Gratitude on the Day After

We had a wonderful and memorable Thanksgiving. Here are some of the things I am most thankful for this day after Thanksgiving.  I am joining as always with Susanne and friends over at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five. 

• 😊We went to our daughter Tiffany's home for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a lovely day. (Pictures at the end of the post). I am grateful for the invitation and time with our daughter and her family.

• 😊All grandparents love their grandchildren and think they are special  I am no exception to that.  Every time I spend time with my Utah grandkids, I am newly impressed at what genuinely nice and kind young people they are.  I have worked with teens for a living for over 22 years, so I think I know what I am talking about.  I am grateful for my grandchildren and for my daughter and her husband who are raising them so well. 

• 😊We had a great dinner with lots of delicious food. We ordered the turkey from the KFC in a town near where our daughter lives.  Not having to cook so much, made for a more relaxed day for everyone.  I am grateful that we were able to order dinner from KFC and the food was ready on time and was oh so delicious.  

• 😊Josh called us and the family that was going to have him over to Thanksgiving dinner ended up getting sick.  He had a second invitation from a young lady in his church congregation who was fixing dinner for anyone in the congregation who didn't have a place to eat Thanksgiving dinner.  It ended up that he was the only one who came over to her home and so he and a lovely young lady from his church congregation enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner together.  He was quite pleased.  I am thankful that Josh had a nice dinner with a nice girl on Thanksgiving.

• 😊After dinner, our daughter and her husband wanted us to come and see the progress on the new home they are building.  Again, pictures are below.  They are building a large home in a great location, and they are all super excited for it to be finished next summer.  The home they sold last year was also a large, beautiful home and my daughter told me that they had worked hard and completely paid off the mortgage! Wow - less than 40 years old with a paid-off mortgage!  I am grateful that my daughter and son-in-law are frugal and hard-working and have been blessed with the ability to provide so well for their family. 

• 😊🙏If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that we have two more children (and five more grandchildren) and, due to various circumstances in their lives, we don't hear from them much.  This makes us sad, but we respect their choices and we are still grateful for ALL of our children and grandchildren.  All are blessings from God and we are grateful they are part of our eternal family.  We pray for and love all of our children and grandchildren.  Our door and arms are open and we know that God will heal hearts and make all things right in His timing.

Now, here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving with our daughter and her family.  (Look closely in some of the pictures and you will see Charly taking a little nap after the L-tryptophan in the turkey kicked in). We ate dinner, then the children enjoyed making the Christmas decorations and gingerbread houses I brought down for them. We also went over to see the progress on their home.  It was a truly lovely day. 

My heart is full - so much to be grateful for!  

Until next time, 

😊Deb 💖

"There are so many beautiful reasons to be grateful."

~anon.

Wednesday Pre-Thanksgiving Daybook

 

Looking out of my window - it is cold and icy outside. The temperature sits right at the freezing mark.  We got just a bit of icy snow last night, which just stuck to the roads and sidewalks enough to cause some problems for walkers and drivers.  An alert on my phone sad the freeway was in bad shape this morning because of it.  Fortunately, I am off today and don't have anywhere too far away to go.

I'm wearing - warm plaid jammies (as I start this post).  I slept in and was not presentable for a selfie this morning, but you get the idea.  

On my feet were these lovely warm, knitted slippers which my blogging friend Karen made for me some years back.  I had misplaced them in my closet, but recently rediscovered them when Karen sent me two new pair of knitted slippers.  They are all so wonderfully warm and comfy.  I am a cold girl this time of year.  

Here's the proof that I really did get dressed and didn't spend the day in my jammies (although there's nothing wrong with that 😉). 

I'm listening to - the washer and dryer. Both are doing their thing right now.   The dishwasher is also going.  

I'm also listening to this audiobook, The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt.  It is very thought-provoking.  I recommend it. 

I'm reading - several things.  Of course, I start almost every day by reading the scriptures (I'm in the Old Testament - Book of Ezekiel)  and a short devotional.  I also have two nonfiction books going - both about parenting because I will never stop being a parent and I am always up to learning how to do better at it.  The first is called Failure to Launch, which which is a rather negative title, but it was named for the 2006 RomCom movie.  The book is by psychologist and therapist who gives advice for parents of young adults, who have grown up in a very different world than their parents did.  I heard the author, Mark McConville, Ph.D. on a podcast and he said some very interesting things, and since I am the parent of a twentysomething son, I decided to read the book.  The second book is Parenting with Spiritual Power, by Julie K. Nelson, which is my current Sunday read.  It gives a more God-centered take on parenting (and grandparenting) with examples from the scriptures.  So far, it's very good. My favorite book right now is Christmas in Harmony by Philip Gulley.  I have found the Harmony books to be absolute delights, and this one is not disappointing me at all. 

In the kitchen - Charly baked pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving dinner with our daughter.  Charly bakes the best pumpkin pies I have ever tasted, but he has baked any for five years.   I am glad that he decided to bake again this year.

I have been baking cookies today. These will also be taken to our daughter's house tomorrow.  I also plan to take some cookies to the homes of women in my church ministering group.  Later today, I will be making the stuffing and a cranberry salad for tomorrow. 

Here's the recipe for these cookies, which are excellent.  I have made them before.  The recipe was in the back of an Amish cozy mystery novel I read recently. 

I'm excited about - these chairs which we found at one of our favorite local thrift stores.  We were told that they were donated by a large hotel that went bankrupt and closed.  There were originally 27 chairs from the lobby of the hotel, we were told. They are in excellent condition.  We bought two of the chairs. They will be perfect for the living room of the house (our current rental property) that we will be moving back into next summer.  

