Wondering what Mommy Homework is??? Each week you will have an “assignment” here to share in our comments here on this site. You will love this-both sharing AND enjoying answers by others. Some of them, I compile into an ebook (contributors can resell as a product of their own–be sure to submit your email and full name when you register so I can credit you appropriately!).
The result is AWESOME!
We get to know each other…we are encouraged in our journey…and we glean super ideas from other great moms!
Ready for this week’s MH? This is a good one!
Our topic this week is “Preparing for Thanksgiving? What are YOU Doing As We Count Down?”
Your Assignment This Week…
Did you see the date? It is NOVEMBER 1st! We are on the count down to Thanksgiving! This week, we have been busy around our house getting ready for the holidays. A little bit each day and we will be able to relax and make sweet memories with our family. A little clean out. Planning the menus. Putting out the decorations. Preparing all of the dishes ahead that I can prepare and freeze. Working on the projects around the house that have a great deadline before the holidays–like building the puppies their own fenced in play area (Yep! That was this past week’s project around here). Planning the trips. Deciding on our calendar. On and on.
Are you gearing up and preparing for the holidays? What are you doing? Any tips? Any recipes? Any decorating ideas for those decorating on a shoestring?
This week, our Mommy Homework will be open to a potpourri of things that you are doing to prepare for the holidays. What is on your agenda?
Baking this week? Share your recipes.
Cleaning out? Share what you are doing.
Working on projects? What are you up to?
Decorating? Got ideas for moms decorating on a shoestring?
Or…any thing else? SHARE! This is going to be a fun Mommy Homework Assignment! Jump in and share!
So, grab a cup of tea…settle in for a bit. You will want to dig into this one sweet friends!!
Love ya!
Cindy
PS! Please remember to use your real name if you want credit for your Mommy Homework Credit. 
PPS! You CAN just share and not participate in Mommy Homework, BUT I would LOVE for you to get some goodies along the way!
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PPPSS! If you are new, all you do to share your MH is first register (see the link on the bottom of the page–scroll all the way to the very bottom), then log in with your name and password that you select. Share away!
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Deadline–Friday at midnight CST.
Well, not only is this preparing for Thanksgiving time for me, but also preparing for my son’s birthday which lands the week before Thanksgiving this year! Also, we don’t do turkey. We just don’t like it.
So far, on the food front, I’ve gone to meat sales and bought 10 pounds of pork and a 5 pound ham. We also will be getting beef & I picked up 13 pounds of chicken for DS’s birthday party and before to make cooking faster, easier, etc.
I have listed a few boxes of books on ebay, just to see if they sell. I am contemplating just giving them to Saint Vincent dePaul and let them sell them and consider it just part of giving and sharing (St.Vinnie’s has a thrift store and they sell just about anything and use the money to help local poor and homeless). I have sorted my books that I sort of want to keep into categories, but in doing so, I’m looking at getting rid of even more books!! (do I really need 10 books about geometry?!?)
I found Paperbackswap.com this past summer, where for the price of shipping one of your books that you don’t want, you get another book that you do want. This has given me the opportunity to do early Christmas “shopping” for many of my extended family. This weekend, we’re going to sort out those books and get them wrapped for Christmas, so there is less rush in December!! We also need to plan out any other gifts that we’re going to make: Soaps, candles, candies, cookies, candle holders, etc.
As for decorating, we’re moving the cool poster of the cross-section of the earth and the periodic table of elements to the kids’ rooms upstairs. This upcoming week we’re very busy with appointments, voting, volunteering, court and such, so rather than stressing about wedging in much homework, we are going to be making art for decorations – both Thanksgiving/Fall decorations and Christmas decorations.
Both my son’s birthday party and Thanksgiving are being held at my sisters’ homes (their homes are much bigger than anyone else’s homes in the family), so we’re headed over there if we have any time left this week and for sure for some of the following week to help them do “fall cleaning.”
That’s what we’re working on here.
