Hey, Girls!
I’m sitting on the back porch on a lovely Sunday afternoon. Queen Esther is a few feet from me hugging a yellow tennis ball with her front paws and huffing and puffing with a wide, toothy grin in the afterglow of about 30 good cross-yard throws. I use one of these thing…
…for two really good reasons:
1) I wear out long before Star does and I don’t mind saying I don’t wear out all that easy. She never gets enough ball time. Never. I’m no math wizard but hurling that thing twice as far means I only have to throw it half as often.
2) In a word: dog spit. Well, that’s two words. Or let’s just make it a hyphenated word: dog-spit. She may be the Queen but spit is still spitty. I don’t care how lovely the original Queen Esther was, Xerxes wouldn’t have given her a second look with spit all over her chin. It’s just not ladylike. The whole story could have slipped and fallen on it.
Anyway, what I’m trying to get at is that I’ve gotten to have a few days mostly to myself. I hate to even mention those words to you moms of young children but it will happen for you someday, too, and sometimes you’ll be glad it did and other times you’ll pine for those babies like every fine day of your life is long behind you even though you know better than that. That’s when it’s a really good idea to have grandbabies but, unfortunately, it doesn’t always get to be your idea.
My man almost always heads to the ranch Thanksgiving afternoon after the meal. It was the deer lease before he got some hunting acreage of his own. I don’t pout about it because I don’t mind and it wouldn’t do much good anyway and it’s simply the way we’re accustomed to doing life. We were laughing at the table a few days ago when he admitted that, in the early years, he’d go to a little extra trouble to be a handful this time of year so that, the second he mentioned heading to the deer camp, I’d yell, “Gooooooo!” and kiss him goodbye in an anxious fury. Anyway, Keith’s idea of closeness has never been clinginess. Sometimes, if he’s been cooped up too long around here, he’ll retreat a tad into his own world like a lot of men do but 30 minutes after his truck tires hit I-10 West (or at least by the first Buccee’s) he’s often calling me and telling me why he ever fell in love with me in the first place. It makes me smile every time.
My man and I do better on this schedule: a lot of time together, a little time apart, a lot of time together, a little time apart, a lot of time together, a little time apart… And that’s how we’ve made it 34 years this coming December 30th.
Instead of getting my nose out of joint when he’s gone (it wouldn’t be a pretty sight anyway), I play like I own the place. I get up a bit later, read a little more, have longer quiet times, come and go as I please, and get with friends (and family, of course, but family is something we do on a regular basis anyway), walk in the woods all by myself (with Star) and I watch movies he’d probably hate.
Yesterday I decided to spend most of the day by myself doing this and that and, lo and behold, I got in the Christmas spirit. I tried to find where our Christmas decorations got stored in this new house last year when we made our monumental move to the country but, for the life of me, I couldn’t find a single box. I don’t know how to navigate the attics yet so I’m sure they’re up there. If they’re not, believe you me, you’ll hear about it. There will be heck to pay by somebody, especially if the stockings I handmade and tediously beaded from a kit for Keith, Amanda, Melissa and myself back in 1982 don’t show up. It was my last act of seamstressness and, without it, there is not the least whiff that I ever walked in craftiness. I’ll not have it.
But I did indeed know exactly where my Christmas dishes were. They were a gift from my “Other.” You know. We girls have a mother then many of us who live in a wide enough circle of women also have an “Other.” I mean, who really gets enough nurturing in this life from one older woman? Spread the love around. She doesn’t take the place of the one who raised you but sometimes you can tell her things you can’t exactly tell your M-Other. That was Miss Mary Helen to me. I have many things from her and most are beyond a retail price but these dishes are the most beautiful ones I’ve ever owned and I have 12 whole place settings. I bet a number of you have this same Spode pattern or one similar. It was the ultimate in Christmas dinnerware to our mothers and grandmothers and, to traditionalists, it can hardly be outdone.
It’s too big a waste to set them aside only for Christmas Eve or Day so I try to get them out nice and early and put some of them on this stand Miss Mary Helen gave me so we’ll use them everyday through the season. It’s a happiness to me.
