Thanksgiving 2007

We spent the night at my parent's home Wednesday. Even though we weren't staying to eat with them, mom was busy preparing her and daddy's dinner. In this picture, she is making a fruit salad.

1 to 2, 12 oz containers of cool whip
1, 8oz cream cheese, softened
1 jar marshmallow cream

Mix well and add your favorite fruits!


Harrison was enjoying the bowl of grapes mom gave him.


When she finished preparing some dishes, she started on our milkshakes. Mine was a chocolate milkshake with crumbled Twix bars. Mmmmmm, it was good. Bruce and Harrison were enjoying theirs too.

So did Hannah....

This is my nephew, Elijah. He's so crazy.

The boys had fun playing together.

Marie and Zack


My sister-in-law, Liberty, brought Marie and me some Spider Mums. They smell really good too!

Carl and Harrison were playing Hide and seek. Carl decided to hide in the toy box.

Liberty played some things for us on the banjo. OK, not really. We just took her picture holding it. lol

Bruce on the other hand really did play for us.

Barry....Bruce's brother

We had a great time with our families and were so blessed to have time with them.

Hannah and I got up at 3:00 AM and were out of the house at 3:45 to do our Black Friday shopping. This was her first time going with me and she had a really good time. The first store we hit was Kohls. Then Old Navy and Belk. We stopped to eat breakfast around 8:30. Since we were at the mall, we ate at the food court. So a slice of pizza hit the spot After refueling, we went to JC Penney, Toys R Us, Wal Mart, and Payless Shoes. We found some good deals and were plum tuckered out when we got home.

But we still found the energy to clean mom's house, decorate her tree, fix her computer and arrange the Christmas decoarations in her yard.

Bruce is off until Monday so we're taking advantage of it. Tomorrow we'll most likely put up our tree and decorate our home. Unless of course, Bruce decides to do something different. We'll see.

I hope you all had a wonderful Tanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm looking forward to our prayer meeting service tonight. The Thanksgiving Service is always one of my favorites. We, as most churches, will be having a praise service, with songs of thanks and testimonies of God's goodness on our lives this year. It is always a blessing and encouragement to hear how God has worked in the lives of others throughout the year.

Since we alternate Thanksgiving between our families each year and this year being spent at Bruce's mom's house, the kids and I will be following my parent's home after church to spend the night with them tonight. Bruce will join us when he gets off work. We'll watch some Christmas movies together and in the morning, we'll have a traditional Thanksgiving breakfast of milkshakes while we may or may not watch the parade. Then tomorrow afternoon we'll head over to spend the afternoon and evening with Bruce's family. We're looking forward to both of these things and trust you will have a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends as you take the time to remember God's blessings He has bestowed upon you.

This will most likely be my last post for a couple of days, so HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you from us.

"Wherefore, I also.......cease not to give thanks for
you..." Ephesians 1:15,16

Thanksgiving Dinners and Cosmic Bowling

Tonight was our Ladies Thanksgiving Dinner at the church. It was so good and we had such a great time.

I cooked a turkey that the church purchased and a pan of dressing. Although, my dressing was a tad salty. I was really embarassed to say it was mine. So I didn't. As a matter of fact, I wrote someone else's name on the pan. just kidding!

Mrs. Ava had us sing Patch the Pirate's Attitude Gratitude song after we ate. You know, it's hard to sing with a full belly. But it's a cute song. Have you heard it?

Normally I write a skit for our ladies meetings, but this time I just read something to the ladies I thought was cute....with exclamation, of course. Several people thought it was funny and wanted a copy of it so I thought y'all might like it too.

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,

My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,

There he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,

And he told me there was something I should know;

His look and his tone I will always remember,

When he told me the horrors of ..... Black November;

"Each day you'll be thick, where once you were thin,

And you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin."

And then one morning, when you're warm in your bed,

In'll burst the farmer's wife, and hack off your head;

"Then she'll pluck out your feathers so you're bald'n pink,

And scoop out your insides and leave ya lyin' in the sink,"

And then comes the worst part" he said not bluffing,

"She'll spread you apart and pack you with stuffing!"

Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,

I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,

And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,

I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked;

I began a new diet of nuts and granola,

High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola,

And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,

I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes,

I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,

And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;

But 'twas I who was laughing, under my breath,

As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death;

And sure enough when Black November rolled 'round,

I was the last turkey left in the entire compound;

So now I'm a pet in the farmer's wife's lap;

I haven't a worry, so I eat and I nap,

She held me today, while sewing and humming,

She smiled at me dearly and said

"Christmas is coming........"

Isn't that cute?

I went to this meeting and didn't have my camera! Can you believe that? But my friend, Meghan, allowed me to take pictures with her camera and I'm hoping she'll get those to me soon.