Elizabeth Bowen
Oh I simply LOVE this time of year. I started planning my menu for Thanksgiving about 2 weeks ago. We have Thanksgiving at our house and usually have between 11-15 people. I am on the hunt for the BIGGEST turkey in the store. I’m a woman on a mission. Sam’s Club seems to always have the best deals and the turkey’s are always delicious. Oh and after Thanksgiving if you are lucky enough to get there early, they usually have the turkeys for around 35 cents a lb. Yeah, can you say load em’ up?
Any ways we have our traditional recipes that are a must have on the table but I try to throw in a new side every year just to try something new. My Mom and Dad have been married for 55 years and my Dad LOVES my Mom’s apple pie and will settle for no other! Our menu looks something like this:
Mack Daddy turkey 24lbs or bigger (My brother who is a chef at Epcot is going to show me how to properly ROAST a turkey this year. I always stuck it in the bag lol.)
creamed onions
sweet potato casserole (you know the one with the yummy gooey marshmallows on top)
stuffing (yes I cook it in the bird, it’s the best that way)
seasoned green beans
homemade rolls
My Grandmother’s Cranberry salad (She made this up until she passed away at 94 years old, now I carry on the tradition)
Pies include:
Pumpkin
Apple (Mom’s and no other)
Chocolate Cream
Pecan
It’s a munchfest at our house that day. We watch the Macy’s parade and just chill out as a family. I love it. My daughter and I have been busy making place cards and such for the table. I love to set a nice table. I try to change it up every year.
Well I could go on and on but I’m sure you are already tired of reading lol. I can’t wait for Christmas homework. I have some great ideas for that.
Blessings and hugs to you all.
Kim Wilson
I am a holiday derelict. Growing up holidays were never made a big part of our lives, and we were never taught the meaning of the holidays. So I am starting to learn how to incorporate the holidays and anticipating the holidays into our routines each season.
I don’t do much for Thanksgiving. I don’t decorate because I don’t have a very good sense of decorating, and my storage is very limited so I can’t store a bunch of decorations.
I am buying one or two turkeys to keep in the freezer this week. I also making a menu of a “Zone Diet” friendly Thanksgiving meal. (No mashed potatoes, and a little bit of stuffing)….. I also want to make a list of everyone I would like to invite into my home and send out invitations this week.
For household stuff. This month is also going to be my crisis cleaning month. All of the outdoor yard work that got neglected will have to be done the first two weeks of this month.
All of my indoor fall cleaning will be on my to do list as well.
Fortunately my house is small so it won’t be that big of a task. I’ll just have to get the job done.
I look forward to reading what everyone else will be doing to prepare. I really want to glean ideas of how to prepare our hearts and teach our children the attitude of thanksgiving.
Angela in OK
I must confess, I have only hosted Thanksgiving dinner one time in 23 years. Both my parents and my husbands parents are living. We try to change out years with everyone so all I have to do is inform dh where we are eating. The one time I did host dinner was with our chuch small group, group. My husband did the turkey, I did the green bean casserole and taters, and eveyone brought a dish. My MIL will be passing on the torch this year, so I will be more involved in the process, if we do not go to my parents who are 8hrs away.
I still love the arrangement of my husband doing the turkey (he loves to cook) me doing the green bean casserole, and everyone bringing a dish to my house when my kids have their families, you see, holiday times do not bring back good memories, I was shooed out of the way. Never allowed to participate in the process of the cooking. In fact at my parents house I am still shooed out of the kitchen, maybe that is why I can be such a control freak at times.
My point in sharing this week, bring your little ones into the process, make the whole time so very special. I dread the thought of cooking for the holidays, because it was such a stressful time and event at my childhood home. So what if you make a mess in the kitchen, that mess is a whole lot easier to clean up then some of the messes I have had to clean up during the years from passing on the wrong heritage to my children. Like Cindy has been saying for a couple of weeks now, Make a Memory!!!
Valerie Neal
This week I am getting back in the swing of things from our vacation. I don’t know if we will be traveling for Thanksgiving or staying here at home. I guess dh and I need to talk sometime this week. 🙂 I did buy a turkey breast while shopping last week. I hate dark meet and there aren’t enough of us to warrant a whole turkey. So I will be thinking about that.
I am working on cleaning up and am wanting the boys to do a little mini-study about thanksgiving.