And that’s all it took. Next thing I knew, I’d downloaded a new Christmas album on my iPhone. I don’t like it yet but I will before long. You know how we are about Christmas music. It’s the memories that surround them that make them our favorites but I’m ripe for some new memories anyway. Bring them on!
Actually, I got on here today just to say that I’d love to hear about one of your favorite moments from your Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Any of the four days will do. It doesn’t have to be life altering. Our community here also appreciates a snippet of simplicity. Just capture something you keep picturing from the weekend. An expression. A taste. A conversation. A sight. Write us up a little snapshot of it so that we can picture it through your words and through your beautiful eyes. Not too long, remember. We bloggers are notorious for ADD, myself included. It’s rare that we really read a long one. I’m so mindful when I write a long post that, by the end of it, I’ve lost most people. Sometimes it’s worth it because I’m working something through but, most of the time, I’d have been the wiser to have been the briefer.
Oh, Amanda snapped this picture of her Daddy and me on Thanksgiving afternoon so I might as well throw it in, too. He’s wheels are heading East and I’ll be mighty glad to see that handsome face. We Moores love you guys. Christmas will be here in exactly one month whether we’re ready for it or not. You may as well not fight it. Tie that house of yours up in red and green and slam the door on your Scrooginess. Don’t be a fossil. Make some wassail. Tis the season, Sweet Thing. Let’s celebrate us some Jesus.
Thanks much WEGM
Jim and I were in austin for Tgving day.
Yummy food. James and Leslie(BCF) asked us to start
praying for them to get pregnant! if you would say a prayer that would be greaat.
two relatives really really devestated me with their words
but i keep praying for them
Jordan needs to find a bible study class and get back into church.
God is so good and is always faithful.
Love you and pray for your family.
There were conversations of people moving toward God and those staying away from Him and angry. There was pain. And laughter.
My favorite snapshot was of my youngest daughter dancing to the Lumineer’s song Hey Ho. She recessed down the aisle to it six months and she is still dancing and mama is soooo relieved. Her big brother and his wife of three years grinned at each other during this as well. Makes me grin.
We spent the week with our daughter and her husband at their home in Chicago. Our precious 2 year old granddaughter has memorized 2 Bible verses and was able to recite them to us with adorable motions. She is hiding the Word in her heart already. My cup runneth over!
We had our very first Turkey cooked in an Imu (an earthen oven). YUM-O!! I was excited to share two of my favorite Texas Sides with my local (born & raised in Hawaii) friends & their family: Gran’s Skillet Cornbread Dressing & my mom’s Sweet Potato, Pecan, Sugar, Butter, etc. Casserole. Imagine my surprise when, as each person came to my two dishes in the serving line, the same question was asked, “What is that??” (I could relate. I often ask the same question (in my head) about local dishes at our church potluck.) HA!! Oh well. More for ME. 🙂
Love the picture Beth of you with your hunter!
My snapshot..having most of the family gathered together at my parents house. Kids with their families..loving those grandkids. Brother and his family. Dad..being finished with treatments for prostate cancer and doing well..Hubby..suffered heart attack not quite 2 months ago..and doing great!!!! Sooo much more…Praising God for all my blessings!
Well, my memory of this Thanksgiving is not a happy one because it involved (and I’m just keepin’ it real here) bloody diarrhea and a trip to the vet that left my wallet quite a bit lighter. My poor little beagle princess was sick with a mystery illness. She is over it now ~ Thank the Lord!
Oh, so sorry she was sick. Poor baby….glad she’s better now though! Whoever said diamonds are a girl’s best friend never had a dog. 🙂
“I don’t pout about it because I don’t mind and it wouldn’t do much good anyway and it’s simply the way we’re accustomed to doing life.” my fav line, beth! my guy & his family have hunted during Thanksgiving for generations. i remember when it dawned on me that this was my new tradition too. (“wait. you what?”) 🙂 over the years the “girls” in our family have embraced this time of doing our own thing & we have a lot of good memories as a result.
this year i headed up to northwest arkansas where my daughter will soon be in nursing school at the UofA. we had the most fun shopping for & decorating her first tree (which included the yearly ornaments she’s received her whole life-sniff), eating when & where we wanted & leisurely shopping for family for Christmas. for our shopping break we stopped in at Bliss Cupcakes & enjoyed an awesome sugar high. it was the best time.