After the ladies dinner, the youth group met to go Cosmic Bowling. It was a very interesting atmosphere. The kids had a great time and it was fun watching them. Hannah let me bowl one time in her spot but all I had on were socks. OK, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess what happened to me. Yep...wipe out. And wouldn't you know Mrs. Liz would get a picture of me on the floor? Just a little tip here...never count on the non skid tabs on your socks to keep you from sliding when you go bowling.

So that was our night. It was fun. It was adventurous.

Tomorrow we'll be attending the wedding of Bruce's cousin. It'll be good to be with the family again.

WOW

What a morning! Bruce and I left the house at 3:30 AM and was at our first destination at 3:45. We were content to stay warm in the car until the doors opened at 5:00. But Nooooooooooooo. Other customers just had to start standing in line. So we got out and jumped in too. The first 200 customers were given gift cards towards their purchases or to just give as a gift to someone. That was cool. I used mine toward something I bought for one of the kids. Bruce used his towards something he bought me. He wouldn't tell me what it was, but he did say I was really going to like it. :)

I didn't realize how ridiculous I looked until day began to break. I had on a knee lenth denim full skirt with the cut off fringe around the hem, a white sweat shirt with three little angels on the front that I have worn every Thanksgiving shopping day for as long as I can remember, and red socks with christmas trees on them. The socks and the skirt did not go.....trust me! The socks used to have jingle bells on them, but they got on my nerves and as I recall, I yanked them off in the middle of a store last year and threw them away. I was in the Christmas spirit, but the jingle bells were too much for me that early in the morning. LOL

Bruce and I found some really good deals. Everyone seemed to be pretty tame but we did hear about some people getting trampled. One person said it happened in California and the other said it was in Charlotte. It really doesn't matter where it happened. All that matters is that it happened and it should not have. There were people with broken legs, arms, ribs, etc. That's really horrible. What could be so important that it's worth you knocking someone down and breaking their bones? As Hannah would say, "That's so not cool!"

We made it back home around 11:00, shoved the kids into the bathroom while we carried everything in and laid down to nap. In case you're wondering why the bathroom, it's because the living room and their bedrooms face the driveway and we didn't want anyone peeking out the windows. LOL

Bruce has to work tonight so I guess he's down for the evening until it's time to get ready for work. I had a good time with him today. He'll be off tomorrow so I'm really looking forward to having him home with us again.

Boy! Am I Glad THAT'S Over!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. The day has nearly come to a close and I am now breathing a little easier.

My mother, whom I believe to be one of the best cooks in the south, was unable to cook this Thanksgiving because of her knee surgery which left it up to me this year. I have never cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for that many people before. As for mom, she is recuperating nicely with the exception of some swelling. I've had to fuss at her a little bit these last couple of days, but after her leg swelled terribly yesterday she promised to stay off of it and so she has. It is still slightly swollen, but looks so much better than yesterday. I'm thankful for that.

When I said I was glad THAT'S over, I was referring to the cooking. LOL I don't mind cooking, but my nerves have been shot the last couple of days worrying about everything turning out to each person's liking.

Mom and I started the day watching a Christmas movie together. Then daddy fixed the traditional Thanksgiving breakfast.........milkshakes. Yes, I know. A very unusual breakfast but it is a tradition. And one tradition my children look forward to as I did growing up.

We spent the better part of the day in the kitchen together while I prepared dinner, laughing and talking. It was fun. I had accomplished a great deal of preperation yesterday so there really wasn't too much to do today.

The menu? Let's see:
Turkey
dressing and stuffing
green beans
sweet potato casserole
veg-all casserole
mashed potatoes
corn on the cob
deviled eggs
crock pot mac and cheese
yeast rolls
gravy
My Brother brought:
smoked Boston Butt roast
congealed salad
dressing
banana bread muffins (which were the perfect size, btw if any of you do banana bread)
And daddy baked two pies, pumpkin and apple

Everything turned out very flavorful and I sure didn't hear any complaints.

Bruce was off today and it was so good to have him home. He has to work tomorrow, but will be off Saturday. So I'm looking forward to spending a complete day with just him and the kids as a family. He left mom's a little early to go see his mother and get me a newspaper for tomorrow. I'll go through the circulars mapping out my route for the morning. I'm one of those stupid people that get up at 3:00 AM to stand in the cold for two hours waiting for a door to open so I MIGHT get what I'm there for. And if I do get it, I'll be happy talking to strangers in a line of seventy-five people that won't move but every eight minutes or more. LOL Wow! I've almost talked myself out of it..............NAH! I'm there. I love the rush I get on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Do y'all go shopping that day too?