I guess that I hadn’t really thought about it yet!
Off to work I go!
Blessings,
Carie Shinn
Well I guess I am a little late getting ready for Turkey Day.I just started thinking about how close it actually is this weekend.And my hubby and I just started talking about what we are planning.But on the homeschool front I made our “Blessing Tree”.I have made it and hung it up but still have to make the leaves to put our blessings on.So I have to get that done.Before school on Monday.Each week during November we will do something having to do with Thanksgiving during our lessons.It maybe reading books or art work related to the topic of Thanksgiving.It is just the five of us for Thanksgiving so the only cooking ahead I actually do is just a few days before.The weeks proceeding is usually spent figuring out the menu and shopping.
We normally have the usual turkey and dressing.I’m an Alabama girl so we call it dressin’.Cranberry sauce ,mac n’ cheese and at least one veggie,rolls and 2-3 desserts.My dd insists on one of those chocolate silk pies.She loves those.
Besides that,that is really all we do for the BIG day.
Many Blessings! Brenda Patterson
Well, my holiday planning has gone this far-agreed to go to my folk’s house for Thanksgiving this year. We are not doing much entertaining for the holidaysr; as we have already hosted during 2008: our son’s graduation party, sent a child to Mexico for a month, had b-day parties for 2 of the 4 (we alternate party years for each kid-too spency otherwise), hosted our 3rd’s Confirmation party and my hubby was in a wedding this summer…we are toast!
I will bring a dish of some sorts and that will be it. Yipee. Altho, I do love making the dinner and having a nice cozy gathering-we have not been to my fam’s for a Turkey dinner for some time, so I suppose we should. We did both Thanksgiving and Christmas here last year, so it is our turn to come in, visit and leave. Boy do we need the break!
Outside of needing to get some winterizing done around the homestead, I have not had much time to really think upon the “to do” list. I haven’t even found a winter coat for me, and 2 of my kids yet-so that must be done soon.
I am neck deep in the reviewing process for TOS. I have a couple deadlines looming and need to get moving on using some of the goodies still. So, those are taking top priority right now. I also am working on another blog just for those puppies, but alas-it is being stubborn and naughty and not laying out properly…so that is another thing I need to get fixed.
We have been ill here for the last 3 weeks and up until today, I have had no energy…maybe I can think upon some other things to do for the holidays….hmmm. Plus, I have been watching my 15 month old nephew a few times a week-and well, that says it all…no time with toddlers running around! One thing is for sure-this year is going down as the “living day to day” one. I cannot get much past a couple days of planning and that is how it must be right now.
Not exciting or helpful or even remotely useful…sorry….maybe next year I will have some great things to share…maybe……
Sheri Hagemann
I really do not know what we are doing this year. Last year I finally decided that I was not going to go to my families holidays because my husband has been so alienated by them in the past. I did not go last year and will not go anymore aithout my husband. Jusr recently, I had to tell my sister that we need to let our two girls have a break from eachother for a while and not keep pushing them together b/c they alway argue and they are going to end up hating each other. I also had to tell her this because my husband had put his foot down and was not going to continue letting our daughter go through this. I tried to say this without laying blame and tryed to put it like we just needed a break but she has now cut all ties and said she will not be participating in anymore family functions on my dads side of the family because we will be there.
My dad passed away 7 years ago and since then my step mother and her family have removed themselves from our lives.
My grandma on my dads side and my aunt and uncle on the same side, are older and do not want to do anything this year.
I could do something myself but my mother-in-law wants us to come to her house so that is probably what we will end up doing.
I want to start a thanksgiving lapbook with my kids. Maybe put out some fall decorations!
Maybe I will think of something to do where we everyday write down something we are thankful for and kep it together for the family.
I havn’t really thought about it much because it doesn’t seem that exciting this year, but if I sound like I am totally miserable with all of these thigns going on with my family, I really am not.
Yes, it is sad that things can’t be better, but I am happy. I have the best family I could ever have and some of the best friends possible. I am happy because I have peace about all of this. i don’t know how God will work this all out but I know he will. So we will see!!!! LOL
Happy Thanksgiving!
