Thankful

Each year, on Thanksgiving, I like to take a few minutes to share the things I am grateful for. Consider it a brief list of warm-fuzzies.

• My husband, who is my partner, my rock, and my friend
• My friends, who offer commiseration, stories, and laughter
• Thoughtful people who broaden my perspective by explaining their own
• Warm kitties who cuddle with me and purr
• Making steady progress toward our financial goals
• Weekly board game nights
• The ability to travel home for the holidays
• Family, who makes that travel unquestionably worth it

Our Thanksgiving Menu 2013

Have you started planning your Thanksgiving dinner yet? The hubby and I did our shopping today and our menu looks a lot like last years. Here is what is on our menu:

Roasted Turkey Breast
This is the hubby's domain. It's pretty basic, but always delicious.

Gravy
I'm going to attempt this with bacon grease. We'll see how that goes. I bought a jar of gravy as a backup.

Stuffing
Made with Sweet Corn bread and homemade white bread. The hubby made the white bread tonight and I'll make the cornbread tomorrow night so that we can cube them and let them go properly stale.

Sweet Potatoes
Absolutely delicious.

Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes with a Basil Butter Sauce
We have green beans from our CSA blanched and frozen and a basil plant going gangbusters. This is a match made in heaven.

Cranberry Sauce
After growing up with the canned jelly, the fresh sauce is always a tart treat and I love the chunky texture.

Rolls
Also the hubby's homemade creation. I need to get his recipe posted up here so you all can share in the deliciousness.

Apple Pie with Buttermilk Crust
Every year I ask what kind of pie we should make and every year the hubby answers "Apple". This year we are trying a recipe from Joy the Baker and planning to top it with homemade whipped cream.

We're having a friend over and after dinner we'll have sparkling cider and hot cocoa for hanging out by the fireplace. Sounds like a blissful day.

Thankful

In years past, I've taken a few minutes on Thanksgiving to reflect on the things I am grateful for. This year's celebration was a bit more hectic what with a cold and company, so I am a few days late. All the same:

• For local friends. This year has been the year that our social circle has coalesced. I finally feel like we are part of a supportive community.
• For faraway friends. For those who keep in touch even when it's not the easy or convenient thing to do.
• For sweet kitty cuddles. And for how the cats always know when I am sick or lonely and stick more closely by my side.
• For family. Both my own and my husband's, they are people I genuinely enjoy spending time with.
• For a well stocked library. And for a rekindled love of reading.
• For my hubby. He is my touchstone and my greatest encouragement.
• For goals completed. And the ability to dreamer bigger because of them.

What's On the Menu

The hubby and I began planning our Thanksgiving feast when we returned from our trip last night. In case you are also firming up your list, here is our menu:

Roasted Turkey Breast
A whole turkey is much too much for two people, so years ago we scaled back to a turkey breast. Even though we are having guests this year (!) we'll stick with it. No real recipe, this is my husband's domain, but it is always good.

Gravy
I have had a couple of spectacular gravy fails (turkey breasts are too lean to have drippings. This year I'm going to try a 1tsp:1tsp:1cup ratio of butter to flour to turkey stock. I have no backup if this goes south so feel free to offer any advice in the comments! : )

Cranberry Sauce
We've been making this for a couple of years now. It's easy, it doesn't require the oven, it's absolutely divine, and we can put up any leftovers by canning them.

Stuffing aka Dressing
We're making honey cornbread to use in this tonight and we'll blend that with french bread and let it sit out until Thursday to get dry.

Sweet Potatoes
This right here is how dessert sneaks onto the dinner table.

Brussel Sprouts
Because I seriously love these things. The hubby will probably pass. I'm playing the company card. ; )

Mashed Potatoes
We'll boil these and run them through the food mill in advance. Day of, just pop in a saucepan with some cream and butter. Perfect mashed potatoes.

