Thank You

I just wanted to send out a warm holiday thank you for all your sweet comments and prayers in our behalf.  They have felt like a warm quilt around our shoulders. What a blessing to have so many good people praying for us! ♥

I know that we aren't alone in this trial; there are many families that are going through what we are -- or much worse.  But having to go through this again, and at this time of year, has hit me hard and I am personally struggling to "cowboy up"  and have a positive attitude.

Our little family has been through the ringer where unemployment/underemployment are concerned, and I was very happy to have made it through and to be done with that chapter in our lives. I know that the Sweet Girl and my hubby felt the same way.

This latest job was an answer to prayer, close to home, and a good, stable company. It was doing well, even in these times -- DH's layoff was just a restructuring move from a buy-out that happened more than a year ago. It was a purely non-personal decision from a corporate office in another state; but a decision that we are taking *very* personally here. It seems senseless and unnecessary. I hope you won't think badly of me for struggling with this when so many other families are going through hard times, too.

But....

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.  (W.T. Ellis)

...and for the sake of my little family, I have to find it in me to put Christmas in my heart. I'm going to spend some time on my knees, and count our many blessings, and feel the prayers of friends and family (and the friends that live in my computer!).  We are decorating the house and playing music, and that has helped. I wanted to write down Christmas memories as the days went by, but now I think I'll include the tender mercies I see happening to our family during this time.

It will be a Merry Christmas.

photo: heart ornament

Be Still My Soul

DH was laid off yesterday. From a strong company with no troubles. It was just a "restructuring" from the parent company that had bought the smaller one. I'm struggling today -- I'll be more eloquent and more optimistic tomorrow. Those who know me well will know why this hurts me so much. Friends and family are rallying; we have felt their love and support already and it has meant more to us than my feeble words can say.  I love you. Thank you.

In the meantime, I'm going to take joy in finishing decorating the house for Christmas, and let the Christmas music soak into my soul. I want to focus on my little family, and make our home a real haven of peace, warmth and happy memories.

The Lord has been tender and watchful of our family. We know He will be again.

Thanksgiving 2008

It probably should have looked like this:

but it ended up looking like this:

Let me explain. Last year was the Thanksgiving to beat all other Thanksgivings. Not only did we have turkey and all the trimmings, but we had a wedding in the family THAT weekend, and *all* six children and all their kids and other extended family attended. My folks hosted it, and they've joked ever since that they were going OUT next year. (Can you blame 'em?)

Well, as the calendar turned, all the families made plans with in-laws and friends this year, and Mom had knee surgery two weeks out from the big day. So, what started as a joke, became a strong possibility, and then... planned!

Our little family was invited to come along to the restaurant. It would definitely be a memory maker, right? We had a blast! The place was PACKED. I couldn't understand it. The manager said it was their busiest day -- sheesh! I'm no Martha Stewart, but isn't this supposed to be a "family gathered at home" holiday? People do this every year? I don't get it.

Well, we got into the spirit of it....sort of....

 

...those disguises didn't stay on too long. The mustaches tickled!  The food was really good, and we had all the traditional Thanksgiving food and none of the dishes! [Don't worry about us missing the leftovers -- everybody cooked their own turkeys at their houses this weekend -- just for turkey sandwiches! LOL]

The rest of the day was filled with desserts and snacks --

watching our beloved Texas Aggies.... (oh, my poor Aggies!)

 

board games...

 

...and turkey-induced coma naps. Zzzzzzzzz....

 

In other words, a *perfect* Thanksgiving.
Eat your heart out, Martha.

Words to Live By: Thanksgiving Songs

I have to admit I get a little bah-humbuggy when I hear Christmas music playing in October...and well, yeah, even November. (What happened to Thanksgiving?)

My daughter heard me complaining about all the early Christmas music again, and said, "Well, Mom, those are Thanksgiving songs, if you really think  about it."  Well, I did think about it. She was right. They are songs of thanksgiving...and joy...and hope...and happiness. Why? We sing for joy because a wee babe was born in Bethlehem. A very special baby -- He would be the Savior of us all! 

As we celebrate this holiday, may we remember to celebrate the deep significance of the birth of our Savior, and think of our Father's loving gift to us.

It's already a Merry Christmas, don't you think?

 

 

This beautiful collection of images was created by photographer Mark Mabry and is entitled Reflections of Christ. This slide show was created by Cameron Trejo and it's accompanied by an arrangement of 'Come Thou Fount' performed by Clyde Bawden and Freddie Ashby. See this website to learn more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

T   hanks for time to be together, turkey, talk, and tangy weather.
H  for harvest stored away, home, and hearth, and holiday.
A  for autumn's frosty art, and abundance in the heart.
N  for neighbors, and November, nice things, new things to remember.
K  for kitchen, kettles' croon, kith and kin expected soon.
S  for sizzles, sights, and sounds, and something special that abounds.

 

 That spells THANKS for joy in living and a jolly good Thanksgiving.

                                                                                               --   Aileen Fisher, All in a Word

Thanksgiving Blessings Mix

I found this fun snack mix idea to share with family and friends at Thanksgiving time, at Organized Christmas. It sounds yummy, and it also reminds us of our nation's blessings. It's too late for me to use it this year, but I am definitely going to make this next year! Enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving!

Bag this mix in favor-sized gift bags and decorated with a harvest poem, Thanksgiving Blessings Mix brings a festive touch to your Thanksgiving table.  Organized Christmas makes it easy to create Thanksgiving Blessing Mix with free printable gift tags.

New! Print this Blessing Mix gift tag in .PDF format.

 
Thanksgiving Blessing Mix Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups Bugles brand corn snacks
2 cups small pretzels
1 cup candy corn
1 cup dried fruit bits or raisins
1 cup peanuts or sunflower seeds
1 cup M&Ms-brand chocolate candy
16 Hershey's-brand chocolate kisses
free printable blessing mix gift tag

Directions:

In a large bowl, gently mix all ingredients except Hershey's Kisses.

Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup Thanksgiving Blessing Mix in small cellophane treat bags. Add one Hershey's Kiss to each bag. Close bag with chenille stem or twist-tie.

Print 4 copies of the Thanksgiving Blessings Mix printable gift tag or hand-write your own tags with the following wording.

Cut out tags, and attach one to each bag.

Makes 16 Blessing Mix gift bags.

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Thanksgiving Blessing Mix

Bugles: Shaped like a cornucopia or Horn of Plenty, a symbol of our nation's abundance.

Pretzels: Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.

Candy corn: Sacrifices of the Pilgrims' first winter. Food was so scarce that settlers survived on just a few kernels of corn a day.

Nuts or seeds: Promise of a a future harvest, one we will reap only if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.

Dried fruits: Harvest gifts of our bountiful land.

M&Ms: Memories of those who came before us to guide us to a blessed future.

Hershey's Kiss: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

• PDF version
  

The Thanksgiving Proclamation

Herewith the 1863 proclamation by which President Abraham Lincoln transformed the Thanksgiving tradition into a legal holiday:

Proclamation of Thanksgiving
Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Secretary of State