HAPPY THANKSGIVING - 2013

Our Thanksgiving Blessing ~~ 

 Turkey, Cornbread Stuffing, Mashed Herb Potato, Gravy, Cranberry-nut Salad, Hawaiian Rolls, Real Butter, Olives (Black & Green), White Sparking Grape Juice Cocktail.

Waiting on the Buffet ~ 

Pumpkin Pie & Banana-Nut Bread & Whip Cream

ALL served on my 59 year old Clarabell Nortake China and White Orchid Community Silver Plate with a festive made in Denmark Napkin on a Red Tablecloth.

Served to ~

Husband Mickey, Son Marc, Grandson Aric

And Daughter Jacque & Benny

And enjoyed by

Wife, Mother, Grandmother ~ Susan (me) 

THANKSGIVING & Mickey & Dave Birthdays 2011

Mickey & Dave share November 24th as their birth day.  We have celebrated it together on Thanksgiving ever since Dave & Suzette married in 1994.  This year Thanksgiving was on their actual BD.

Mickey in the new shirt & tie Jacque gave him last week.

Susan dolled up and ready to go!

Bless our daughter, Jacque's heart!!! She decided since this was our first Thanksgiving and birthday celebration without Suzette we needed to do something ENTIRELY different so she made reservations for the 9 of us at Forrest Ridge Golf Course.

Mickey & Susan.

Julie (Jessica's room mate) & Granddaughter Jessica.

 Jessica & Jacque.

Benny & Jacque.

Birthday Son-in-Love Dave with Grandson Aric.

Jessica & Dave.

Aric & Marc

Marc, Aric & Mickey as we leave the Glass Veranda after our wonderful Thanksgiving celebration of thanks & family.

I did not cook one single item this year for the Thanksgiving feast we all enjoyed, nor did we have to wash or pick up one dish.  Yes, it was a delightful time for all 9 of us.  But, no left overs!!!  There is always a down side isn't there?

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy 79th and 58th Birthdays to my wonderful husband, Mickey, and our son-in-love, Dave.

BELATED THANKSGIVING REPORT

Hard to believe Thanksgiving is already 4 days past and it will be December tomorrow!!

Trust everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We certainly did!! Our eldest child and daughter, Suzette, hosted Thanksgiving this year. Of course we all helped by bringing something but all I had to do was a dessert. I took "Almost Pumpkin Pie Cake". It was yummy as were all the other desserts. Oksana made a cheese cake. So proud of her, at age 13, being a part of the cooks. Deann brought homemade Pecan and Pumpkins pies. We are so happy to add a good pie maker to our group. Suzette and Dave provided turkey and dressing, a wonderful fresh fruit salad, mashed potato, rolls and tea & soft drinks. Benny brought his Amish Green Beans (a must have at all our gatherings) and a Cranberry Salad. Also in attendance were Jacque, Marc, Aric, Mason, Aaron, Cody & Mickey rounding out the 13 of us.

The table was set with the china and silver, linen tablecloth and napkins in the formal dining room.

We ALL stuffed ourselves and then watched the Dallas Cowboy game and the 4 boys spent some time at the park just 2 houses down the street. The day was beautiful...would you believe 70 degrees the last week of November. YEAH!!!!

One of the MANY things I am thankful for is my wonderful family and that all our kids (except David in California) live in the immediate area.

What I am not thankful for is that I lost/misplaced/? my camera at the church on Tuesday when there taking a picture of Mickey & Sherry (the cook) .... consequently I have NO PICTURES!!! Suzette said, "Oh shoot." When I arrived and announced I couldn't take any pictures.

Please check in on the Frugal Blog to see what I've done with left overs!!!!

AMERICAN THANKSGIVING!

"The pilgrims who sailed to American's shore,

Were strangers who had not been there before.

Leaving their country and families behind,

They had one purpose and were of one mind.

They wanted a home where they could be free,

Through danger and peril, they crossed the sea.