Rodna James
I’m also not a big holiday person. My family did celebrate them, but the stress, anger, greed, and general arguing did not leave me a big fan of family holidays. However, over the last couple of years my husband and I have been praying and trying to establish some memory making holiday traditions that fit what we believe God would see as pleasing to mark the holidays. So, this is what we’re doing to mark the holidays.
First, starting today we are doing Christian Perspective’s Thanksgiving Devotional. All three girls have their own project set and I plan to save the books for them in their rooms to look at and learn from.
Additionally, throughout the month well read a few Thanksgiving stories.
As we focus on thankfulness through the month, we’re deciding on an act of giving to the world in Jesus’ name. Our church has been focusing on being the church rather than going to church this year. Also, my oldest has been studying Voice of the Martyr’s children’s series on countries under persecution. So, we’re combining a sacrificial gift of our personal gift giving and the giving we would have done for pastor appreciation to go through either Voice of the Martyr’s or another organization to provide medicine, food, or training to those who suffer in another country. Through church, we’re doing local outreach and service.
Next, Nov 21 is my youngest’s third birthday so well let her choose dinner, tell her how much we love her, give her a couple of gifts and spend lots of time playing with her.
For Thanksgiving, we’re celebrating a small family meal and might invite an older couple or a single person to spend time with us so they’re not alone. We have no extended family around so there is no point killing myself over an elaborate meal. We’ll play games and focus on how Thankful we are for family and country. We’ll also pray for our new leader (whoever it is) in order to show our thankfulness for living in a country where we don’t have to fear war and violence during election month.
After Thanksgiving, we’ll switch school gears and do a lapbook on rainforests that my girls want to do. We’re also studying rainforest missionaries to continue our theme of service and thanksgiving. We’ll start listening to a Christmas CD we bought through Diana Waring. We’ll do advent celebration and learn some new Christmas carols and hymns. I’ve already finished 90% of shopping so we can focus on family, faith and thankfulness during this season. If it snows well in the mountains, we’re going to try a family snow shoeing outing for the first time — YIKES!
I’m hoping that keeping this focus will help to overwrite my growing up years and build new memories for me as well as my children.
Bobbi Beeson
Well, I don’t really have all that much PHYSICAL preparing to do for Thanksgiving… we share a meal at my parents’ home then my in-laws come for dessert, so really all I need to do is make sure everyone has something to wear that’s halfway decent and show up :)!
My girls are selling desserts to raise money for a summer missions trip, so we’ll probably have deliveries to make the day before, though.
We will be away the first week in December, so much as I don’t want to, my heart is really already on preparing for Christmas — I want to come home to things ready so we can just relax and make memories! So I will be doing some organizing in the next few weeks, hopefully getting some of the shopping in (Sorry, but I do LOVE Black Friday!!) and preparing for the trip itself.
My goal is to spend a bit of time each day and attack it in little bits. I think today, just clearing out some of the clutter that’s accumulated through sports season will be enough, maybe get out the Little People Thanksgiving set like the littles have been asking.
Cari
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. . .(don’t ask, I really don’t know why). I love to have everyone together to eat and enjoy some time to visit. I cannot do Thanksgiving as big as I would like because I get tired easily, but the important part is us all getting together and having a good time.
This week we are going out of town for a few days. . .so not much active preparing going on. However, I will take my Holiday Control Journal (www.flylady.net) with me and start my planning. For the last several years I have used the Thanksgiving Timeline from LeAnn Ely as a guide for preparing our Thanksgiving feast. This year I am thinking about purchasing her Thanksgiving for the Freezer menu, to make it even easier on me.
So this week I will be making decisions about our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations this year. I will also be purchasing stocking stuffers for everyone’s stockings. We do stockings from St. Nicholas on his feast day, Dec. 6. It kind of spreads out the Christmas celebrating.
I am surprised to see others who don’t care for turkey. We don’t care for having a whole turkey either. Some years I cook a ham. I may cook a beef brisket this year. My in-laws claim that they don’t like to celebrate Thanksgiving (fil is a registered Indian, so Thanksgiving is about the white man coming in to take their land and all of that), but they complain if I don’t serve a turkey *shakes head, confused*. I have been cooking a turkey just for them. I think I will fix what my husband likes this year and let my mil bring the turkey if she wants.
