Be Still and Know...Then and Now

The DD had a sleepover last night so even the dog is sacked out upstairs, the hubs is off to his Men’s Small Group that meets every Saturday and I am sitting on the sofa listening to the oven pre-heat. My insulated thermal coffee carafe mysteriously has water sloshing around in it and for the life of me I can not figure out how it got in here, life is full of the unexplainable. My day is full of my favorite things, I am having and after thanksgiving Thanksgiving, only abbreviated. Since I did no cooking beyond tossing a pie in the oven to take to my SIL for the actual day ofTthanksgiving I am suffering the aftereffect of Thanksgiving withdraw….no leftovers! We feasted on imaginary turkey peanut butter and jelly sandwiches yesterday. I have an abbreviated menu planned for this evening. Pork Roast with Apricot Glaze Sausage & Cranberry Dressing Honey & Orange Glazed Sweet Potatoes Homemade Applesauce Spiced Cranberry Sauce Steamed Asparagus I will get the pork roast on ...

I’m not entirely sure what happen last week but sadly I had only one picture to show for the entire week which I am including with this weeks pictures. This week I made a more diligent effort to try and think 365 and I did much better, plus I also had a few memorable moments all thoughout the week that made the desire to take pictures more enjoyable. Sometime you just don't have picture worthy moments happen ever day! Saturday, November 20 I made a triple batch of my Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce. I am ready for the holiday season and I don’t have to make any more Cranberry Sauce for a while. Sunday, November 21 ~ No pictures :( Monday, November 22 My daughter was about ready to loose her mind as most of her friends had all seen Harry Potter 7 ~ Part One. I don’t normally spring for full price movie tickets but I made a special exception in this case. I forked over the cash and took her and a friend to see it! I thought it was too long the DD thought it was AWESOME! ...

Since we traveled to my SIL for Thanksgiving with my husbands family I did not get to do much in the line of cooking. I made a small contribution to the meal with the addition of a Pineapple Upside Down cake but that was the extend of my culinary effort on the actual day of Thanksgiving. Not being one to allow a small thing like not actually being home on Thanksgiving stop me from actually having Thanksgiving I decided that being thankful is really a constant state of mind anyway so we have postponed our smaller family celebration until this evening. Skoots1mom and her family will be joining my small family and we will gather around my table for a Delayed Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving 2010 Menu: Brown Sugar & Mustard Glazed Ham Roasted Turkey Breast (Marinate in a Brine for 24 hours) Homemade Macaroni & Cheese Broccoli & Rice Casserole with Mushrooms and Roasted Red Peppers Stuffing & Gravy Creamed Peas Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce Hot Spiced Tea ...

Having just spent the day at the grocery store getting ready for next week I am a bit tired and a bit overwhelmed as the pending holiday approaches. I think the older I get the need to simplify become more and more attractive. My tolerance for family drama and an all the wonderful things that go into those holiday family gatherings can be a bit much for me in my hormonal stage of life. However I am trying to breath through it and remember what it says in the the instruction manual Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. I think I may have that tattooed on the palm of my hand so it will be readily available to me a a moment notice. Thanksgiving is really one of my all time favorite holidays, not because I have a lot of warm and fuzzy memories but because most of the good memories I do have revolve around spending time with my grandmother in her kitchen. When I am in my kitchen and getting a meal, even a big production like Thanksgivin...

The day started with Stuffed French Toast served with warm Syrup, Bacon, Grapefruit and Orange Juice. A Holiday traditional at our house. While I am slaving away in the kitchen (NOT…as most of it was done ahead, I am all about pre planning) the dog was taking it easy and lounging around. Every once and a while he would muster up the energy to wander through the kitchen to make sure nothing had landed on the floor during the meal preparations. It holds us over till our meal. At about 2:00 PM I set out a plate of crackers and my Pepper Jelly over cream cheese for an afternoon tide me over snack. Super Yummy if I do say so myself. The Hubs did not like the jelly but that just means more for me! Y’all it happens every year. I should have used this one for my last Random Dozen. Without fail we manage to fix enough food for twice as many people (3 times probably). But isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about. A celebration of a bountiful harvest and being thankful for God’...

  PS 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.   Blessings Robin

Joining Lid over at 2nd Cup of Coffee for this weeks Random Dozen 1. Are you sticking to traditional Thanksgiving foods this year, or are you being culinarily adventurous? Traditional! 2. Tell me something concrete that you're thankful for. (Something you can literally touch, see, etc., not a concept like "hope.") My House. I now have a home that can accommodate a large family gathering. We can host thanksgiving now without having people eating in the living room balancing a plate on there knee! Everyone will have a chair and can sit at the table and eat dinner together. We will have a grown up table and then a Tween table in the dinning room. Yea!!!!!!!!! 3. You knew the flip side was coming: Share about something intangible that you're thankful for. Maturity. The knowledge that thankfulness does not depend on tangible things. Thankfulness starts with recognition of something greater. Something beyond what you have or what you can buy. PHP 4:11 I...

It’s in the air, the anticipation, the preparation, and the smells from the kitchen. I have a cake cooling on the counter, a pan of brownies in the oven, a pot of green beans in the crock pot and there are plans for homemade Mac and Cheese later. With all this busyness the payoff is the gathering tomorrow at my sister’s house for our family thanksgiving. In my blog hopping this morning there was a very similar theme going on. It seems that as the holidays grow nearer our thoughts are more focused on the things to come then the things of today. I know for myself with all the turmoil on the nightly news who would not want to place all their attention on sweet potato soufflé and looking for the perfect stuffing recipe. With Thanksgiving just around the corner I am thinking about my life and all that I am thankful for. It at times is difficult to set aside the other aspect of life that at times scream louder then the praises, yet the wonderful thing about anticipation and preparation is t...