& in that other world – the boys got their deer & we’ll have chili soon. 🙂
so grateful & giving thanks~
Beth,
I feel as if I know you well enough through your words, bible studies and video’s that what I want to share will not be inappropriate to your heart.
My husband and I have been married for just over 4 years. We both have grown children. My husband’s children did much to try to ruin what God had joined together for the first few years of our marriage.
I can honestly tell you, I did not think our marriage would survive, let alone flourish the way it has.
Since we gathered the family together for an early Thanksgiving (last week), my husband and I had this time to ourselves.
The last four days have been nothing short of pure romance and love making for this 50 something couple.
Our cup runneth over for the pure joy, devotion and love our God has allowed us to experience.
Thankfulness and gratitude spill from our lips and heart like warm milk and honey to the One who saw fit to join our hearts together.
With God, all things are possible!
God bless you and yours!
I was in Franklin, North Carolina for the holidays and went to a tree lighting service in the downtown square. It was so inspiring! They talked about the birth of Jesus and how we should all shine our lights for HIm and how we are the only Jesus that some people ever see. They weren’t worried at all about being politically correct or stepping on anyone’s toes. They just shared the gospel. It was so refreshing! We could all take lessons from about openly sharing our faith not only during the holidays but all the time.
Two serious and a funny…
1) seeing a family member I love so much sober for 6 weeks and the peace that settled on the family. Thank you Jesus. Thank you.
2) never been more thankful for my parents…dad is battling cancer and chemo kept us from being with them this year. How I love him more and more the older we both get.
3) My 11 year old IS THE PICKIEST EATER ON THE PLANET and he tried so hard to fix his plate with something that would “appear” as if he was going to eat it. He asked me to take the rolls and put some ham in it and make a little sandwich. I was slightly suspicious thinking no way will he eat this. About 30 minutes later, his favorite cousin said in a whisper, “all Dylan ate was chips and dip.” Atta boy. The sandwiches were in the trash.
Love you Beth. So very thankful for all the Moore’s.
4 of our grands live in Indianapolis- we are in a smaller rural area and could not begin to compete with what is avaiable in Indy. So.. I created ‘Digital-PJ-Cereal’ Day. Black Friday here means staying in pjs all day- eating any kind of cereal you want all day- and using all the digitals: ipad, ipods, iphones, computer, wii.. We had 8 of our grands here and they had a blast! They were 13,11,9,7,6,5,3,3- I am 60 but they let me hang out with them and I sure enjoyed all the giggles. We get pizza for dinner then go bowling on Saturday- a sis-in-love joined us there with her 3 grands- you have not truly enjoyed bowling unless you have helped 11 kids bowl- joyous chaos! We only had one ‘casuality’- the 11 yr old overdosed a bit on cereal so he and I streamed church while G’pa took the other 7. I am told that this is what the Indy group looks forward to every year.
We sure do and I am certain this is a forever memory. Next year we are all going to decorate the tree while they are here- fun!!
Wishing I could post a picture for you at this moment, as I’m certain my words won’t do my memories justice. My sweetest moment this past weekend was {as my Hubby is also fond of spending some time on his own as well} when the kids and myself decided to surprise him by putting up the tree. We have had the same {false} fir for about four years now. Fluff it up, plug it in & the deed is done. After we got it standing and partially fluffed, my son, Mason {age 6} decided that we needed some color this year…the same ol’ white lights just wouldn’t do this go ’round. We ran out, bought some additional illumination and came home to do business. The tree is glimmering and it is time to hang the ornaments. Mason directed Marley {age 3} on how to hang, just so, that there would be no crowding…but she insisted doing it HER way. We have clumps of bulbs and lots of color…and it’s glorious! One moment I was able to capture in a picture was of Marley hanging a bulb and her tongue is sticking out in intense concentration…so sweet. When Daddy arrived home, the kids insisted he close his eyes as they directed him to the surprise. They held his hand and giggled with anticipation as he walked to their masterpiece. The tree is up and memories are made…so thankful for this time of year!