In heat and in cold, they struggled for years,

Paying the price of blood, sweat and tears.

Bound to each other by faith, love and hope.

They made a new world and learned how to cope.

The problems they faced as they broke up the sod,

Brought them closer together and closer to God.

Today, we who live in the great USA,

Pause to give thanks, on this Thanksgiving day.

Thank God for our nation; a beacon of light,

We keep her strong, by doing what's right."

By Peter Enns

I am thankful for SO very many things but these are the most important ones:

1. My triune God: Father, Son & Holy Ghost

2. The Bible: God's living WORD

3. My wonderful husband of 51 years

4. My unique, one of a kind, 4 wonderful children: 2 daughters & 2 sons

5. My 3 beloved grandchildren: 2 granddaughters & 1 grandson

6. My Word based Church

7. A compassionate, loving Pastor who preaches only the Word

8. My many wonderful, inspiring friends who love & serve a living God

9. My many blog friends

10. The health I and my entire family are blessed with

11. The freedom we have in America

12. The world God has given us with all it's beauty and variety

13. The privilege to see so much of the North American Continent

14. Loving, Christian parents

15. Books

16. Access to so very much good Biblical teaching & preaching

17. The ability to hear

18. The ability to see

19. Heaven & eternal life because Jesus purchased it for me and God forgives me

There really is no stopping place to the wonderful, blessed life God & this country have provided me with.

I AM THANKFUL!!!!

SOAKING IT IN

Yesterday we cleaned our son's home, as we do every other week. Both Mickey & I were tired, achy and exhausted.

Last night I decided to take a L-O-N-G, very HOT, bubble bath and just SOAK!!!!

I filled the tub up to the drain overflow spout, leaned back and just relaxed.

You know, sometimes I think we take so many of the blessings we have for granted.

As I enjoyed my soaking I thought of the many blessings I was enjoying in this simple pleasure: 1) plenty of hot water at my very finger tips - 2) not only hot but pure, clean water - 3) my ever ready bottle of bubble bath that turns a plain bath into a special, aromatic pleasure - 4) a nice, private bathroom to enjoy this pleasure in - 5) in the safety of my own nice, warm, comfy home - 6) the luxury of no time limits on how long I choose to linger - 7) the plush bathmats to step out on and keep my feet off the cold ceramic tile floor - 8) my large, fluffy, white clean towel to dry off with - 9) my bottle of Ba*th & Bod*y Sun-Ripened Raspberry lotion to apply all over - 10) nice, warm, soft, fluffy, flannel pj's to put on.

As if this bath pleasure wasn't enough I then had: 11) a comfortable chair to lounge in - 12) in my own living room - 13) with my loving husband - 14) as he fixed us both a delicious cup of steaming hot chocolate - 15) then being able to turn the lights off - 16) check that the doors were locked - 17) feel safe in climbing into - 18) a pre-warmed by the electric blanket - 19) queens-size beautiful bed - 20) with my feather top quilted mattress pad - and 21) my large, plump, soft feather pillow - 22) the right to thank my Lord for all these blessings - 23) and drift off to sleep in all this safety and comfort - 24) with the wonderful husband I have spent 50 years enjoying this simple life with.

I am indeed a Blessed Woman and I never want to take all these pleasures for granted or cease to be thankful for them.

THANKFULNESS & BEING FRUGAL

One of the things I am thankful for about our Thanksgiving holiday is all the left over turkey and the good eating we get afterwards!!! Yesterday at lunch we had a wonderful turkey sandwich. Nothing like it!!!

For the past several years I have always made turkey soup out of the left over turkey frame. I am amazed at the wonderful broth and the large amount of turkey meat that is obtained. I must admit that I am ashamed of the fact that for years and years I just tossed the carcass into the garbage can and didn't take advantage of the bounty that it held. Not so once I fixed my first pot of turkey noodle soup :o)

This year, when I opened my Bet*ty Cr*oc*ker cookbook to the page where I had inserted my handwritten recipe for Turkey Noodle Soup my eyes fell on another recipe which called for adding tomato's. Now that was different. At first it just didn't sound "right" to me and then Mickey said, "Well we like tomato soup so I bet we'd like it." I decided to give it a try and am I glad I did.

