What a Weekend!

Here it is only Saturday but I am whipped!  Wednesday was physical therapy which usually means I am worthless for the rest of the day.  I managed to get some cranberry salsa made, but the "safe" dessert I wanted to do for Thanksgiving never materialized.  Then Thursday was church then dinner at the Senior Center with Stan's family.  We were there from noon til 9:00-wayyyy too long for this girl.  I did crash on the couch for a while, but sitting has been hard anyway and I was toast.  I tried to get Stan to take me home 2 hours before he actually did, but I don't think he got it that I really needed to.  He wanted to pitch in to help clean up, but nobody would have resented his taking me home.  When we left, we went straight home, I took my pills and went to bed.

Then yesterday, Millie came and picked me up.  Jo-Ann's had pajama flannel for $1.49 a yard so she agreed to stand in line for me.  I always make the grandkids Christmas pajamas.  Gracie went along too, and we had a good time even though the Jo-Ann's line took 2 hours!  We went for coffee, got Gracie's ears pierced (a story in itself), had lunch at the Community Co-op, and went back to Macy's to get Gracie a beautiful Christmas dress for her children's choir concert.  Then Millie dropped me off to meet Stan at my niece's 50th birthday party.  We were there for a couple of hours, then Brother-in-Law and his wife suggested we have dinner, so we went to our favorite place, Fiesta Mexicana.  I spent too many hours on my feet.  Today Brother-in-Law and his wife came to the house to help Stan cut up TWO deer.  Sister-in-law and I spent the day in recliners watching Debbie Macomber Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel.  They've left and as soon as Stan rests for a bit he'll make some hamburgers.  I'm not moving far from my chair tonight.  My leg is a bit swollen, and I'm sore so I think some rest is in order.  I need to make a trip to Walmart but I think I'll put that off til after church tomorrow.

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!

I Had to Do It!

Every year, during the holidays, I make several batches of toffee-"Almond Roca" if you will.  I knew I had to make a batch for Thanksgiving, so today was the day.  I got everything set up, pan buttered, almonds chopped, and a stool set up.  The candy doesn't take too long to make, but you do have to stir and stir.  I'd sit and stir, then stand and stir.  Got it done and it's cooling in the garage.  Resting now!

If you are interested in the recipe, I have it posted here.

Our Thanksgiving Tradition-With a Twist

My husband's family is very, very close-even down to second and third cousins. We have had a tradition for as long as my husband can remember of renting a big hall and bringing all our food. We can have anywhere from 20 to 70 people. We carve our turkeys-2 or 3-make the gravy and give thanks. It's a great time to catch up on relatives who, even though they mostly live in the area, may not have the time to get together during the rest of the year. After the dishes are washed, we bring out the games-the oldsters play Pitch, the kids do Uno or Apples to Apples, and the rest of us gather around our favorite games.

This is when the important part of the day happens: My sister-in-law brings out her homemade popcorn balls, a tradition started the year they were married and didn't have money to make anything else; I open up my homemade Almond Roca, a required offering-I'm not allowed in the building without it; and the rest of the family sets out various other goodies and nuts. We start our celebration about noon, and we play games and snack all afternoon and into the evening. Then someone decides it's time for "Turkey Buns," turkey cut up into gravy and served over my husband Stan's homemade rolls, topped with a big slice of onion! Nobody's hungry but we know it's a precious tradition, so we all make a valiant effort to eat just a bit more.

Then we clean up the hall (for many years it's been the Belgrade Senior Center) and go out into the cold, hugging and promising to "do this more often!"

Our Thanksgiving is the stuff of legend, and anybody is invited-my son's friend from Brocton calls every year to see if it's still on!

This was the story that I submitted to our local TV station.  They decided I won, and turned it into a skit to broadcast on the Friday Evening News.  This is the revised version of our celebration:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=593209107266&oid=94711736971&comments


Hope you all are on Facebook so you can see this!

Our Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The oldsters played Pitch.


Cousins laughed and played UNO.

I brought the requisite "Marty" Roca.

My sister-in-law brought her candy popcorn, neither one of us were allowed in without these traditional treats.


And "bestest" cousins ate and played board games.

When asked what the best part of Thanksgiving was, Sam (on the right) said, "The banana pie!"

Gratitude

The past couple of days I've been thinking about how I've been blessed and all the things I'm thankful for, so I decided to share my list. It's far from complete, but some of the things that have been on my mind lately.

First, I'm grateful for modern medicine. My father-in-law had a bad back, bad heart, and colon cancer that contributed to his early demise. He had his first heart attack at the age of 39 and was never in really good health after that. Stan has inherited all those traits. But-we have wonderful cardiologists that can insert a stent in minutes or totally rebuild a heart in a matter of hours. There are superb back surgeons (we have one of Montana's best right here in Bozeman) that can relieve a person of much of the debilitating numbness and pain from bad discs. We also have that diagnostic tool-the colonoscopy-that can see cancers and even little polyps BEFORE they become cancers. So I am grateful that there are ways to keep my hubby healthy and strong way longer than his ancestors ever dreamed.

