2019's Top 19 Reasons to be Thankful

Even though there is snow on the ground, and the magnificent five-story pine across the golf course is naturally flocked, next week is Thanksgiving, not Christmas. 

Since nobody reads the President's Thanksgiving Proclamation*, here are my top nineteen reasons to be thankful in 2019.


1.  We're well. 

Liam "seeks" Willow who thinks she is hidden.

2.  Willow, 2, is talks and makes us laugh. 

3.  Bo, 6, can read well for a first-grader, and his vision is not currently deteriorating.

4.  Sam, 15, has turned into a wonderful cook. He recently grilled delectable  moist chicken and performed magic with cherry tomatoes. He's also an interesting dinner companion.

5.  Liam, 11, has a knack for writing. The fifth-grade class is participating in NaNoWriMo, a month of writing a novel in one month. 

6.  Keeler, 13, is a math whiz, and we're not worried he will get into any kind of trouble until he tries to learn to drive.

7. Em, 12 going on 14, is tall, lovely, responsible. We've nicknamed her Em-I-A, as in Em missing in action. We hope she'll take a break from her social life soon so we can talk to her, preferably before the end of the year. 

8. This condo is FLOODED with morning light. Bill needs to wear a baseball cap to keep the sun out of his eyes. 

9.  The kitchen counters are installed, three months after being ordered. (And I am thankful that I stayed patient--until two weeks ago.)

10. I'm finding solid, encouraging relationships at our merged church.

11.  I have a fiddling friend. We practice Christmas carols and twin fiddle tunes.

12. Bill and I took three road trips this year (all involved bluegrass music): Dallas,Westcliffe, Colorado, and North Carolina.


13. In October I rejoined the bluegrass jam I used to attend in Mt. Airy. I've improved since my last time with them. Now I can play chords, thanks to my weekly as yet-to-be-named geezer group of musicians. 

14. We have been blessed with generous friends.
         One installed the new cabinets for us. 
         Another couple let us stay in their river house for a week this fall,

Dan River, Kibler Valley, Va.

now our favorite place since we sold Newsong Cottage. 
             Others hosted us during the trip east.

 15.  Bill and I shared a delicious dinner at Harvest Table, Barbara Kingsolver's restaurant in Meadowview, Va. It was on my must-do list. I wish it was down the street from our condo.

16.  I turned an emotional corner, and accept that I will probably live in Colorado the rest of my life. I continue to look back over my shoulder to all I left behind, but acceptance is better than anger. 

17.  Bill and I continue to compensate for each other's crumbling mental acuity, and laugh about it. For example, thawed soup was actually spaghetti sauce which we didn't realize until we put it in the bowls. Had to cook some pasta.

18.  Last night my local book club chuckled over Wally Lamb's Wishin' and Hopin'. Even those of us who did not attend Catholic schools laughed at the familiar kid-antics and power struggles. 
      It's the funniest Nativity play since The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
      ( I'm sending a copy to both Dobson book clubs. Pass it around.) 

19. We will spend Thanksgiving with a family from Iraq.  I am thankful they don't still live in Baghdad.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. 





*  Except for Christian Science churches which read the President's Proclamation at their Thanksgiving Services.

Giant Pumpkin Guide to Colossal Joy

This fantastic display was in front of the historic Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.  I'd seen seeds in gardening catalogs for giant pumpkins, but never imagined them with appropriate awe. The cut stem was about eight inches in diameter. If hollowed out the pumpkin, I could have crawled inside. 

You can't get this result by overwatering an ordinary pumpkin. They're grown from special seeds, bred for size. Additionally, the plants need plentiful sun, fertilizer, water, and vigilance. 

They take careful tending. The vines should be a certain size before you  manually fertilize the female flowers. Roots have to be pruned to allow room for growth without damaging the vine. Then pinch off the tips to allow the nutrients to concentrate on the chosen fruit. 

During their peak growth time, huge pumpkins can grow two inches in circumference every night. A friend told me that if you listen, you can hear the actual sounds of growing. 

Perhaps if we nourished gratitude with intention and attention all year long,  our Thanksgiving joy would be as colossal as this pumpkin. I hope yours is!






                

Gratitude: Call to Action

All across America today, people have tied on aprons and are spooning up mashed potatoes and spearing slices of turkey. They serve total strangers they will never see again.

