Thanksgiving Cloud

Isn't this a wonderful time of year? Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and it will be Christmas before we know it. That means everyone is pretty busy. 

Oh, and did I mention. . . ?

  

My hubby is in the woods waiting for a buck to make a fatal mistake by crossing his path. That leaves me in the house thinking about the upcoming holidays. Even though it will be just the 3 of us on Thanksgiving (Hubby, me & Mom), we will still enjoy the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Since I don't want to be down for the count with severe back problems the following day/week/month, I try to do as much as possible ahead of time to make it easy on myself on Thanksgiving Day. Sometimes I just make a turkey breast, but I'm doing the full turkey this year.

The sweet corn and butternut squash are already in the freezer. The microwave will heat up those 2 dishes on Thursday. I made 3 loaves of pumpkin bread and 8 mini loaves of banana bread yesterday. Mom volunteered the desserts - a pumpkin pie & a cherry pie. That's more than enough for sweets. I'm making my mom's homemade buttermilk rolls on Monday, and I'll freeze those in bags of 12. Those are a must-have on Thanksgiving and Christmas. In addition to using them for the meal, they make the absolute best turkey sandwiches ever! I'll make the coleslaw and cut up the onions and celery for the stuffing on Wednesday. All I'll have to make on Thanksgiving is the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy. Plus, we'll be sure to set out the extras - pickles, olives, cranberry sauce. Steve will want something to snack on before the meal is ready, too. Will it be crackers and cheese - or some type of fish spread - or both? We'll see what strikes him when we make our last grocery run on Sunday.

I'll set up most of the food buffet style instead of cramming it all onto the dining table. It's nice to have plenty of elbow room. The island is just steps away, so we won't have far to travel for seconds anyway! A week from now, we'll still be eating leftovers. I sometimes think I enjoy those even more.

Just typing that list of food makes me think about how many people in this world have never even seen a meal like that in their lifetime. Starvation is still a nasty fact of life for many people. We are so blessed here in America - here in Michigan - here in the Keweenaw. We certainly don't deserve all that the Lord has done for us, so Steve & I make thankfulness a part of our daily prayer life and strive to make it a part of our daily communication with each other.

I made a simple Thanksgiving Word Cloud. . .

and framed it to remind us of just a few of our blessings.

I'll put it on the kitchen island along with the food on Thanksgiving.

I made it pretty generic, so if you would like to print one for your Thanksgiving buffet table or display, click on the following link:

Thankful Cloud 5x7

If you aren't currently connected to your printer, you can download the PDF to print later. I made it to print as a 5x7, but feel free to change it to whatever size you wish. (I changed mine to print for a 3.5x5 frame.)

Now, go back to your busy and blessed lives, and get ready for that turkey!

All is well in the Keweenaw.