Here are the yummy results and the recipe.

This is truly a super, healthy, rich wonderful soup!

Turkey Frame Soup

1 meaty turkey frame

2 large onions, quartered

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 tablespoon instant chicken bouillon granules (I omitted this)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Chopped cooked turkey

1-14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, basil, marjoram, or thyme, crushed (I used marjoram)

3 cups (any combination) sliced celery, carrots, parsnips, or mushrooms; chopped onion or rutabagas; or broccoli or cauliflower florets (I used celery, broccoli & cauliflower)

1 1/2 cups dried medium noodles

1. Break turkey frame or cut in half with kitchen shears. Place in an 8 to 10 quart kettle or Dutch oven. Add 8 cups water (I added 10), onions, celery, bouillon granules, and garlic. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. (I simmered mine 2 hours)

2. Remove turkey frame. When cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones. Discard bones. Coarsely chop meat. If necessary, add enough turkey to equal 2 cups; set turkey aside. (I actually had 3 cups of chopped turkey meat so I saved one cup to use later in another recipe)

3. Strain broth, discarding solids. Skim fat from broth. (I actually put my pan of broth in the freezer for awhile so the fat would rise and firm and was easy to remove)Return broth to kettle. Stir in undrained tomatoes, spice, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Stir in vegetables. Return to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Stir in noodles. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes more or until noodles are tender, but still firm and vegetables are tender. Stir in turkey, heat through.

Have to add this note: Friday Tar*get had cauliflower & broccoli for $1.33 a head. I had two $1.00 off coupons on cauliflower & broccoli I had printed out on line....YEAH

so I paid $.66 + tax of $.06 for a total of $ .72. What a deal!!! Ordinarily I wouldn't have driven over there to get it because the gas and drive would have cost me that much since it's in Tul*sa but we were going that direction anyway so I pulled in, ran in and got this wonderful buy.

I am so thankful that even though we lost 2 large trees to the December 2007 ice storm and another to a lighting strike (the one the wind just blew down) that our back yard still blessed us with the beauty of these two colorful displays this fall.

We have two other large trees in our back yard but they don't turn pretty colors in the fall. One just turns brown and drops it's leaves and the other (pin oak) holds on to its brown leaves until the new growth next spring pushes them off. As I wrote this the Lord reminded me of just how varied His creations are and just how VARIED we each are.......I hope I'm one who displays His creation in a lovely way and not drab and dull!!

Here's to wonderful, tasty leftovers and ALL of God's wonderful creations!!!!

AND to the GOD to whom we owe ALL our thankfulness.

THANKSGIVING & 2 BIRTHDAYS

Thanksgiving......one of our favorite holidays because of celebrating with our family and then Mickey & our son-in-love, Dave, share a November 24th birthday and we always combine it with Thanksgiving making it is a very special time.

Of course we have MANY things to be Thankful for and we are....but this year we have a very special Thankfulness that Mickey's bi-pass surgery is behind us, that we have just celebrated 50 years of marriage, and that we have a close-knit family unit.

Thankful we live in America, and even though we have a lot of problems in our country it still offers us all kind of opportunities to those who are self-reliant and industrious. I am thankful, at this time when the economy is in such question, that all of ours have good, stable jobs. Actually the economy in our area is still holding up pretty good and we have $1.539 gas prices!!!!!

I especially am thankful that I have a Loving God, Savior & Holy Spirit and that I am saved. I am thankful for the wonderful Body of Christ that we attend locally and the BODY of CHRIST that we are a part of globally. I am thankful I have a soon returning Bridegroom coming back for us, His spotless Bride. I am thankful for the movement of Prayer that is springing up all over and am thankful for the pray-ers who have joined with me in Hearts In "1" Accord.

