Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

Ours was nice. My sister hosted. We ate, played games, ate, looked at Black Friday ads, and ate again.

Tom and I got up (not super early), went to breakfast, and did some shopping. Managed to purchase four gifts and the holiday soaps and candles I like to use from Bath and Body Works. Also, bought our keepsake ornaments.

Took Ethan to pick out the tree. It's standing in our living room undecorated. We will probably do that tomorrow. Also found the outdoor lights in the shop...but they're not up yet. Tomorrow. Putting lights on this house is a breeze compared to our last house. It had a big porch that was four steps up from ground level. It had railings and shrubbery. We also had tall white columns that I wrapped in lighted garland. This house is a little rectangle shape. Easy Peasy.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving. It was the first time in a decade that we didn't have company, though, perhaps, one year we were guests somewhere else. Jerreth wanted peace and quiet. So, that's what we had!

I hope everyone had a good day. DH got sick with a bad cold this week, so his cooking and our hosting was cancelled. My youngest hosted and my daughter did the cooking DH would have done. It's about time they took over and just invited us to dinner ;)

I spent today inventorying seeds.

George, I am glad that Jerreth got her wish. She's been through so much recently and I bet the peace and quiet was just the best thing for y'all this Thanksgiving. Sometimes when Tim and Chris both work on Christmas, I just stay home alone and have an easy, quiet day. It drives our family and friends crazy that I will turn down their kind invitations for Christmas Day to stay home alone, but I like an occasional peaceful, quiet holiday.

Amy, I agree with you. We hosted for many years, but once our nieces and nephews started having kids and now have to try to hit two or more homes on Thanksgiving, it makes more sense for us to travel down there to make the dual home visits easier for them. Were they coming up here, the road trip would take so long that they couldn't make it to Thanksgiving with the other side of their families. I did notice this year that my nephew and his wife were in my sister's kitchen pretty much finishing up meal preparation, which I thought was really nice of them as it gave my sis a bit of a break from the kitchen.

It is so odd to see the "kids" (who all are in their late 20s and early 30s now) acting like mature adults while we older adults play with their children and act more like kids. I like it though. We don't get to see that youngest generation nearly often enough and they are growing up much too quickly for me!

I inventoried seeds too as a preliminary step to working on my grow list today. The problem with inventorying seeds is that it reminds me that I already have too many seeds and that I don't need to order more. I still haven't finished my grow list or ordered any seeds (guess I'll try to get that part done tomorrow) but at least I know what I do or don't need. And, sometimes need has little to do with it. Sometimes it is more about what seeds I want than what seeds I might or might not need.

Dawn

We had the biggest meal in years. We still ate it all over a couple days, not as if having more than you can eat is a good quest. But it was very nice to not miss out on extras and have multiple choices including deserts. And we just played and played and played.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was awesome.

I think we finally overdosed on turkey and all the fixings (especially pie, yum, yum, yum) and it is back to regular eating, but it was fun while it lasted.

Playing sounds like fun. Why does all the playing of the Thanksgiving season so quickly give way to all the work of getting ready for Christmas? Life sure was easier when we were kids and waiting for Santa to show up. It is progressively busier when you are grown up and you are Santa. (grin) I don't even mind being Santa, but I wish I had a whole crew of elves who would show up and decorate the house for me.

I'm really not ready to take down the Thanksgiving wreath that hangs on the front door or to replace the pile of pumpkins on the porch with Christmas things, but I guess I'll do it anyway. It seems like we go from Thanksgiving to Christmas too quickly for me. On the other hand, once Christmas is over, the winter planting season begins and I often see the first gardening items appearing in the stores as early as Dec 26 or 27. I'm okay with that.

We switched up our Thanksgiving this year and had enchiladas with guacamole and queso along with all the other traditional dishes. It was just the dh and our 3 kids. We spent all day Thanksgiving Day cooking and then had our dinner Friday since dh had to work Thursday. Yesterday was the last day of leftovers. But my favorite part of Thanksgiving is the dressing. I love my Grandma's crockpot recipe. Oh and a recipe for cranberry salad from a childhood neighbor. I love the recipes that we get from people in our lives.

We did/are doing Mexican after turkey day. Yes to the recipes! It's like having those people there. Love it! I almost thought we were going to settle for chicken on t day, because I waited so long to buy the frozen turkey.

Melissa would you mind sharing the dressing recipe? I always have leftover bread and other stuff to make it, but no good recipe. I usually buy Stove Top for my son who loves dressing.

I fixed breakfast for thanksgiving since we weren't gathering until Friday. It was great. Maybe a new tradition. Then Saturday went to Collinsville and gathered with my friends/exin laws. Best time ever kids playing enchiladas beans and rice, fig cuttings and lots of laughter.

My little niece had a red cardinal nightlight she said it reminded her that papa is watching cuz when you see a cardinal that means someone is visiting from heaven. Cute. I had never heard that. Well we went to cut fig limbs and what do I see in the tree next to the fig? A red cardinal! I almost fell over. That surely topped the day. I have not seen a red cardinal since I left that area 12 years ago.

Bon, here is our dressing recipe, from 1970 something

version of Good Housekeeping cookbook. We use French bread, and boil the giblets to make stock and add about 2 cups of stock to it. Some people chop up the giblets and put it in the stuffing, we don't, that is the dogs Thanksgiving dinner, LOL. Some fresh thyme and sage added to it make it even better.