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends. I did.

Thanksgiving Dinner For Bus Kids

The Thanksgiving dinner for our bus ministry was wonderful. The children ate like there was no tomorrow and it was a blessing seeing the fun they had and being a part of such a great day.

When Hannah got there, she immediately went to the kitchen with her apron that Mrs. Weathers made for her and began to help in preparing the food. The little boy with her is Jordan. He is the son of our church secretary and helped he too.


We started the morning as usual with singing and puppets.


Brother Daniel was in the puppet skit and did a great job.
Hannah was "Febie" and Justin was "Andrew."
Thanks, Brother Daniel, for being a willing participant!


Hannah played the piano for the bus kids to practice their
song for the Christmas program they'll be doing at the morning
service Dec. 3rd.


We split up in our classes and after class, the children were
given the opportunity to turkey bowl. Harrison bowled a strike
his first time and then bowled down three his second time.
Whoever bowled the most points won a giant jar of candy. I
believe our class was up for the skittles. You can see the jars on
the puppet stage.




Here was part of our class lined up to give their names to Hannah
for their bowling order. But order never happened. LOL


Here are the children enjoying their turkey dinner. We had
turkey, dressing with gravy, green beans, corn on the cob
cranberry sauce, yams, deviled eggs, rolls and desserts.
They enjoyed it so much.


Here's Harrison sneaking some of the dessert I made. Chocolate
Eclaire cake. Yum! He wasn't really sneaking because I gave it to
him, but he was supposed to be with his class. LOL


Here are some of the workers enjoying a bite or two.....
or three....LOL It was very good.


After bus ministry was over, I took my mom a chicken pie that Mrs. Janet made for her and sat with her while daddy ran an errand. I was going to go on a trip with SIGMA to a soccer game, but didn't make it back in time to go so I ended up going to the Sunday school Christmas party at Brother Joel and Sis Pam's house. We had the best barbecue I have ever eaten. Being in the south, barbecue is a specialty. And this was definitely the best I've ever had. We had a good time of fellowship. It was a terrific day.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Today is our Thanksgiving dinner for our bus kids and their families. We're excited about this. I need to fix my dessert or it's not going to be good. It's one of those chocolate eclaire desserts with the graham crackers and pudding. I'll post the recipe for it at Blogger's Recipes later this evening.

Last night we spent the evening with the McCurry family. Hannah and their daughter were at a birthday party and so we got together at the McCurry home for pizza and fellowship. The boys laughed their heads off in their son's room while we sat in the music room around the Christmas tree in the dark and talked. That was so nice. They have three Christmas trees up this year. Susan said she was going to add another one next year to the dining area. We went upstairs to the game room and played some pool. It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Mike and Susan!

Mom is doing really good. I'm thankful for the recovery she's having. I am a little concerned about the swelling, but the doctors and nurses don't seem too worried about it so I'll not let it bother me until it bothers them. She has had problems with blood clots in the past and so that's really what we're watching for right now. She still can't get out and about, but I have a feeling she wouldn't mind a little ride in the car. It's terrible when you're stuck in the house, don't you think?

There's an attic sale at the fair grounds today and I thought I might get up there before bus church, but it doesn't look like I'm going to make it. I need to do my dessert and I really need to wash my hair. LOL Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Thanksgiving Meeting

We had our Thanksgiving meeting for the ladies of our church tonight. I wish I had taken my camera, but it is in my Mom's car. We had a great time of fellowship and Mrs. Ava had an encouraging word that I needed tonight.

For some of you Pastor's wives or ladies looking for something for your ladies meeting this month, here are a couple of songs that Mrs. Ava had us sing tonight. I thought they were cute.

Turkey Song
(Did You Ever See A Lassie)

See the turkeys proudly marching
Their proud feathers arching
We're kings of the barnyard
Proud turkeys are we.
We strut oh so proudly,
We gobble so loudly
Oh gobble, gobble, gobble
Plump turkeys are we.

Oh would you think scarcely
All dressed up in parsley
We kings in the barnyard
Soon roasted will be
'Tis true as you're living,
We'll be for Thanksgiving
Oh gobble, gobble, gobble,
Plump turkeys are we.

Thanksgiving Turkey
(My Bonnie)
My turkey went walking one morning
The November weather to see
A man with a hatchet approached her
Oh bring back my turkey to me

CHORUS
Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my turkey to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Oh bring back my turkey to me.

I went down the sidewalk a-shopping
The sights in shop windows to see
And everywhere hung great fat gobblers
Oh bring back my turkey to me

(Chorus)

I went out to dinner and ordered
The best thing they had I could see
They brought it all roasting and sizzling
They brought back my turkey to me

(Chorus)