Hi friends– I afraid to say that I’ve been stewing a bit over Thanksgiving. For the first time in a few years, ALL our family will be together in Ojai for a Thanksgiving weekend (It warms my Mom-heart!!) and I think I’m letting the details of getting us all together overwhelm my heart and mind. I need to back up and not lose sight of this time of Thankfulness…
Some Family together about this time last year.
So here I am– stopping to sit in quiet and thank God for a few things today:
1. The maple trees turning in the backyard, beauty out my window.
2. My people (especially Larry) who walk through these days with me.
3. Food in the fridge and a fire in the fireplace.
4. MOPS moms and young adults at church who keep me from feeling old.
5. Our kids–scattered and settled and doing well.
6. Grand-kids learning and blossoming– nothing dearer.
7. My Monday ladies who listen and understand and pray with me.
8. Books and music and mugs of tea in the quiet of our home.
9. Our parents who know us well and keep us grounded.
10. A walk with God, who loves us more than we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3)
I’m sure you have your own list– Doesn’t it bring a calm to your soul to think through your blessings??
“O Lord, who lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.” — William Shakespeare
And I wanted to send you one last pumpkin recipe (Thanksgiving breakfast??). So quick and luscious! Made these with two baking buddies– Jenna & Bekah. Love those girls!!
PUMPKIN TWISTS
1 egg
2 tsp. water
2 sheets puff pastry (1 box), defrosted
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tab. coarse sugar
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tab. milk
1 tsp. vanilla (or maple syrup)z
In a small bowl whisk together the egg and water. Set aside
Open out the puree pastry onto the counter. With a rolling pin, roll both pieces into 12″ by 16″ rectangles. Cut each piece in half to have 4 !2″x 8″ rectangles.
Mix together the pumpkin, sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Then spread the the pumpkin mixture to cover the 4 rectangles clear to the edges.
Starting at the long side, roll each rectangle into a long cylinder.
Then with a sharp knife cut clear through the cylinder, leaving a 1″ part at the top that is not cut. Turn the two cut halves of the cylinder around so the pumpkin layers are showing. Then braid the two stands together, so that the cut layers of pumpkin show on top.
Then twist the braid into a circle and carefully set the circle of pastry onto a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat until you have 4 braided circles (so pretty!)
The brush the egg mixture onto to coast the tops of the pastries and sprinkle on the coarse sugar.
Pop them all into a 400 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes until the tops are crusty and golden.
While they are baking whisk together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla for the glaze.
When the pastries come out, let them cool for 5 minutes and then drizzle on the glaze. Delicious warm from the oven!!
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Thanks Bekah & Jenna fo dropping in on a Saturday morning to bake and talk and eat. Love you two!
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“What we’re really taking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday in November, when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?” –Erma Bombeck
Thankful Heart Charts with the grand-girls 2016
And every Grandma needs a few easy tricks up her sleeve when the family gathers for Thanksgiving.
#1. Thankful Heart Charts– Been making these every year since our boys were small. Provide a cup full of markers and everyone draws tiny pictures of all they are thankful for (or contributes to a bigger chart to share with everyone).
#2. Gratitude Basket –Last year Jodi had everyone write what they were thankful for on a slip of paper (keeping it a secret!) and then after dinner she pulled the slips from the basket and as she read them, we guessed who had written each one. Some easy to guess, some hard, some hilarious. So fun!
#3. A to Z Thankfulness — Go around the circle and think of things to be thankful for, starting with the letters of the alphabet.
#4. Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt– Give each grand-kid a brown paper bag with this list on the front– a turkey, a pretty rock, 3 leaves, something fuzzy, something smooth, a small pumpkin, something green, a stick, something you think is beautiful. See what they come up with!!
Grand-girls in homemade turkey hats & standing by the welcome turkey at the front door.
“In November, people are good to each other. They carry pies to each other’s homes and talk by crackling woodstoves, sipping mellow cider. They travel very far on a special November day just to share a meal with one another and to give thanks for their many blessings – for the food on their tables and the babies in their arms.”
And finally, here’s a few of our favorite Thanksgiving books to share together after the turkeys eaten and there’s time to sit cozy on the couch.
Best Thanksgiving Books (Link to theses books & more)
Finally as you sit down around the table for Thanksgiving ahead, I hope for you that your heart is happy and settled and full of gratitude for your blessings great and small. Thanksgiving Blessings to you, dear Readers.
“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.” — Cicero
Peach Crostata
Hi Reading Friends– I have one question for you — What are you reading?? Do you have some recommendations? I’d love to hear them! Always looking for worthwhile books to track down and read.
There’s been multiple readings of The Lady with the Alligator Purse every day around here. It’s a sing-along book about a baby who drinks up all the bathwater and eats up all the soap, resulting in visits from the doctor, nurse and, or course, the Lady with the Alligator Purse, who saves the day! Nadine Westcott has added her lively lovely illustrations to a whole string of children’s songs in books like Miss Mary Mack and Down By the Bay. All books you’ll read/sing again and again.