I am thankful for the world of blogging and the wonderful friends I have made during this wonderful adventure of which all of you reading this are a part of.

Here is our Thanksgiving spread!!! and granddaughter, Oksana.

I fixed the turkey, cornbread stuffing, mashed potato's, and home made yeast rolls.

Suzette brought sweetpotato's, cranberry salad & canned gravy.

Jacque brought the vegetable salad, croutons, & ranch dressing. We also had my homemade vinaigrette dressing.

Benny brought his wonderful Amish green bean dish.

and Marc brought large Carmel apple pie & pecan pie and cool whip. I also baked a store bought pumpkin pie.

Tea, coffee and white & red sparkling grape juice to drink.

It was truly a delicious FEAST and we ALL ate too much.

Here are the delicious pies!!! The missing piece of Carmel apple pie is thanks to 9 year old grandson, Aric!!!!

My gift to Mickey was a black leather bible cover for the 10 year old large print KJV bible that Jacque gave him for his birthday in 1998. The cover was beginning to get worn but he loves the bible and wants to keep using it for the one he takes to church each Sunday.

Here is Dave opening his gift from Jacque & Benny. I wish I had known what was going to be in the box and had gotten a picture the minute he saw this PINK Bass Pro hooded sweatshirt. As you can tell from Oksana and Benny's laughing it was sooo funny. A PINK anything is the last thing Dave would EVER wear.

(in small print......this was Dave's 55th BD)

Another shot of the obligatory picture of holding up this treasure and Oksana & Benny still enjoying this moment.

Mickey opening his gray hooded Bass Pro sweatshirt and Dave saying, "I think these packages got mixed up, Mickey. I think this one is yours."

By the way, this is Mickey's 76th birthday. I think he is as handsome as ever and just so glad he is my husband and FRIEND.

Dave receiving his Navy Blue Bass Pro hooded sweatshirt. Jacque had bought the pink one for herself and couldn't resist the temptation to pull this fast one on Dave. As you know, our family is great about pulling these stunts on each other. Check here to read about Marc's "Betty" bowling ball for his BD.

Our son, David, called during the time of dinner and dessert, (we had to wait to even have room for dessert!!) so it was perfect timing. I answered and then the phone was passed around to everyone and ended back with me. An added treat for Thanksgiving and something else to be thankful for!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is having your prodigal son start his blog, Wider Than The Sky, which contains this dedication:

dedications
Where would we be as humans without our common experiences?To a new friend of mine who will know himself when he sees the following verse – the only verse, so far, I prefer in the ultramodern translation that I have used here:

1st Peter 5:7 - So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you, he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God, because he is most careful with you

Most of all to my mother and father, whose constant prayers built about me a cover of protection that kept me alive and who, to my sheer amazement and to God’s glory, never lost faith in God’s plan for one minute — even through ten years of utter silence, completely unaware whether I was dead or alive or where I was or if they would ever see me again. If I am alive today, it is because of the intercession of these two most sincere believers.
dj

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To ALL of you in blogland who bless me by reading my blog

and those who's blogs I am blessed by reading

I wish you a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I am thankful for my LORD & SAVIOR, JESUS the CHRIST.

I am thankful HE has paid the cost of redeeming us to ALL who believe in HIM.

I am thankful for THE WORD OF GOD.

I am thankful for being blessed to be born in a country who's very existence is based on the Bible and Christian principles. A fact that is sadly so often forgotten today.

I am thankful for a wonderful, and long, marriage with my wonderful, Mickey.

I am thankful all 4 of our children will be together to celebrate our Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for good health.

I am thankful for a good mind.

I am thankful for a nice, warm, loving home.

I am thankful for all the other material blessings I have been blessed with.

I am thankful that God not only hears, but answers our prayers.

I am thankful for all the prayers I have seen answered.

I am thankful for the prayers I am currently praying that will be answered in the future.

I am thankful for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

I am thankful to call you friend.