I know many of you like to volunteer lots of other days too. There are hosts of reasons. 

It makes us feel good. 

It reduces feelings of hopelessness because at least we’re doing something about homelessness or the environment.

We never outgrew being Girl Scouts. 

We are members of faith communities that teach the importance of helping others. 

Or, that’s just what citizens do.

I believe most of our service springs out of gratitude. We have discovered that gratitude is more than an adjective, it leads to action. According to the etymonline.com , for about five hundred years, the word gratitude has been used in such a way to go beyond a feeling about what pleases us, to making us “disposed to repay favors bestowed.” 

 I grew up free and inestimably blessed by a college education. As a teacher I chose to work with immigrant kids, many of whom who had already faced adult-sized challenges by the time I met them at age eight. Their difficulties made me more determined to do what I could to open their futures to more opportunities. 

Once retired, I kept at it as a volunteer. I met a family who wanted tutoring for their children. Bill and I spent many happy hours with the girls, helping with homework, reading to them, and introducing them to new concepts and vocabulary. 

This school year I help out in a 4/5 classroom in Denver’s international school for new arrivals. The teachers in this group have their hands full. There are at least five different native languages, probably ten different countries represented, and three kids have never been in school. Those children are not conforming to our standards of how to do school. Some afternoons my frustration is greater than the satisfaction I feel. 

The fact that the situation is not as conducive to learning as it could be makes me more grateful for the orderly schools and one really savvy principal I worked under. And in turn it makes me more determined to “manifest the feeling by acts.” 

I asked the school’s volunteer coordinator to pair me with a family. The apartment buildings across the street from where we live are home to many of the school’s families. She introduced me to Ameneh, a young woman from Iraq with two young children at the school.  Ameneh wants to give her kids every advantage she can. While her husband works, she volunteers at the school and takes their English class for parents. My extra help will move her closer to her goal to enroll in the community college. 

For our first meeting, I walked through the complex of rather shabby buildings, down the hall covered with thin, tired carpet, to their clean nicely decorated apartment. She has Iraqi touches all around the apartment, an "I love Iraq"  banner, embroidered red curtains and a lovely beaded table runner. American culture rules in the kids’ bedroom with a Cars movie bed spread for her son, some pink princess for her daughter. The bathroom is dominated by Dory. 

She served me ginger tea, pastries made with phyllo dough and pistachios, and dates stuffed with walnuts. She treated me like an honored guest. I was humbled and I hope I can live up to her expectations. 

Isn’t it wonderful how gratitude can lead to action, and then to more gratitude!

I hope that’s a lesson we share at our tables today. 

Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for your acts of service to others. 

Thanksgiving holds the prime spot in my heart for holidays. 

When our family was young we tried to fill the table with other transplants to Denver. I embroidered a special table cloth to fit the table with all of the leaves in it, and loved setting a pretty table. We were all young and everybody brought something to round out the meal. One bachelor brought his coffee cake and ever since we enjoy Wacker cake as we prepare the meal. 

When we moved away we became guests instead of hosts. I was grateful to  enjoy other families' traditions. It reinforced my opinion that Thanksgiving is the best holiday. Here are ten reasons why.

1)   It’s less tainted with commercialism than Christmas. I’ve never heard  grandchildren clamor for a giant inflatable turkey.

2)   It’s an important reminder of our country’s origin, the desire for religious freedom on one hand, and the conflict with Native Americans.

3)   Our communities noticeably pause their frenetic pace of life. I've actually seen adults and kids at play in their yards. Until recently, stores have had shorter hours. 

4)   The day is used to share ourselves — time, traditions, a feast.

5)   We add others' traditions, like the Wacker cake. In North Carolina women make home made macaroni and cheese to place on the side board buffet. Oh, yum. I’ll miss that this year.

6)  The traditional menu is as close to a symbolic meal as we Americans get, short of Passover. Our menu at least has roots in what we think Squanto and the ninety warriors brought to the Pilgrims: wild turkeys, pumpkins, probably corn, and mussels and lobster. Check out this Smithsonian site for more information.

7)    The day is relaxing. We don’t rush. The meal is designed for conversation. (And our TV doesn't go on until after.) And there's even time to make a craft with the kids like these turkey cookies. 

8).    Thanksgiving sets a time boundary to keep Christmas at bay until December. I savor each holiday more that way.