Love you, Siesta Momma & you Siesta sisters! Praying you ALL have a blessed day!
I spent a quiet weekend with my husband and our little 18 month old girl. It was wonderful and peaceful with lots of cuddeling while we waited on the arrival of our little boy who is now 3 days late! It was a great way to end one season and begin (or get ready to begin) life as a family of 4. One of my favorite Thanksgivings ever.
This was our first Thanksgiving in our new place of ministry. My husband is a pastor. We are now 7 hours from his folks so they chose not to join us for the holiday weekend. (We will go to their house Christmas Day.) So my husband, our four beautiful children and I invited a military family in our church who are also away from family to join us for our Thanksgiving meal. We had a wonderful day! Good food and great fellowship. I am reminded that “Home is where the cross leads your heart.”
This week I will be pulling out my set of Spode Christmas china that my mother so lovingly collected for me before she passed away 17 years ago. I think of her every time I set the first place.
Blessings to you and yours Beth!
Hi Beth –
I SO enjoy reading your posts! I “gobble” them up…lol. My favorite moment this Thanksgiving weekend was watching my littles put on a Thanksgiving play we wrote. I found a website about how to make pilgrim costumes and so we costumed up 3 of my 4 kids in Pilgrim costumes that turned out SO CUTE and my 5 year old and 3 year old acted out the play while my oldest was the narrator. My husband my a little cameo appearance as Squanto. It as hilarious and meaningful and most importantly taught our kids about the first Thanksgiving. We did it for both sides of the family that we gathered with and it as a blast!
Love you Beth!!!
Ruth from KS 🙂
The highlight of my Thanksgiving was getting to share it with our 9-month old grandson, Jacob, who lives a couple hours away from us. We took some pictures and they are a treasure of having both of our sons, their beautiful wives and our precious grandbaby with us for the afternoon!! (I have my Christmas dishes out now too!!)
My favorite moment was on Thanksgiving Day, gathered around the table to share grace before we ate. My 4 year old adopted grandson wanted to be the one to say grace. He proceeded to purposefully thank God for each one of the 15 members of our family. I hear a collective “awwwwww” from all the grandmothers out there! You know what a blessing we receive when the little ones pray!
We are fortunate because our son, daughter and son-in-law, and pr grandchildren live locally. The one complication in this picture is my total culinary ineptitude (the kind whose children volunteer them to bring napkins and applesauce to PTA potlucks).So…we celebrate at a local restaurant.
This year was particularly bittersweet because my husband Gabe has stage 3 salivary gland cancer and is slated for a 4 hour surgery this coming Thursday morning (29th). My favorite moment was watching him take 15 month old Tallulah Rose by the hand and walk her thru the restaurant as she smiled and did her beauty queen wave (including a blown kiss or two) at her admiring public (sic the other diners).
I have the most amazing family! I am a preacher’s kid and both my brothers, my sister and I all attend the church he has pastored for 32 years. (He is retiring in May) We all gathered around the table (2 parents, 1 Nana, 4 siblings, 4 spouses, and 12 grandchildren), to eat, but first began listing what we were thankful for. With tears in my eyes I listened to everything from the glorious riches of Christ’s love and forgiveness to chocolate. 🙂 Hey, we are honest!! I love my family and cherish those amazing moments together!
Wishing you an abundance of hugs and kisses from those you love! Merry Christmas!!
After a touchy season with my father (we have left a certain denomination to follow God’s leading to another and dad ain’t happy about it), we enjoyed a day of drama-free-sweet-fellowship. We haven’t seen my parents in a year and have only spoken sporadically after The Big Blow Up (as I call it) so this was a pretty big deal for me. Thankful for God’s grace…..so thankful.
