I love to hear what other people have on their Thanksgiving table, so I thought I would share our feast with you! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Turkey with pecan/apple stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes with mini-marshallows
homemade whole cranberry sauce
jellied cranberry sauce
sauteed green beans w/peppers, onions, slivered almonds
mandarin oranges
cranberry bread
apple pie
pineapple-cherry cake
wine, coffee, and good friends!
to watch the Asheville Holiday Parade earlier today. We were bundled up but it actually warmed up and was a gorgeous day. We had treats, hot chocolate, sandwiches and hot coffee from City Bakery which we enjoyed as we watched the floats and bands march by. We were seated toward the beginning of the parade route, so the kids came home with bags of candy and other giveaways. We saw many friends along the sidelines as well as in the parade and cheered them on! Took some wonderful pictures which I’ll try to get posted by tomorrow. The holidays are here!
We’re all getting bundled up to head downtown for the Asheville Holiday Parade. It’s starting early this year; 11am instead of mid-afternoon. I don’t know that the change in time is the wisest decision as mornings are always colder. I hope it doesn’t affect the turnout too very much, but it’s only 20 degrees at this moment, and probably not going to warm up that much over the next two hours. Nonetheless, we shall don long johns, hats, gloves, scarves and carry some extra blankets to watch the festivities. It becomes the kick off for the holiday season for our family. (I’m sure for many others, too.) We’ll just all huddle together this morning. Family togetherness. Nothing like it!
It just seems too early to me. I heard on the radio on my way home tonight, that Santa is already at the Asheville Mall! It is not even the middle of November. I think he probably got there this past weekend and to me, at least, it seems quite absurd. It’s strange enough that they start putting Christmas stuff out in the store right after they clear the shelves from back-to-school items, but to take your children to see Santa before Thanksgiving is simply wrong. Do we even acknowledge Thanksgiving anymore? But I guess, since it’s not a hugely profitable holiday, retailers basically just skip past that. But don’t we, as a community, as a nation, as families, need to take that one day a year to all sit down together, acknowledge our many blessings and take those afternoon and evening hours to be one with each other? Isn’t that just as, or even more, important than spending tons of money on things we don’t necessarily need? Can we just take some time at the end of this month, on Thanksgiving Day, to hold hands and share our hearts with loved ones and recognize all the many blessings we have in our lives?
Do you know how much I appreciate and am thankful for my life and for my family at this very moment? I was just sitting on the front porch, watching and listening to what is going on around me, in my world. The kids are having races up and down the driveway, both on foot and in their little cars. The older ones are cheering Frankie on and praising his times to high heaven. The leaves on the trees are such gorgeous colors; reds, yellows, oranges and browns. It’s in the low 60’s and the sky is a brilliant blue. The two dogs are standing next to each other eating their kibble. On the side of the house, I hear the cackle from the chickens. We all did the Saturday morning cleaning a while ago and are now relaxing and enjoying our day. Thoughts of the upcoming holidays are creeping into our minds. We have three huge bowls of candy on the dining room table from our trick-or-treating time last night. Days like these I just want to wrap in a big box with ribbon and hold onto forever.