Rolls
The hubby has become a whiz with making rolls from a breadmaker dough. He usually makes them and uses them for sandwiches etc for the week. He'll probably make these Tuesday or Wednesday night and we'll gently warm them before serving.

Apple Pie
I haven't picked a recipe yet, but the hubby requested apple, so apple it is. Our guests are also bringing a dessert, so we should be well covered. : )

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here in the states, today is Thanksgiving. For the husband and I, this is a day to ensconce ourselves in the kitchen, make ridiculous amounts of food, feed the cats (a very tiny bit of) turkey, listen to music, call family, and use the fancy china.

I can safety say check, check, and check to all of the above items. We even had quite a bit of downtime in the kitchen this year (what a concept!).

As I've done in the past, I'd like to take a minute to talk about the things I'm grateful for.

• For the recharging and renewal provided by a long vacation
• For my maturing understanding of myself
• For my amazing husband, my partner in crime
• For internet communities which broaden my worldview and teach me new pespectives
• For our cuddly, warm, social cats
• For hobbies and the time and means to enjoy them
• For a job which allows me to continually grow, learn, and challenge myself
• For an adult relationship with my brother
• For friendships with intelligent, diverse women who both teach and understand

White Christmas

I don't know that I have ever dreamt of a white Christmas, but one way or another, that's what we got this year. We woke up Christmas morning to soft flakes falling and the yard blanketed in white.

It afforded us an absolutely classic photo op though:

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Twelve

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

For the last day, let's look at the ornament that started this all. Pink, saccharine sweet and everything I would steadfastly avoid were I buying it today, nonetheless, it holds a special place in my heart. We didn't hang it this year, since the hook is pulling out and needs to be repaired, and we didn't quite make it that far.

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Eleven

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

The first year my husband and I were dating, we bought a tree and set it up in his aparment. Five or six feet tall, it wasn't a little tree and it wasn't until we had it set up that I realized all my ornaments were back at home. Between the barren tree and a bit of over zealousness for the holiday, our intent to purchase an ornament each turned into a rather impressive collection. Ooops.

One of my favorite purchases that year was a set of six small spikey glass ornaments with colored spikes. The next quarter, I used them and a piece of pine printed fabric as the basis for a project in one of my painting classes. I cut six 3"X3" squares of Masonite, and painted the ornaments on the pine fabric at varying scales. I glued strands of silver cording to create hanging loops, the length indicating how zoomed in the pieces were. I hung the whole thing in a roughly Christmas tree shaped display for our critique. I don't remember how the project went over, but I do still have the paintings. : )

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Ten

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

This ornament was a gift from my mom a couple of years ago. But it's so much more awesome than that, you see, this ornament was also handmade by my mom. She's an amazing toll painter. With the exception of the button, wisp of thread, and the ribbon at the top, all those details you see are painted on. The edging on the wood. The "fabric" heart in the middle and it's stitching. The cream ribbon. All paint and wizardry. You can see some of her other work here (what I've managed to snap pictures of anyway) but it's all brilliant and I am so proud to own some of her pieces. : D

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Nine

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

Growing up there was a little gift shop in a shopping center we often went to. Named Whimsical Wares it was stuffed full of all sorts of tiny little collectibles and cute trinkets. I loved that shop and could spend hours browsing through everything they had. It was a favorite spot for shopping for gifts and a number one stop near the holidays. As soon as I saw these cute little ornaments, I knew where they had come from. You see, not only were there matching his/her ornaments (which my mother bravely bought us before we were even engaged) with our names, they came in an adorable miniature gift bag which matched the ornaments. (We still have that and each year, they return safely to their nest.

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Eight

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

I don't know if anyone else remembers these, but back in the late eighties/ early nineties Carl's Jr would do a holiday promotion where they put ornaments in their kids meals. It played off their star mascot, but dressed up in various holiday costumers--I most strongly remember the reindeer, mouse, and a snowboarder. Since Carl's Jr was my mom's go to fast food place (at the time they had a salad bar!), my brother and I would try to collect them all. I don't have tons of them now (not sure what happened to them all) but this little guy makes me smile every time I see him on the tree.

