I still remember the first Thanksgiving I cooked – I had to create a spreadsheet to help me figure out when things would need to be started so it was all done at the correct time. To say I was stressed was an understatement!

This year I’m not quite that stressed. lol  However, I do have my list.  Not that it helped, I still had to make Eric go get at least two forgotten things and then at about 8:30pm last night I realized we didn’t have any Brussel sprouts in the house! LOL  Thankful that Jason works at a grocery and picked them up!  AND, he’s offered to make two of the dishes today!  Such a nice treat!

We will have a quieter Thanksgiving than normal. We won’t be eating until 4pm due to work schedules. This year it will just be Eric and I, our 4 kids, my mom and my uncle….so just 8 of us!

This year, our menu is:

• Turkey & Stuffing
• Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
• Sweet Potatoes
• Brussel Sprouts
• Mac & Cheese (a first, Jason’s idea/contribution)
• Walnut Pie
• Double-Layer Pumpkin Pie (Egg free, so Eric friendly)

In addition to adding Mac & Cheese to our menu, we are also adding another new tradition, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. I remember watching it as a kid and enjoying it. I’m hoping to recapture that joy and just enjoy my coffee, knitting and the parade!

I wanted to write a Thanksgiving prayer but then stumbled upon this poem and realized I couldn’t do it better.

For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
for all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For blue of stream and blue of sky,
Father, we thank Thee.
For pleasant shade of branches high,
Father, we thank Thee.
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
for beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank Thee.
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank Thee
For health and food, for love and friends,
for everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

To all our friends and family, I hope you are able to stop for a moment and be grateful for what you have.  We are so blessed and it’s so easy to be too busy — even on a day we set aside to be grateful!! — to stop and appreciate the beauty around us.

Happy Thanksgiving!