Hi there!
2 things:
Made the broccoli and cheese casserole….”easy and delicious” says the non-baker.
I have 4 great kids ages 7 to 21 months. Love my husband of 13 years dearly. Two days after Thanksgiving he was asked to help a friend move in to their new home…I was ecstatic! “Go! Have fun and take the oldest with you!” Which allowed me to put on a Barbie DVD and clan my bathrooms ALONE.
Thanks for sharing the ups and downs of your life….breath of fresh air!
Hi there!
2 things:
Made the broccoli and cheese casserole…. “easy and delicious” says the non-baker.
I have 4 great kids ages 7 to 21 months. Love my husband of 13 years dearly. Two days after Thanksgiving he was asked to help a friend move in to their new home…I was ecstatic! “Go! Have fun and take the oldest with you!” Which allowed me to put on a Barbie DVD and clean my bathrooms ALONE.
Thanks for sharing the ups and downs of your life….breath of fresh air!
I really enjoyed spending time with the mother of the baby my husband babysits (he is a stay-at-home homeschooling dad of our 2 school-agers and about 6 months ago we began caretaking for this beautiful preemie whose mother is in rehab).
We were so thrilled when she accepted our invitation to dinner and with a house full of our family wanted to make sure that she didn’t feel out of place. So I sat her next to me and we took turns holding baby Bella on our laps and feeding her bits of our dinner.
Thankfully, she fit right in and wasn’t at all self-conscious. Our extended families (both come to dinner) took her in like a long lost sister and they already feel like Bella is part of the family. In addition, her son who is 6 fit right in with out kids.
I will always remember Bella’s first thanksgiving. I am so glad that she and her mother and brother made the decision to share it with us.
We went home and there are two things:
1) I got to spend a whole day with my best friend 400 miles away!
2) our recently adopted daughter got to meet her papaw for the first time!
My favorite memory was watching my girls chase their Papa while he rode the tractor around the yard with a sled attached to it with their little brother hanging on for dear life. They had so much fun!
My favorite Thanksgiving memory. This year was an un-traditional one, spent the 4 days with my future husband well for the most part went to the folks a couple of different times to spend time, help them out a little us time also church time too. We talked about getting married yes thus the “future husband” he took me out to eat he knows how hard I am trying to get these last pounds off and if food is around I have to fight with it. It was great and relaxing. One to remember to stress, no fuss all about us. 🙂 I don’t want this every year but once in awhile is good.
Best Thanksgiving moment – my Mom, a widow for 5 years, my sister, her husband, me and my husband were all sitting around the table following dinner talking about this and that – somehow the subject of floods came up and how some friend we knew had had a flood in their basement – my Mom pipes in “I had a Floyd in my bedroom” – we all kind of stopped and stared at her (she’s a good Christian, widowed lady talking about a “Floyd” in her bedroom) – she gets all frustrated and embarrased – turns bright red and stammers, “Flood, Flood, Flood – I meant Flood – I don’t know any Floyds!” Oh my goodness we laughed until we cried!!!
Not sure the story translastes as well in print, but my heavens the thought of my mother with a “Floyd” in her bedroom is just TOO MUCH! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving.
My son in law got his first ever turkey from his job and decided to borrow a turkey fryer and cook the turkey for the family. We were all a little nervous because we had heard horror stories about this method of cooking! We had it out in the driveway and it was warm enough that we had lawn chairs outside, so he had an audience! Well it turned out great in 55 mins!! But the part that I keep smiling about it how he blocked the wind in order to keep the temp up where it should be…the truck on one side, a garbage can on one side, and two sk8 boarding ramps on the other two sides!! Way to go SL!! That is short for Son In Law and he calls me ML!!!
After our Thanksgiving meal, my in-laws told the story of their elopement at age 17. (Sneaking off to Georgia, being married by a JOP named Rufus in his house, telling one person who told the whole town, getting kicked off the football team, etc.) Their younger grandchildren had never heard the whole story before and were astonished that their grandparents would have ever done such a crazy thing! There was lots of laughter and shaking of heads, but 51 years later, they are still together, and I thank God for their wonderful, Christian influence on our family.