I am grateful for my kids and my grandkids. They keep me grounded, they challenge me, teach me things like patience and what's hip, and they've even gotten me interested in football. I'm especially grateful that Gracie is healthy and strong, and that even though we weren't sure she would even survive the first weeks of her life, she is a perfectly normal, smart kid.

I am grateful for my relatives and in-laws, even though the word "dysfunction" can come into play once in a while. Even while we bicker and tease, we love each other and love BEING together.

I am grateful that my mother-in-law is healthy at the age of 93. I am grateful that she can still spoil her great-grandkids just like she spoiled her grandkids. She wonders sometimes while she's still on this earth, but I can't imagine life without her.

I am grateful for all my Internet friends. I have regular contact with people all over the world-what a blessing. I love that we are all alike, even though we are different.

I am grateful for my local friends, especially Diane and Jan. We all seem to have a sixth sense about when we are needed, and will be at the coffee shop waiting when someone feels it necessary to talk. We can also be apart if that is what's needed at the time.

I am grateful for the women who make my sons' lives complete. Three sons with different needs and different personalites, with partners who fit those needs. I appreciate the fun times we have as "the girls."

I am grateful for what I have materially, and that I have more than I will ever need. We're not rich, but we have been provided for and are abundantly wealthy with God's love and blessings.

I am, most of all, grateful that we have a loving God, and no matter how rebellious we are, or how bad things get, He's always there loving us, enough to give His Son for us.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving-I hope all of you have a wonderful day and live lives of gratitude in whatever circumstances He has placed you.

The Holidays

Christmas will be different this year. My son and daughter-in-law, after much consideration, and realizing that they are grown-ups, decided to stay home all day on Christmas this year. Usually they come to our house all day. They are, however, spending Thanksgiving with us, which they usually spend with her parents. They just decided to mix it up. I certainly don't blame them-I wish I would have had the guts to change how we celebrated our family holiday celebrations when the kids were young. I finally did, and when I invited my mom to my house, she said, "Of course, your kids never get to stay home and play with their stuff, and besides you don't have a tradition yet." What a wise thing to say!

Anyway it will feel weird, but it'll be nice anyway. Maybe there will be a change in how we do Christmas day, too. We are getting older, and at some point the center of the celebration is bound to shift. One other son will be here, and possibly our good friends Wayne and Connie. My sister for sure, and who knows who else will be here-my door is open. Our house isn't that huge, so maybe we can all fit around one table. We'll still miss them but life just has to change sometimes.

We have never spent Christmas day with Stan's family, because back then I had to give equal time to my family. My mom's gone now, and I'm the old person so I foresee that soon we will be the ones packing up the pumpkin pies and taking them to someone else's house. Not yet-there are others in the family that still count on coming here, but there will come a day.

In the meantime, we have Thanksgiving, and that is an affair to remember! We rent a local Senior Center, show up around noon, mash our potatoes, make our gravy, and carve the turkey. The rest show up, usually between 25 and 50, and we dive into the biggest feeding frenzy you have ever seen! Anyone is invited-we have in-laws and outlaws and the occasional stranger at our door, who usually come back the next years simply because it was such a memorable celebration.

There are traditions involved. I have to bring my homemade Almond Roca. I am not allowed into the building without it! My sister-in-law has to make her heavenly popcorn balls, which she started making the first year she was married and couldn't afford a lot of fancy ingredients for fancy desserts. Stan usually makes the rolls-we're probably neck in neck as to who makes the best ones. Understand that most of these people are fabulous cooks, and many of them have made their living doing that.

After dinner and clean-up, we bring out the games and snacks, including the candy and popcorn balls. Along about 6:00 my mother-in-law will wonder if anyone is hungry. Of course not, but we get food anyway. We heat up the gravy and cut the turkey up into it. We serve it over the rolls, with a big slice of onion, a term commonly known in Stan's family as "turkey buns." THEN we eat the pie we were too full to eat earlier, and look over all the Black Friday ads to decide if we will be alert enough to go shopping the next day. I am cooking a 23 pound turkey, and my sister-in-law is doing the same, and my mother-in-law was worrrying that there wouldn't be enough food. I HAD to say it, "Gram, when have we EVER run out of food?"

I love to cook, so I do look forward to the holidays, stocking up on fancy candies and other treats. It's nice to have a plateful of goodies to give to someone at the last minute. It's also nice to be appreciated for what I do. Well, the holidays are almost here, so away we go!!!!!!!