this year.  Everything came out wonderful and beautiful.  I took a picture of our table like I do every year.  Did you already sneak a peek?  

Jon, Corey and Josie came over at 6:00 for dinner.  It was so fun to set the table with grandma's crocheted table cloth Aunt Lena had made her and the silver from grandma and grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary. Grandma always loved setting the table for everyone, and that was usually quite a crowd.  All of us kids kept trying to get her to serve buffet style on paper plates so it would be less work for her. We never really understood why she insisted on doing all that extra work.  Once we had you and began having holidays at our own home, I understood.  It's just not the same without the table being set with all the things that have such great memories and serving the dishes that everyone enjoyed so very much.  It might be sappy.  It might be traditional. But, I love every minute of it and I know you did too.  I'm so glad we carried on with those traditions. We ended the evening watching The Princess and the Pony with Josie.  What a hoot!



Yesterday dad and I just took it easy, had left-overs and enjoyed our time together.  It has been absolutely beautiful weather; no jacket required.  We attempted to watch our annual Friday after Thanksgiving Christmas movie, Home Alone last night.  Both of us slept through half of it.  It's not like we don't know how it ends.


Today I made my first batch of fudge to take to Jon Corey's tonight for dinner.  As soon as dad gets back from his daily walk with Jamison I'm going over and baking a Pecan Pie and helping Josh make Grandma's Ranch Style Cornbread.  The kids have been in the kitchen cooking all day.  We're having dinner together tonight at 5:00.  Can't wait!

Oh my, wish you could have experienced the feast we had last night.  It must have been very close to the first Pilgrim Feast!  The kids cooked all day and the food was amazing. We had roast turkey and chicken, dressing, sweet potato/pecan salad, squash souffle, fresh green beans, grandma's cornbread (I'll tell you about that later), garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry salad and homemade applesauce.  Desserts?  Oh my, it reminded me of the annual display that appeared every year on

Let the cooking begin!

grandma's kitchen counter.  Hot pecan, pumpkin & cherry pies. Pebble Marshmallow Krispies with White Chocolate Drizzle, Red Velvet Whoopie Pie, Fudge and Vanilla Ice-Cream.  Not only did the kids cook but they cleaned and wash all dishes as they cooked.  Sierra made beautiful arrangements for the tables. Corey even "scooped out" the gourds they grew in the garden this year and made tea light candle holders for the table.  Everything was beautiful and way past delicious.  First Thanksgiving in Troy...success beyond belief.  Thank you.


But back to the cornbread. Josh and I timed his cornbread to come out of the oven hot and steaming just as dinner began.  Timing was perfect. The smell of that hot cornbread permeated the entire kitchen when it came out of the oven.  It was so hot you could barely handle it and the butter just melted and seeped into the "inner core" of the yellow mass.  Oh, it was so yummy!  And from the mouth of Jamo as the hot, butter mass, slid over his tongue and down his throat, "Josh, you've won!". To which Josh replied, "No, we've all won!". To the rest of us, we didn't even know there was a contest! Wish you could have been here.  On second thought, no I don't! What you have now is way past hot cornbread! Enjoy!

Greg barefoot skiing.

I had a great conversation this week with a friend I have not seen or talked with for over 40 years, Greg Crocker  I'm sure you remember me telling you the stories of water skiing on Pinto Lake  while in high school.  It use to be one of our favorite hang-outs.  Greg's parents owned the local A&W.  They'd bring out the boat to the lake and we'd ski until we dropped and then most of the time we'd all go back to A&W and have burgers, shakes and fries.  Mrs. Crocker had the most amazing sauce for the hamburgers.  No one could duplicate it.  Boy do I miss those hamburgers sometimes.  I have another story about A&W but that's for another time.  And sometimes we dropped before we skied!  Greg was so good at skiing, he use to ski flat-footed, on his heels and even on his elbows.  He worked for quite a while at Marine World.  I think it's better known now as Six Flags.  He was a trick skier. Greg and his wife Kay, who was also in our youth group at First Baptist Church in Watsonville CA, had a son, Jeffrey, who passed away at an early age too. Maybe you've met him? (Well, that's what you would have asked me!)  They understand and it was great to talk with him again.  Once he sees this picture I image I'll be talking with him again.  But hey, it was on his facebook page so I figured, fair game!

By the way, November 21st was your grandpa's 85th birthday.  Did you bake him a cake?

Sunset view from our mountain.

You'll be happy to know, although I do believe you probably already do know, that I've started my daily walking again.  Jamison and I started out just walking around the property.  He feels pretty luck, two walks each day.  If I haven't put my shoes on by 11am he's right on my heels to remind me.  We walked the property daily for a couple of weeks. This week we started walking down the hill to the corner and back up. It's quite a slope for these bum knees.  Jamison is little, but he's mighty.  If I'm not careful he could easily pull me over going down the hill.  It's great coming back up the hill though!  As you know, dad walks with him everyday.  Dad never misses.  We decided this morning, since I spend most of the day talking with you, that on Sundays we'll all walk together when dad and Jamison normally take their walk.  Jamison was NOT happy about that this morning!

Home

Now, I know I promised you more pictures of the house and things moved so quickly I never got them to you.  I finally finished them so here they are. Since you saw a layout of the house this will give you a better idea of what it looks like inside.  You saw a few pictures of when we finally got here but other than the guest room, we're pretty settled in as far as where furniture goes.  I still have quite a bit of "custom" work to do come Spring but all in all, it's all good!

Our Troy Home

Until next week....if I can hold off that long. I love you. mom



PS  I don't know what's going on with the links today.  If it's bold and in another color, just click on it! You know what to do.