Right now the chairs are in our family room downstairs. If you look closely, you may be able to see that the pattern of the upholstery on the wing-back chairs is the same pattern as the upholstery on our couch.  What are the odds of getting furniture with matching upholstery years apart?!  The upholstery on the couch is a little darker, but the pattern is the same, and they look great together. The couch and the new chairs will be perfect in the formal living room area of the home we will be moving to. 

I am also excited about going to our daughter's for Thanksgiving.  I bought a few more crafts to do with the kids after dinner tomorrow.  I hope they enjoy it because I know I will enjoy just being with them.  

I'm also excited that the other shirts I ordered from Love in Faith that arrived in the mail today.  I am excited to wear these shirts to school over the next few weeks.

I'm thankful for - 

• Having a good conversation with the principal of our school yesterday.  Some stressful things had been going on that concerned me, so I finally decided to talk to the principal. We had a good conversation and I felt heard and understood.  

• Going to the dentist for a check-up and cleaning yesterday and having all go well  - no cavities or other problems.  

• Starting my Christmas shopping online.  I got some of that done this morning.

• Receiving an upbeat text from Josh this morning.  The seasonal UPS job he got started earlier than anticipated and he worked yesterday and is working today and Friday.  He has been between jobs and has been worried about money and finding another job (the landscaping job he had went away when the weather got cold). I am grateful that Josh has a good work ethic, and that his UPS job started earlier than anticipated.

I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Thanksgiving with those you care about.   Rest, relax, enjoy and be grateful!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

The Weekend Before Thanksgiving

 Here's a glimpse into the weekend before Thanksgiving at our house. 

Right after school on Friday, I took our Operation Christmas Child boxes to drop off at a participating church in our area.  I wasn't the only one there dropping off boxes.  You can see that there was a whole cart of OCC boxes in the parking lot and more inside the church. 

When I got home, I had two cards from blog friends Faith and Rita waiting for me.  It's always nice to get some snail mail. 

Charly needed to take some things to the post offices, so I decided to walk by myself.  It was cold and cloudy.  I only completed half of the walk outside and decided to go home and complete my work out downstairs later in the evening. 

Friday night's dinner was tacos.   After dinner, we watched some TV and finished decorating the Christmas tree. 

Our little tree is now up and decorated.  I like having a small tree because I don't have to move a lot of furniture around.  It is also quicker to decorate and then undecorate and take down after Christmas. 

I did some reading Friday night and finished this book, Esperanza Rising,  which will be included in my monthly reading roundup.

Saturday morning, we went to the store to get somethings we needed for Thanksgiving dinner with our daughter.  In addition to food items, we got some fun things to do with our grandkids after dinner, including a gingerbread village and Christmas ornaments to decorate.  We also got each of our grands an advent calendar.  

After a busy morning, we met up with friends for lunch at this place - Rumbi Island Grill.  I had never eaten here before.  It serves Hawaiian food, which is not my favorite, but what we had was good.  The best part of lunch was visiting with our friends.

After lunch, Charly and I took our walk. It was a cold but sunny afternoon. 

Saturday evening, I did a couple of load of laundry, and I worked on some "get out the vote" letters to voters in Georgia for the U.S. Senate runoff on December 6. I also did some online Christmas shopping. 

We had an excellent worship service on Sunday morning, with messages that really spoke to me and touched my heart.  We got sad news at church that our 91-year-old neighbor, who was an Armenian refugee from the World War I era, died Saturday.  He was a nice guy and we all liked him.  We will miss seeing him in our congregation at church.  

After church, I went for a walk by myself and called Josh.  I wanted to let him know about our neighbor who had passed.  Josh really liked the man and felt sad at his passing.  Josh and I had a good conversation. He said he has been feeling a little homesick and he said our little talk helped him feel better. He has decided not to come home  for Thanksgiving because he has three different invitations to dinner up there in Rexburg.  He didn't want to pay for cost of taking the shuttle home, since we would only be home for a couple of days. He is going to start a seasonal job with UPS right after Thanksgiving.  The seasonal landscaping job he had since he went up to Idaho in July went away with the cold weather. 

I ate lunch and while eating, read an excellent article in the magazine our church publishes.  Good stuff.  I underlined some things I thought were important.  Later I took a little nap and did some indexing of tax records from 1899.  

Right before dinner Sunday afternoon,  Charly and I went for a walk together.  It was cold but sunny.  

We decided to use up some of the leftovers in our fridge for dinner, so I made nachos out of the taco meat leftover from Friday night.  I had steamed carrots and broccoli along with the nachos. 

Now, the weekend is just about over.  Charly and I are watching an old Perry Mason.  I plan to do some reading before bed.  I have a couple of new books I am just getting into.  It's been a busy but good weekend and I am looking forward to a great Thanksgiving week!

Weekend Gratitude:

• Having lunch with friends on Saturday.
• Getting the things we need for Thanksgiving with our daughter's family.
• Finishing the Christmas tree.
• Having a good conversation with Josh. 
• Feeling God's spirit at church this morning.

Coming up this week:

• Monday and Tuesday - School as usual.
• Wednesday - Beginning of three day Thanksgiving holiday.
• Wednesday - Dental check-up appointment.
• Thursday - Eating dinner with our daughter and her family.

That's all for now.  Have a  wonderful Thanksgiving week.  

Until Next Time,

😊Deb💖