Thanksgiving in March

This weekend we enjoyed rainy weather, a fire in the fireplace, watching hockey, homemade chili and getting ready for company. Our days are full and our home often is neglected. So I made the decision that we needed to spruce things up for spring, and cook for company. My brother and his wife coming into to town on a whirlwind trip so what better way to greet them with a Thanksgiving meal. We don't get to share the holidays together so I am grateful for this opportunity.

They, my family, think I am crazy but I have learned that you can prepare many items ahead of time. Gravy, pie, rolls, bread and stuffing will be prepped today and tomorrow (yes a Monday work/school day) we will throw the turkey into the oven in the morning and all the trimmings can bake tomorrow. I think it will be nice evening and worth every minute of it. So the menu will include, turkey with apple sage stuffing (Cooks Illustrated), mashed potatoes with gravy (CI), rolls, sweet potatoes (baked), green beans (steamed) and a pumpkin pie and never fail pie crust from Consumer Reports Books Pies, 1987. yum!

I have had many epiphanies lately and one that has beats strong in my head over and over is that it is worth making the time and putting in every bit of effort to make something. Whether it be bread or cakes from scratch, knitting a scarf or preparing a meal, it makes it special and I value all these things more. I like the process, the result, and satisfaction of providing. And this is where my word of the year helps. It provides me the opportunity, in a small way, to 'edit' those things that I either no longer value or need to make way for those I do. It makes me a happier person.

Happy Thanksgiving in March

Thankfully

Edit

Inspired by Ali Edwards' blog "One Little Word", I chose enjoy for the year 2011 and that little word helped me adjust my attitude for those things that I did not enjoy doing, such as: housework, cooking, driving kids here, there and everywhere, you know, the things that become mundane and ever present. I was excited this year to find her blog again (it had been a whole year) and I chose the word inspire, also thinking it had chosen me....I was wrong. I hope there are not rules for your chosen word.

 I am finding that the word edit is really my word for the year....I am editing what I think, eat, my room, shelves, closet, stuff, what we watch, how I spend my time... you get the idea. Because I want to find more time to do the things I like, I am editing out those that I have outgrown or are no longer relevant/important. I have also asked my darling daughters to do the same. For them, asking them to edit their rooms instead of cleaning seems to be a much simpler task.


Enjoy still follows me around, like a little friend reminding me to enjoy the things I am doing or even to find joy in doing. Maybe that is the point of having a 'word' for the year. After many years I will have a collection of words that defines me, that has made me better and perhaps has made the world and my family a little better or at least happier.