Annie
We have out-of-state company coming for Thanksgiving. We usually go to FL. and visit family. But, because of the economy we’ll be staying home. I am looking into some ideas. I haven’t done this in a long time.
So some of my ideas are:
Baking this week? Share your recipes.
(1) `Cinnamon Nut Twists`
*Ingredients:
2 (8oz.ea.) tubes crescent rolls
2T butter 1/4C Brown sugar
1T cinnamon 1/3C finely chopped walnuts
*Directions:
Unroll all dough. Press seams together to form two rectangles. Spread with butter. Combine brown sugar, & cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Sprinkle walnuts over dough. Fold each rectangle in half, starting from a short side. Cut each into 8 strips. Twist each strip and make a knot. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake @375 for 10-12min. or til golden brown. serve warm.
(2)`Pistachio Mini Loaves`
*Ingredients:
1(18-1/4oz) package yellow cake mix
1(3.4oz) package Instant pistachio pudding mix
1(8oz) cup sour cream
4eggs 1/4C vegetable oil 1/4C water
3/4C finely chopped pecans
3T brown sugar 2-1/2t cinnamom
*Directions:
Combine cake and pudding mix. Add sour cream, eggs, oil & water; beat til blended. Pour into 5 (3/4″X3″X2″) loaf pans. Combine the pecans, brown sugar, and cinnamon; sprinkle over batter. Bake @350* for 35-40min or til toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10min. before removing from pans.
(3)`Pineapple upside-down cake`
*Ingredients:
Pineapple slices Cherries chopped walnuts
1(18-1/4oz) package white cake mix
*Directions:
Put pineapple in 13″X9″ greased cake pan. Add cherries & walnuts. Prepare cake mix according to directions on box. Spoon cake batter over ingredients in cake pan. Bake cake according to package directions. Cool 10min. Then invert onto platter & cool completely or eat while still warm.
Working on projects? What are you up to?
(1) weaving placemats w/ construction paper
(2) Indian w/ construction paper
(3) rolled fruit using fruit colored construction paper
(green construction scraps for stems & leaves)
(4) 3-D Turkey w/ construction paper
(5) Turkey cards for place setting
(6) cornucopia
(7) standing girl pilgrim w/ construction paper
(8) standing boy pilgrim w/ construction paper
HAPPY THANKSGIVING,
Michelle Fitzgerald
Oh, Just guess I am realizing that Thanksgiving and Christmas are close. I always seem to have grand plans in my mind and don’t ever start on them until I don’t have time anymore to complete them all.
I haven’t really started anything for the holidays. Our family that was planning on coming have changed their plans so it will just be the five of us and any college student that can’t make it home to see their own families. I will probably start that menu the week before. I always shop “loss leader items” and that helps me stock up for the winter, including the holidays, but I will but specifics closer to time.
I guess I am trying to declutter and clean really well each day… but need a more specific plan for that I suppose. I am starting in the living room and moving toward the dining room. I know the kitchen should be last but it needs it the most. Maybe between now and the week of Thanksgiving I will make it there.
Our Thanksgiving plans include lots of time at home, remodeling the loft in our garage. We will be adding a wall with shelves, moisture proofing the concrete walls and trying to make it usable space. If all that goes as planned we will spend lots of time at Lowe’s shopping for supplies and lots more time moving boxes and fixing that room up. Then we get to organize it and maybe then I will have a space where the girls and I can craft and sew and leave our projects in progress for longer than 15 minutes. 🙂
I would love to have that space available so we could work on some of those wonderful ideas I got recently. I have so much to do and time is running out.
I love this season but I fear my homeschooling may fall by the wayside. I have to stay consistent on those routines because I promised my hubby I would be consistent…therefore he is letting us homeschool…
I would love to make cookie dough to freeze and give to friends as gifts and bake some cookies for finals week for our neighbors who are college students. Past that I don’t have many Christmas plans yet either.
Can’t wait to hear what everyone else is doing and how it is going. Your encouragement to everyone else is always wonderful. I hope to make many memories this year and have the right focus of not everything having to be done but having fun with my precious family.