The last several years have been so difficult for my family. We have had more deaths in our family than I can count on a hand and sickness still lingers. But the most difficult has been working through my 17 year old daughter’s struggle with anxiety, depression and self-injury. I am a single mom and it has been super tough. So grateful God has given me my church family and other ministries like yours to help me through.
This weekend my daughter and I spent a lot of quality time together and when discussing putting up the tree, I asked why she was so excited this year compared to last year. She answered, “Mom, I didn’t have Christmas Spirit last year and now I do.” Let me just tell you that this is a HUGE blessing from God!!! He is healing her physically, mentally and spiritually! I am so grateful for the work He is doing in her life!! It was the best Thanksgiving weekend in a very long time!!
Bless you and your ministry!!
Everything about Thanksgiving was turned upside down this year. I have a DVT (simply put: a life threatening blood clot) in my leg from a minor surgery I had a few weeks ago. I was ordered off my feet for a few weeks. This changed everything about the way we usually do Thanksgiving.
We had to fore go our traditional get together with our extended family, and opt to stay at home, just the four of us.. My daughter (23 years old) cooked our Thanksgiving meal (first time ever!). My son, (21 years old), made the gravy 🙂 And my husband cleaned up! This snapshot is frozen in my mind…the 3 of them in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning. We were just so very thankful that God had allowed us another Thanksgiving together… 🙂
We ended the day with the three of them putting up our Christmas tree. Our old dog, Gordon, worked hard to kick and toss his bed around until it was placed beside my recliner. He then took his place beside me, staring at the tree. He just loves Christmas! He was perhaps the happiest dog alive that day because we were all together, and he had our attention..
It was a perfect day for my little family, and for me…
I love this!!!
My favorite memory from this Thanksgiving is of my 14-year old son, James, putting up and decorating our Christmas tree. We have an artificial tree – I gave up on real trees years ago as our dogs always seem to think a real tree equates to “indoor plumbing” – and James hauled it down from the attic himself, along with all the boxes of lights and ornaments. Once he had the tree up, he proceeded to hang every single ornament he could find, and every single strand of lights I own on the tree, including the large candy canes, penguins, and santa lights that are SUPPOSED to be used outside along the drive way.
So, this year we have a “Griswold-style” tree – Totally overdone, and quite gaudy, but I loved his enthusiasm and spirit in getting the job done. On second thoughts, maybe I should call it a “Larry-the-Cable-Guy’style” tree!
Hugs,
Adrienne
We “babysat” our nephew’s fish over Thanksgiving and sent him facebook updates of his fish with postcards in front of his fishbowl that said, “Having a great time. Wish you were here.” I couldn’t stop laughing. Amongst all the good food and family, we just couldn’t seem to stop with those goofy updates on his fish:)
My favorite part of this Thanksgiving was the food. I’m not going to lie. It was just awesome this year! I think my mother-in-law, my husband, and I had a special annointing or something. It was out of this world!
Not to be complain-y.. but it was a rather different Thanksgiving for us this year. I am just three weeks or so away from giving birth to our second-born, a son. My nearly-two year old daughter had a nasty respiratory and ear infection, I also got sick from her (bronchitis) and of course can’t take any meds, being pregnant. And the hubby came down with it too. So.. we were too sick to go be with loved ones, too sick to cook. Too sick to taste a hint of anything, anyway. 🙂 It was quiet and a bit lonely. But.. to have four days with my husband home was incredible. On Thanksgiving he went to the store and got frozen pizzas, a pumpkin pie and a card for both me and Phoebe, our daughter. (He NEVER gets cards except for birthdays and such.) It was so sweet. Also.. we dragged our sick selves to a little Christmas tree farm nearby, run by an 82-yr old man named Raxter, and his wife. So sweet to chat with him and to get a tree from him. I tell you what, it is hard to GIVE THANKS when you don’t feel like it and you’re eating frozen pizza while everyone else is feasting on the usual fixings. But it was truly a sacrifice of praise and a reminder what the day is really about anyway: HIM. He is altogether lovely! And everlasting songs will rise for all eternity for all He’s done.