9).    Even if I’m in charge of the meal, it means no-cook days later. I look forward to the left-overs as much as the fresh dinner.  

10.).  Thanksgiving has fewer expectations than Christmas. We can roll with no pumpkin pie easier than the disappointment of gifts missing the mark. 

I have some holes in my arsenal of Thanksgiving foods. Please share your best pecan pie recipe, best mac and cheese, and favorite “rite”, or special observance of gratitude. 

Wacker Cake:

Cream 1/2 pound softened butter and 1 cup sugar.

Add 3 eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together: 2 1/2 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp. baking soda. Add to the creamed sugar mix. 

Fold in the sour cream.

Put into greased and floured bundt pan.

Combine 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of cake along with chopped nuts and about 3/4-1 cup chocolate chips. 

Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool before
removing from bundt pan. 

   

"Ideal" Fall

Vermont in October

Thanksgiving is only two weeks away which seems too soon. 


I'm grateful for past falls, like the ones we drew with primary crayons in grade school. We enjoyed this season in Massachusetts and Vermont several years ago. The colors were vibrant, despite the dreary sky. 

Ripe pumpkins tumbled down the hill like kids pushing out doors for recess.  They were so cheery, and promised the goodness of the Thanksgiving feast coming soon. 


This lovely sundial symbolized the change in seasons to me. It's on the grounds of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller home in the national park in Vermont. It's a beautiful estate, and worth a trip to southern Vermont.  

I'm grateful that I have memories that fill in the chinks in my present discipline towards gratitude. To have experienced quintessential autumn on the east coast makes me feel full, that I haven't missed the beautiful places that created our ideals of fall and Thanksgiving. 

 I will be with my daughter and her family for the holiday. She and the kids have never seen an eastern fall, but I hope that's the vision in their imaginations. And I hope someday they get to see the real thing. Nevertheless, our western setting will not dim our celebrating the good things in our lives this year.







                                                                         

                                                                                                       

Squanto welcomes the Immigrants

The 400th anniversary of the feast at the Plymouth Plantation is just around the corner, chronologically speaking. 

It's not the first thanksgiving celebrated in the colonies, that would be 1607 in Jamestown. In fact, the 1621 feast was actually a harvest celebration, not a solemn day of thanksgiving to God and prayer. That happened in 1623. Presidents Washington, J. Adams, Madison and Lincoln issued proclamations of Thanksgiving, but it didn't become a national holiday until 1942.

Despite our inaccurate idea of the holiday's origin, we've latched onto the Pilgrim's event because the colonists had so much to be thankful for. Fifty of the original one hundred were still alive after a brutal first winter for which they were underprepared. They had a good crop to celebrate, thanks to the help of Squanto who taught them the best method for planting corn. 

He's one of the people I'd like to invite to one of those imaginary dinner parties!

He was captured to sell into slavery. He may have ended up in Spain, and one version of his story says Catholic monks bought him, and gave him a home with them. I try to imagine that. He was a young teen, absconded by evil Englishmen, stuck on a ship to cross an ocean so large he couldn't fathom it.  He learned Spanish, and about the Christian faith, and convinced the monks to help him get home. 

He went through England, where he worked for a shipbuilder, and learned English. When he finally got back his village was vacant and in ruins, but he stayed in the region and met the Pilgrims. 

Despite the limited original source material about Squanto, and conflicting stories, we know he lived. He did go to Europe and learn English. He did return to the very spot that desperate English men and women needed a guide to survive in their new home. 

He was able to communicate with them, and they must have been astounded. What could have been less likely? No wonder the Pilgrims saw Squanto as a miracle from God. 






Squanto, a children's version of the events,  emphasizes God's role in Squanto's life.
Through the friars, God protected Squanto from slavery. Eventually Squanto returned home. Although he must have been gravely disappointed to discover his family and village were extinguished by disease, he didn't retaliate against the Englishmen he found in their place. He was an agent of hope for them,  teaching essential lessons. He lived with the Pilgrims until his death. 

What a wonderful part of our national heritage. Where would the immigrant Pilgrims have been without him? 

Online resources:       

http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving

http://www.usconsulate.org.hk/pas/kids/td.htm

Thankful to Something or Someone?

Last week I asked you to "cook up" some gratitude. Let's play philosopher and dig a little deeper. 

It is my underlying belief that when we are thankful, we are thankful to Someone, not Something.

