Thanksgiving Day Menu and More

Sorry I have been missing in action.  It is Thanksgiving day and I have finally found time to write in the midst of my cooking.  That should tell you how busy I have been the past few days.  My parents took us to Great Wolf Lodge in Ohio.  My husband is trying to finish his thesis before the semester is over, so he joined us for some of it and was able to work in an empty (quiet) house for some of it too.  All around a blessing.  Three to four adults are kept very busy at Great Wolf Lodge by a baby, a three year old, a ten year old and a twelve year old.  Mostly because they all have something different they want to do.  But everyone had fun and ended up worn out. 

So for Thanksgiving we have had basically the same menu since my husband joined us for the meal.  So, here is what we are eating for Thanksgiving.

Turkey

Italian Sausage Stuffing

Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole

Angela’s (jello) salad

Sweet Potato Casserole

Gulliver’s Corn

Pumpkin, Pecan, and Cherry Cranberry Pie

And I am going to try Becca’s crescent roll recipe 

She has a really cute idea about writing gratitude messages on paper and rolling it in the crescents.  I’ll do that if I have time.

In my family tradition Thanksgiving is about all the women cooking together (while the guys watch football).  My mom always makes the Angela’s Salad, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and the Cherry Cranberry Pie and I make the rest.  My mom included me in making Thanksgiving dinner from the time I was about three years old.  Then I helped her make pie crust.  Soon I was making it by myself.  Later I started making other pieces of dinner.  I started doing the turkey by myself at 16. We added the sweet potatoes, corn, pecan pie, and the sausage to the stuffing when DH started coming to Thanksgiving dinner.   This year the girls will help with pies and casseroles.  So far no one has asked to get up early and make the stuffing and start the turkey.

Family and food are an important part of Thanksgiving, but there is more to it than that.  Thanksgiving is about having gratitude for the blessings God has provided.  And although we generally do a good job on Thanksgiving day of thanking God for all the blessings for the previous year, I am feeling like I am not grateful enough.  God blesses me every day, and yet I rarely say Thank You.  It reminds me of the story in Luke:

The Grateful Leper

17:11 Now on³² the way to Jerusalem,³³ Jesus³⁴ was passing along³⁵ between Samaria and Galilee. 17:12 As³⁶ he was entering³⁷ a village, ten men with leprosy³⁸ met him. They³⁹ stood at a distance, 17:13 raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy⁴⁰ on us.” 17:14 When⁴¹ he saw them he said, “Go⁴² and show yourselves to the priests.”⁴³ And⁴⁴ as they went along, they were cleansed. 17:15 Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising⁴⁵ God with a loud voice. 17:16 He⁴⁶ fell with his face to the ground⁴⁷ at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.⁴⁸ (Now⁴⁹ he was a Samaritan.)⁵⁰ 17:17 Then⁵¹ Jesus said,⁵² “Were⁵³ not ten cleansed? Where are the other⁵⁴ nine? 17:18 Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?”⁵⁵ 17:19 Then⁵⁶ he said to the man,⁵⁷ “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.”⁵⁸

And I feel convicted.  So often I am not the one who comes back to thank God for His Blessings.  I have read and heard about keeping a gratitude journal for many years, probably more than 10.  I have started to keep one, but never really made it a habit.  I even found Ann Voskamps Joy Dare and yet not made it a habit.  But that is now my goal.  And  you can keep me accountable.  Maybe you have some ideas on how I can implement the Joy dare on my blog? Or some tricks for making daily gratitude a habit? 

I’ll try to post pictures later….