Leftover pecan pie for breakfast…slightly overdone, crusty and caramalized, with a cup of coffee…mmmmm
11 years ago, the father of my children and I divorced. To call it scandalous, would be generous. I was so ashamed and wore a scarlet letter for YEARS. Of course, I tried to always cover that up with talk about the kids and such. Really, God knew that it was about my pride. Well, He worked that out of me and then I did get really serious about praying for my children and asking Him to redeem my faults and sins. This Thanksgiving I saw the glow of redemption!
34 people at my house for Thanksgiving loving on those children – yes, me, my new husband, my ex-husband and his parents and sister and family, my parents and sister and family and my new husband’s family too.
I had to go sit in the bathroom and just let my eyes water at the goodness of God. He redeemed what I thought was just too far gone. Without question, a picture that I have engraved upon my heart. Forever.
Beth,
Thank you for your blog entry. Since my daughter married 8 years ago December, I have given her the same Spode Christmas dishes your dear Other gave you. She, my new grandson and dear son are in Africa begin their life as missionaries this October as my grandson turned one. We will not see them for three years. My heart aches but my mind praises God for Internet, FaceTime and Skype!!
She gave me the Spode dishes to keep for her while they are gone, and I am pulling them out this afternoon and displaying them. Why wait until Christmas Day, AND I will think of my dear ones and pray for them one extra time when I see the dishes displayed in my home. So thank you.
We married off a son to the West Coast this fall, and he and his new bride celebrated with her clan there. I already mentioned my first daughter overseas: and yes, they had turkey and fellowship with other American missionaries. Then there is second daughter and college daughter who came home for her break. So the two girls, my husband and I had a quiet meal together with each one working on a different part of the meal. Cutting beans, making salads, and carving turkey.
In the morning, we drove 30 minutes to our new little church home to gather with church family to thank the Lord for His saving grace, His faithful love, and His goodness to us. It was a wonderful day of giving thanks and enjoying family with really no commercialism or hype. I am sure that’s why I enjoy this holiday of Thanksgiving as much as I do.
PS Beth, thanks for the tip on the ball thrower. I will definitely have to get one. The possibility of not having to touch another spittified ball delights me! My doodle can’t get enough ball time either, so
this idea is brilliant!! Thanks! 😛
The Thanksgiving snapshot in my mind is 18 of us gathered around the table on board the aircraft carrier our son serves on. He had to be on duty, so we all – from 81 years to 11 years old – jumped into cars, climbed untold number of stairs, filled our trays with delicious turkey and all the trimmings and were blessed to be among all the others serving on ship. And we did not clean one dish! I am praising God that although our family “kitchen” may look wildly messy at times, He is the Chef who pulls it all together into a beautiful feast.
Sun just peaking over the horizon. A chubby hand on my cheek. “Gam get up, I want omeal”. Heaven on earth.
Good morning Beth, I haven’t been on the blog in some time and was having “withdrawals”..LOL. I always love reading about you & family. My husband and I were married 34 years this past May (second for us both) I totally understand about having some “me time” when our men want to take a little trip…mine goes with his son to Alaska fishing and I have a 10 day vacation…just me and two cats. I also feed our son’s border collie for him, which is just next door. He is a red & white short haired border collie and is just obsessive as Star is about his ball or frizbees. We had a very quiet Thanksgiving..my husband had hernia surgery on Tuesday before Thanksgiving so our son (my step son) cooked which was great. We have a very small family left so no big family holiday meals for us. We are totally thankful for what God has given us. I know you are enjoying your “me time” and am looking forward to hearing from you during the Christmas holidays.
Love you, sweet lady!
Being with my family in general and celebrating my 30th BDay (a little early) with them. They surprised me with a cake and gifts.