Hug by Jez Alborough is also on high demand here. A baby monkey sees an elephant mom & child giving hugs and it sets him on a search for his own big hug. Along the way he finds other jungle animals hugging and is about to despair when his Mom appears with– you guessed it– an enormous hug! Few words, just illustrations tell the story. Was fun to talk though and the bonus was big hugs from my reading buddy!
Go Dog Go is a classic by P. D. Eastman (but in the Dr. Seuss collection). It’s just a series of observations about dogs doing crazy things, in the simplest vocabulary and happy illustrations. That’s why it’s great reading with a toddler and also a wonderful first book for a kindergartner to take on reading on his own. It’s silly and whimsical and ends with a big dog party!! Any kid who likes dogs, will like this book.
The Monster At The End of This Book by Jon Stone is the best! Good old Grover notices from the title that there is a monster at the end of the book. He spends that next several pages trying to stop you from turning pages so that you will not get to the monster at the end. It’s funny and interactive and happily (spoiler alert!) the monster at the end is just him–lovable Grover. I recommend this book be read with that grumbly Grover voice for best effect!! Lois and I love it– with her stuffed Grover sitting on her lap!
Here’s my reading buddy Little Lois and I reading at the library after Toddler Story Time.
One of those books that sticks with you long after you’ve turned the last page, Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover is a riveting story. Westover grew up in a large survivalist family near he mountains of Idaho. Her rigid father ran a junkyard on their land, her mother a mid-wife and herbal healer. Over the years family members suffered gashes, burns, concussions and were just treated at home, the medical world distrusted. As well, the children did not attend schools and were cut off from the wide world. Tara suffered from an abusive brother and parents who would not protect her. When one of Westover’s brothers goes to college, he encourages her to do it as well. She teaches herself enough to take the ACT and eventually goes/graduates from Brigham Young University–hearing for the first time of the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement. She continues on to study at Harvard and to earn her PhD from Cambridge. But through these years she constantly struggles over her relationship with her family, with loyalties and the fears of her childhood at play. A fascinating crazy true story about the ties of family and the power of education.
Eleanor Oliphant is a quirky socially awkward young woman whose days are filled with office work and nights and weekends are spent alone, consuming frozen pizza and vodka. She makes the acquaintance of Raymond, the IT guy at her work and he gradually becomes the friend she needs. As you read along, the story of Eleanor’s disturbing childhood becomes apparent. Raymond’s dogged friendship see’s her through her darkest hours. Enjoyed this story for the interesting characters that I fell in love with by the end of the book–faithful kind hearted Raymond and courageous Eleanor.
Kate Bowler is a professor Duke Divinity School. At 35 she has a wonderful husband and a small new son– and is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. She realizes how much she believed she could control her own life circumstances — that things did happen for a reason. What results is her journey through involved treatments, surrounded by family and friends. Her honest, vivid, sometimes funny account is Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved. Her truths about how to live when death is a near possibility are heartening and ring true.”
And I’ve saved the best for last. I have to admit to being a huge fan of Shannan Martin, first on her blog and now her Instagram posts that are sweet, funny, honest and open my eyes to the world of need around me. So when there was an offer to receive an advance copy of her latest book, The Ministry of Ordinary Places, I jumped at the chance! Shannan tells stories– of people in her neighborhood and how strangers became friends. She writes about digging in deep with the people around us, about being intrepid in how we love people, about sticking around for the long haul. My copy is dog eared right and left– and I’m ready to go in and read it for a second time to collect all the thoughts I need to remember for my own care taking of people I love. Loved every well crafted page of this amazing book. You can find Shannan’s Instagram meditations/warm hearted stories at “Shannanwrites.” And her book is due out October 9th.
And some last thoughts:
Thankful thankful for the days out and about, for the quiet conversations over dinner, for the joy of seeing you settle into your new home John & Laurel, We love time with you!! (See you in Sequoia in a couple weeks!!)
To make the biscuits, stir together the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Then mix in the buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla until the batter is stiff.
Hello friends– We’re just through with this year’s Grammy Camp– and it was tons of exhausting fun! How can 4 small girls strike so much joy in one old grandma?? I took a big bunch of photos– but I’ll just send you my favorites of our 4 day together. (And then give you the list of all we did– for any of you Grammy’s out there who are planning your own Grammy Camp!)
Hello there– On with our saga of travels with Ani & Brian!! We stayed a few days in bustling, efficient Tokyo –checked in to our Air BnB, a sleek modern small home, just 8 feet wide, but equipped with tech conveniences that made it a great little place to stay. Here’s our pint sized traveler Lois coming out the front door.
Thanks Mom for always having time to drop by for a meal and a talk. You’re the best!
The Thankful Heart 