in everything give thanks

 

Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays.  It's easy to get caught up in Christmas and sort of skip over it... or get caught up in complaining about people who skip straight to Christmas... but I love it.  Maybe partly just for the food.  Let's face it, the food is spectacular.  But it's also a good time to stop and reflect and think of all the ways God has blessed you... and I think that's a great lead-in to the reflective time of Advent, just around the corner.

This is the first Thanksgiving in six years that I've been at home and it was lovely!  I got to make the pies, and help with all the other cooking, and it was so nice to have our traditional family recipes again.  I spent all the Thanksgivings during college and grad school at friends' houses, with lots of fabulous cooking and good fellowship, but there is just nothing like the familiar dishes you grew up with.  And we had a light snowfall in the morning, adding to the holiday feel of the day.

Today was spent in knitting and tea-drinking and sniffing the delectable smells of the turkey carcass cooking down into broth for tomorrow's soup.  I was glad to spend it at home with the family, grateful for what we already have, instead of rushing around madly trying to save money at sales!  (And really if you want to save money on Black Friday, the easiest way to do it is to stay home and not spend any at all... amiright?)

Yesterday I was too busy anticipating the meal and savoring the food to remember to take photos of the table before we dug in.  A pity, because it was really pretty!  I captured the pies, though, so I have some proof of our feast for the internet ;-)

I hope you all had a joyful and peaceful Thanksgiving.  I'm so glad I was able to spend it with my family, cooking and eating and doing the things I love :)

(The Christmas knitting is going remarkably well so far.  I probably shouldn't have told you that, because now it will probably develop some deeply time-consuming problem...)