Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

I can’t wait. How about you? Just three more days until Thanksgiving! I can smell the turkey and pumpkin pies now. I can see a table flowing over with harvest food. I see corn, beans, potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cornbread stuffing, oyster souffle, broccoli casserole, baked acorn squash, pumpkin soup, cabbage casserole, cheese grit casserole, marinaded carrots, cauliflower salad, cranberry sauce, curried ham, turkey, yeast rolls and wonderful desserts, pumpkin pie, apple spice cake with caramel glazing, sugar cookies… Wow! There’s nothing like a southern Thanksgiving.

Fortunately, I grew up in a family with great cooks, I married into a family with great cooks, I became a great cook (another story), and my children are great cooks who married great cooks. As you can see, I know good food when I taste it, and the Thanksgiving feast is soooooo good! The feast is made possible by all these great cooks. Instead of going to grandmother’s house, as the song says, to my house they all come, and with them the wonderful dishes that complete the Thanksgiving table. And for this I am thankful!

I am thankful for family members that gather together on Thanksgiving to celebrate our blessings. Not only do they contribute food, they bring good cheer and wonderful spirit. The house is full to the brim of good conversation, good times, and love, with football games in one room, “catching up” and children playing in others. We range from infant to octogenarians, which provides just the right mix. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like outside, the inside is warm and cozy. It is a great day for counting blessings.

And, speaking of blessings, we are so blessed as a nation. We sometimes get bogged down in the few negative happenings around us and forget about all the positive things in our lives. Living in America, we are blessed with freedoms that not all people have. I wish for the world those same freedoms. As a nation, we are prosperous and our environment reflects the prosperity, even as we complain about the cost of food and gas. I wish for the world the same prosperity. We are free to choose so many things we take for granted on a daily basis, but on Thanksgiving, hopefully, we remember and give thanks to the One who makes this possible.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers! Enjoy your feast, enjoy your family and friends, and by all means enjoy your blessings! Keep making those memories, and God bless you!