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Seven

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

My new ornament for this year arrived in the mail this week! Custom made by the talented Rainabedaina on Etsy, I am so in love with this little critter. I requested this after seeing a similar dragon with teddy bear in her shop. It was simply too perfect. You probably realize I am in love with dragons. What you likely don't know though is that, growing up, my mom referred to our family as "The Bear Family". And we all have "Bear" names. (Oh, like your parents didn't give you embarrassing pet names.) Clearly, a dragon/bear combo was meant to be mine. : ) I have yet to date and label this little one, so he isn't up on the tree just yet, but he will be soon!

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Six

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

This ornament is a clear example of the odd ebbs and flows in memory. I absolutely 100% remember this Gus ornament. I have no idea, however, of when we got him or if he was part of a set or who bought him or why. But I remember him being on our tree year after year. : ) Part of the family ornaments that became mine when my mom did her great clean out, I love his earnest little face and his Einstein inspired hair.

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Five

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

This ornament was a gift from one of our new neighbors at our housewarming party last year. I'm sure they had no idea about our ornament tradition, but since we managed to completely forget to buy an ornament to commemorate our new house, I'm glad someone else thought of it. : )

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Four

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

It seems that most people I know who "do" holiday decorations pick a theme--stars, santa claus, angels, etc. For me? It's snowmen. They are so cute! And so when the S'Mores ornaments came out awhile back, it was love at first sight. My mom got really into getting them for me and one year, after Halloween, bought me a full set of Halloween themed s'more ornaments. The mummy and ghost we left off the tree this year, but the vampire is always welcome. You see, I LOVED vampires as a kid. I was a vampire every Halloween for 3 or 4 years until my mom made me pick something else. And this little guy reminds me of all the fun I had with capes and fangs. : )

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Three

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

When I graduated high school, my mom and I joined a tour group touring through England and Wales. It was my first (and so far only) international experience and I was quite taken with all the lush greenery in the countryside and the dreamy accents everywhere. I don't remember where we saw these first, but my mom and I noticed these amazing ornaments at the historical sites (Shakespeare's birthplace and the like) and began collecting them.

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day Two

To get the full scoop on my family's traditions surrounding ornaments, see Day One

Last year a good friend sent us not one, but two, very cute ornaments--one for each of our cats. She had even had the seller, Nicole Porcelain, personalize each one with our cat's names and the year. Too cute.

Twelve Days of Ornaments--Day One

Every year, when I was growing up, my mom would have my brother and I each pick out an ornament. This was a very solemn decision with much angsting--it had to be just right. And each year my mom would dutifully label our ornaments with our names and the year. The promise was always that this way, when we were big and moved away, we would have a box of ornaments to start out tree with.

My second Christmas with Rob, I introduced him to the tradition and we went out to buy ornaments to hang onvthe tree we had bought for his apartment. An ornament each turned into quite a bit more than that and the tree was comfortably, if sparsely, ornamented.

The Christmas before Rob and I got married, my mother sat me down with a box and we sorted through the ornaments--big and small, marked and unlabeled. My mother (as she is wont to do) took the opportunity to clean out her ornament boxes, so in addition to my ornaments I also packed up ornaments made by family members and the old angel tree topper I had grown up with.

This year is the first year that we have a Christmas tree in our forever house--last year we skipped due to travel. Pulling all the ornaments out of their boxes this year made me nostalgic and happy, so for the next 12 days I'm going to take you on a mini tour--of the ornaments on the tree and why they are so precious to me.

Today's ornament is our newest addition--a sweet gingerbread man from Astrausa on Etsy. His worried expression and missing appendages are cute more than morbid and were a quick favorite with the hubby who decided to adopt him.