While as some folks, like Shirley MacLaine, thank the really big Something--the universe. Her Santa Fe ranch includes a stone spiral labyrinth.   It's her go-to spot when she  "had decisions to make, or I wanted to thank the universe for something." (WSJ, April 18, 2014) 

Photo by Widosu underCreative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 |Source

I tried to imagine that. Giving thanks assumes that the thanker acknowledges a benefit, a favor grated by the thank-ee.  What benefit does the universe grant to me? Dark holes? Stars? Galaxies I cannot imagine? Although a particle physicist might disagree, I don't think those things make any difference in my daily life. 

 While I concede the sun provides heat and light our planet depends upon, the sun didn't determine the placement of earth's orbit.

I can be glad that trees give shade and clean the air and produce medicines. But I can't really attribute my happiness to them.

A big tree on a hot day; I was grateful.

I won't thank the potatoes for their sacrifice on thanksgiving Day--that just seems weird. 












And thanksgiving isn't self-congratulatory. There are many blessings I haven't created for myself. I didn't create my innate intelligence (no matter its size) , or physical health. While I am responsible to develop my mind, and keep my body in some kind of useful shape,  I didn't gift myself with a brain that works pretty well, and a body that usually does what I need it to do.

I do not thank an impersonal Cause, electrical spark in primordial ooze or Big Bang, for the everyday wonders around me.

When the Pilgrims gave thanks nearly 400 years ago, and when I give thanks today, tomorrow, and November 27th, it will be to the God who made it all--me, tree, potato and universe. 

Recipe for Giving Thanks

last Thanksgiving with family

Thanksgiving is in four weeks. Before you ready the menu, shopping list, and call the guests, prepare yourself for the holiday.

Recipe for Giving Thanks

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: Ready instantly, but improves if simmered all day.

Number of Servings: The more you share it, the more there is.

Ingredients:

solitude

paper

pencil

a handful of memories from 2014 

cup of tea or coffee 

Instructions:

1. Sit down in your favorite chair. 

2. Close your eyes and think back on some highlights from the year. Don't forget celebrations, difficulties endured, travel, problems solved, favorite relationships.

3. Jot down short details from each: names of people, places, events, laughter.

4. Keep working until you have 5-10. The longer the list, the more you have to be grateful for!

5. Read the list quietly to yourself. Recapture the feelings: joy, relief, satisfaction. 

6. Give thanks out loud. 

anticipation, worry, relief

 awe, 17" snow

laughter and friends

travel: Whidbey Island

summer adventures in Washington

summer adventures here in NC

the jellyfish 

Reciprocal Impact of Grandparents and Grandchildren

This absentee grandma doesn't have as much influence on her grandchildren as she would like. So for this summer's visit I planned a few activities that I hoped would develop character, strengthen core values, and make a lasting impression. 

One was a minor success. 

The children occasionally learn Bible verses in their Sunday School classes at home. To encourage the habit I gave each of the kids a small leather card holder and blank cards on which they could write a Bible verse. They wrote the verse on the card first and repeated it a few times. Then, word by word, they wrote each word on a colored shot glass. We scrambled the cups, then raced to see how quickly they could reassemble the sentence correctly. 

"That went well" I told myself. 

tough FBI man

Some days later they invented a cops and criminals game.  Sam created an FBI badge on the reverse side of his memory card, and folded the holder so that he could flip it open. I suspect he will remember the FBI badge longer than the spiritual lesson I envisioned. I reminded myself that creativity is an important trait too. 












More satisfying for us all, we made a list of blessings during the trip. It's a chronicle of the fun we enjoyed (and a record of the kids' spelling development.)  I've hung it near my desk where I can savor it often.  

#3  grandparents that love me

#15 making "carmel" corn with grandma

#30 jumping off the diving board with Sam

Sometimes I don't clearly see how I affect the grandkids, but their impact on me shines from every line. I'll cherish this list of memories until it's too faded to read. 

Twenty years ago I found a picture book, The Table Where the Rich People Sit. It's one of my favorites. 

Growing up just outside of San Francisco in the '60's, I wanted to be a hippie. I embraced the idea of living with less, and being content. The book, written for young people but appreciated by adults, shares those ideals. 

The pen and color wash illustrations are minimal in detail.  The limited hues hint at the spare sand and hill desert setting.