I love the recipes we get from people in our lives too. It is nice to have food made from recipes shared with us by people who are now gone, and I think it keeps us connected to their memory.

Kim, There's a long-held belief that when a cardinal visits you, it is the soul or spirit of a missing loved one who no longer lives here on this earth. Is it a valid belief? Who can say? Lots of people view visits from butterflies in the same way.

We have dozens of cardinals here every day visiting the bird feeder filled with sunflower seeds all spring and summer, and often in winter, but rarely see them in the fall. So, if the cardinals are a sign that loved ones' spirits are visiting us, why don't they visit in the fall? (grin) I'm guessing they are visiting the dormant native sunflowers and eating their seeds.

If you enjoy cardinals and their connection to people, you'd enjoy Fannie Flagg's book, "A Redbird Christmas", that came out about 10 years ago. It is a delightful tale of a small town, the people who live there and a redbird named Jack. Jack has a very special connection/relationship with the people in the story, and with the other redbirds as well.

Dawn

I guess I have to believe. It was too "coincidental" . Maybe he sent that little bird to remind me he is watching over his fig tree

Kim, my mother-in-law passed in February. She was buried in her hometown (no one lives there now, so we had to get a hotel room). A red bird stayed on the window sill of the hotel almost the entire time we were there.

I've seen many red birds this year. Normally, I see them of course...but not to this extent. AND this has been a year of death really...and many people I know say the same thing. Anyway...

There's no reason not to believe, but there are some people that would dismiss this sort of belief automatically. I'm not one of them. I like to believe in these sorts of events and the comfort they bring.

I think our own results with cardinals here are skewed because we feed them, either that, or I have the spirits of lots of dead relatives visiting me. Even that would make sense because my dad was second youngest of 9 children, so many of his siblings and their spouses (and some of their children, and even a grandchild or two) passed away long before he did. The belief in cardinals being sacred visitors is one of the reasons I bought the book "A Redbird Christmas" in the first place---because I believed it would show the special relationship between redbirds and humans (and it does).

Kim, You'd better take good care of the fig tree or you'll have some 'splaining to do, and you'll probably have to do the explaining to the redbird.

Hazel, With us, it was a butterfly after my dad died. I remember a butterfly flew right to me at the cemetary after his burial, and then a butterfly landed on me when we got out of the car at my parents' house a couple of hours later. I felt like it was his way of telling me that he'd always be with me. Now, every time I am out in the garden, a butterfly comes and lands on me. Always. It is uncanny. There can be 3 people out there, and I am the butterfly landing pad every time.

Maybe it is all in our minds that these little flying creatures are anything other than a bird or an insect, but I don't think so. You just hear too many stories like this! I think angels come in all forms, and our belief in them doesn't hurt anyone who has a different opinion about the matter.

Dawn

I agree, Dawn. It's real but there could be a "rational" or "logical" explanation, but even so, it's comforting to those who experience it. Hope that makes sense.

Yes to all

I got about 14 or so cuttings. The crazy weather had the tree budding out after it already produced a hefty harvest. Harvested by Redbird no doubt. I will do my best to keep at least one going. 3 would be ideal.

Bon, I am happy to share my Grandma's dressing recipe.

Crockpot Dressing

1 (8oz) pan cornbread

½ loaf white bread, torn into pieces

3 tsp sage

½ stick butter

2 cans cream of chicken soup

4 eggs

1 small onion, diced

½ c. chopped celery

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 can cream of celery

Spray crockpot with cooking spray.
Mix all ingredients except butter together and put in crockpot. Place butter cut into small pieces on
top. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours
or low for 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Enjoy!! :)

Wow that is similar to my recipe but in the CROCKPOT!!! That's genius. Our Thanksgiving dinner at my daughters I actually forgot to put the dressing in because her oven was packed all day.

Hazel, I do understand. There was a redbird on the fence by the Turkey Coop waiting for me at around 7:15 a.m. today, although it is hard to know if he was waiting to greet me (maybe my dad's spirit looking after me) or just waiting for me to give him a little bit of sunflower seeds/bird seed. Either way, he was chirping and happy, and hearing and seeing him made me happy.

Kim, My sister always has 3 or 4 crockpots on the counter at Thanksgiving with side dishes in them. It is amazing how versatile they are. You can even bake some deserts in them.

Dawn

I am not a fan of crock pots normally but definitely will be on the holidays

Kim, This recipe does not even taste like it was cooked in the crockpot to me. I am probably very partial, but it really is good.

Dawn, I used 2 crockpots this year. After I cooked the mashed potatoes, I put them in the crockpot on the keep warm mode. Works like a charm. I haven't made desserts in it though. The dh isn't a big fan of crockpot food. Occasionally I can sneak something in on him.

I think my problem is I have never had a really good crockpot. I do use mine all the time for homemade stock.

I use mine a lot for stock, too. I have 3, one old round one whose crock doesn't come out for cleaning, One new, oblong one with the warm setting and a little one half the size of the other round one. I mostly use it to keep things warm, it hasn't cooked well for us. You can also heat things/keep warm in rice cookers. I found something just before Thanksgiving. This person used a round crock pot, laid a kitchen towel across the top and a plate on the towel. This gaver her 2 levels for keeping warm. She may have even cooked that way, but I'm not sure how I feel about the towel set up for cooking.

I'm not fond of meat cooked in crock pots, but beans are great.