In no particular order…
#1 I got to snuggle and bathe and lay my sweet niece down for a nap. And then snuggle her some more and more and more (3 days worth!)!We also celebrated her 1st birthday with a party on Saturday 🙂 My husband and I have 2 boys of our own, but it’s fun to love on our nieces, too!!
#2 My dad took both my boys and the niece that is their age out to “the hunting grounds” to shoot their BB guns and eat what they killed…fortunately no squirrels were to be seen so they got spoiled by Papa and had lunch at Dairy Queen-with soda AND a blizzard!!!
#3 I got to work alongside my mom for two straight days and spend her entire birthday with her on Friday-love her so much!!
Thanks for sharing your snapshot and the wonderful picture of you and Keith!!
Love,
Audrey
My youngest is 18. It was nice to have family together for Thanksgiving but I enjoyed putting together 2 puzzles and reading most of a fiction paperback this weekend.
I was getting the little twin grand-neices into soft, cuddly footie pajamas. They both were so happy to be putting those soft princess footies on! The two of them, less than two years old, were so simply sweet about being happy. One of them gave herself a little happy hug when the soft jammies were on while the other pattered in place in a little happy dance, waiting her turn. A moment of pure delight! Looking back, I say we were happy to be cared for, thankful for coziness. The small moment was true thankfulness, a real gem!
God is SO GOOD!!! I have 6 amazing and spirited daughters (along with their handsome father, my greatest treasures on this earth)!
The key word – spirited!!! Though usually an awesome quality, when two of them get on opposite sides of a disagreement, fireworks can fly! 2012 marked such an event between two of them (both grown in homes of their own). It became a source of growth for the whole family!
Each of us learned to watch God’s leading in the situation as He spoke direction to each of us. “Space” was given by all to let them work it through…and the waters calmed from anger to “hurt feelings.” God continued working in His own good time, and the year wore on. Lessons in perspective surfaced, the meaning of unconditional love, the tragedy of loss, and our choices in all situations. Severely sobering lessons!!!
My husband and I spent many hours in prayer, determined to let go and let God (not always easy for this set of parents)!
Thanksgiving Day arrived, and they had not been in each other’s presence for months. As everyone arrived, there was no tension among the rest of us! God put a spirit of real joy and thanksgiving in us!!! Sweet!!!!
Finally, after the meal, we were going around the table sharing our three biggest “Thank You” moments of the year. One of the two finished with, “and seeing my sister ____’s face!” I think the whole table teared up!! As the day wound up, hugs went all around…with the longest lasting one between those two sisters!
God is SO GOOD!!!!!!!
(….He even gave me my Christmas wish early)!!
This week was a lot of family time. This is rare now that us kids are growing up and starting families of our own. The siblings stayed up late on Friday night any played Taboo. We were having so much fun that we were shocked when we looked at the clock and realized it was 3:30 am. It made for a very long Saturday- but will be a memory I will cherish for years to come.
As empty nesters we love, love, love it when we can have all the kids home at the same time. My hubby and I jump all over ourselves coming up with fun ways to spend time with the family. We enjoyed games, movies and way too many sweets! We then topped the weekend off with a fine dinner out at the iconic Country Club Plaza where we strolled among the holiday shoppers under the famous “lights of the Plaza”. We have photos and, kids being kids, even have a couple “top quotes from Thanksgiving 2012” to remember our time together by. I would share them with you but it’s one of those you had to be there things!
My sweet babies watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade and getting as excited as I did growing up is my snapshot! I would watch the whole thing from start to finish when I was their age and then everyone would be arriving at the house! The whole house smelled like turkey and corn bread dressing and pumpkin pies and it was extra warm because the stove ran all morning and I just remember feeling true joy. Sounds stupid but every year I cry when that ribbon gets cut to start the parade! Such fond memories of Thanksgiving for me!
This was our first Thanksgiving with my mom in our home in well over 15 years! She got to see the good and the bad in our family (husband, wife and two grown daughters) and it really didn’t surprise her, God bless her. 🙂
Happy (early) Anniversary, Beth, to you and your “wild man”! Your picture is fantastic!