Mountain Girl, the adolescent narrator, calls a family meeting to discuss their poverty. As an example she points to their scratched, hand-crafted, repurposed dining table, proof they aren't rich.

So her parents introduce her to their unconventional economy.

"We don't just take our pay in cash, you know. We have a special plan so we get paid in sunsets, too" her mother says. And they start the bookkeeping with a credit of $20,000.

They add generous amounts for dad's pleasure of working where he can sing. They get a bonus for the unique color of a cactus bloom, the presence of day-loving and nocturnal birds. Finally they add the value Mountain Girl brings to their lives, including her list-making abilities. At a whopping one million dollars, she brings the family assets up to $4,055,000. 

When she considers her ledger, all on the plus side, it doesn't seem important to add the actual cash they earn. "I suggest it shouldn't even be on a list or our kind of riches."

When I first read this wonderful book I laughed out loud. I had two Mountain Girls at home who complained about our one-car status and having to use public transportation. They thought our decision to not spend money on a TV was ridiculous, while I counted the hours of reading aloud to them as pure gold.

I really wanted the oral reading of this book to be part of our Thanksgiving tradition. Sadly, it didn't catch on.  Perhaps this year, as we scrunch husbands, four kids and a baby around the table, I'll try again. I want us to always be mindful that we are blessed beyond reckoning, but still it's good to count those blessings.

I pray you will cherish your time together next week as you sit at the table with the rich people. 

Oreo Turkey Cookies

Here's a fun cookie craft to do with the grandkids while you're waiting for the turkey to cook, or afterwards when they get tired of watching football.  Follow the link to the recipe.

I suggest you use frosting, I tried to hold everything together with peanut butter, and well--you can see ours don't look like theirs! 

Make a pumpkin vase for Thanksgiving

My grandchildren enjoyed creating this table decoration. 

First they scraped out all of the seeds. We cleaned and roasted them. 
They really were delicious.

Then, we walked through the neighborhood clipping little pieces of greenery and dried grass to add to the flowers. (It's okay, we didn't go into anyone's private yard.)

Finally we put a jar inside the pumpkin filled it water and created our floral arrangement! It lasted for three weeks.

The Betther Homes and Gardens website has some lovely ideas.

Are blessings plastered on your refrigerator door?

It's Thanksgiving week.  Are you consciously being grateful? 

I’ve been making a list  of God's gifts to me. I started last November after reading Ann Voskamp’s 1000 gifts.   My list only to #235, but I’m getting quicker to recognize moments of beauty, instances of kindness, and the abundant evidence of the good things in my life.

Do you need a budge? Go stand in front of your refrigerator. (This won’t work if you have a sleek absence of magnets and the stuff they hold up.)  But my fridge door is a changing exhibit of blessings. At a glance I’m prompted to remember trips, children, answers to prayer, and the last bloom of autumn. 

 The fish magnet (top, R)  is twenty years old.  I’d snorkeled in Hanauma Bay, Hawaii and sighted the wrasse, a fish that looks like it was painted with pastel watercolors. I followed it through the coral, hardly able to believe the extravagant colors were on a living thing. 

 The Eiffel Tower reminds me of the trip to Paris with my mother-in-law. As we stood at the railing, a bird pooped on her. We scurried to the ladies’ room, grateful for the attendant’s help cleaning up. The unexpectedly warm temperature of the day and the flowering trees of late spring are brought to mind. 

My Sunset Beach, NC bridge drawing evokes the book club’s annual vacation. One look and I can smell  cooked shrimp,  
feel sand under my bare feet, and spy the rise and fall of the dolphins’ backs out in the ocean. 

The travelogue concludes with an ad for traditional roast lamb sandwiches, doner, in Bursa, Turkey. This is a twofer.  
1) It reminds me of eating this kind of sandwich when visiting Bursa in 2006.
2) I'll be prompted to pray for the visiting missionary who recently passed out the magnet. 

The orange calendula blossom is the last bright spot in my garden.  

Baby O is an answer to many prayers -my friend's grandbaby born after years of wondering if her daughter would have children. Yeah, God! 

The tour, and list, concludes with current photos of my grandsons.  

 My list is up to #244.  How many gifts can you record right now? Add one in the comment box.   Happy Thanksgiving, because giving thanks makes you happy!

 “I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, I will tell of all Your wonders.”  Psalms 9:1