In His Abounding Grace,
Jeniver Boyer
Thanksgiving.. I just love this time of year and it’s my favorite holiday. Since we don’t live close to extended family.. the closest family member is over 5 hours away so we just spend it with us.. This past few months we’ve really enjoyed simplifying our lives and that too will reflect on the holidays that are coming. I don’t plan on making this a huge thing. The kids and I plan to do a few projects for the next couple weeks that are related to the history of Thanksgiving which will be reflected in a couple lapbooks, and our art projects.
I do plan to bake for Thanksgiving.. It seems that my pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin bread are a hit at our house so I will probably be making them again the week of Thanksgiving along with our traditional pumpkin pie.. There is no Thanksgiving without Pumpkin pie, in my book!
I think we are going to mainly focus on the history of this holiday and just enjoy what we should be thankful for. I hope to make a Thanksgiving box. Starting the week of Thanksgiving we are to write down what we are thankful for and placing it into the box. Each week until next Thanksgiving we place what we are thankful for. Next year we open the box and use our slips of paper to string on our Christmas Tree as our garland so through the Christmas Season we can see what we are thankful for. There is nothing that states we should only be thankful in November. This should be spread each and everyday God allows breath in our lives.
I know I am missing a lot of what I plan to do but I don’t have my lesson plan together yet since it just turned November.. WOW! I can’t believe that! I do know that our main focus, and it always is this time of year, is God and the blessings He has given us each and every day..
Lynn Pitts
I took over the Thanksgiving holiday several years ago … my mil sure appreciates having one holiday where she gets to go to someone else’s house LOL! I have my menus from the past years (need to dig that out today!) and I just copy it over for the current year, changing out a side dish or two to try something new. It has all the notes I need (what cookbook/magazine it’s in, page #, what serving dish to use). So now I get to gear up for a major clean-up of the main areas of the house to get ready!
I also printed out a Thanksgiving lapbook yesterday that I’m hoping we can slowly work on together over the next few weeks … just need to look it over, divide up the activities and decide on what order to do them. I even reserved a few of the recommended books at the library and hope to pick them up this afternoon.
It’s going to be a busy month for sure! I always stress about getting it all on the table, though each year has gotten easier … either that, or I just got more mellow LOL!
Both sets of parents live within 20 minutes of each other and we got tired of having to split our day between the two. So one year my husband said we were going to get away for Thanksgiving. Since then we have made a tradition to go to Branson, MO for Thanksgiving. I buy a small turkey (there are only 4 of us) to bake, fix mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, rolls, and an easy yummy dessert. We eat and then take a nap or watch a good movie. It is such a relaxing time!
What is on your agenda?
We moved from Texas to FL at the beginning of this year, so I am planning for our holiday season without family. This is very new to us, hubby and I come from large families and we always celebrated the season with our friends and family. This year, since we will not be traveling home, I plan to really go all out for the kids. Their holiday will be what I make it – and I plan to make it great. We always celebrate the Advent season big, and this year will be no exception. We will be busy making our gifts, and I am planning an open house for all my dh’s employees and all our new friends the weekend before Christmas. I have already lined up some teen helpers to entertain the children. I am also planning a Christmas ornament exchange with our homeschool friends. Probably, a Jesse Tree ornament exchange.
Baking this week? Share your recipes.
Family favorite recipe: Date Nut Bars
Date Bars by; Eva Demers (beloved Grandmother)
1 C sugar
1 lb Pkg Dates
1 teaspoon vanilla (or more to taste)
1 C sugar
1 T flour
English Walnuts to taste (1 to 1½ cups)
Cut up dates, cook everything except nuts til thick. Add nuts and let cool.
1 ¼ C oatmeal
1C Brown sugar
1 ½ flour
¼ to ½ cup margarine. I always use ½ Cup
1 t bkg soda
Mix together and pack ½ on bottom. Put date mixture on top; sprinkle rest of dry mixture on top. Bake at 350 until Brown— About 30 minutes.
• I usually mix one and a half times the dry stuff cause we always liked more crust.
• P.S. I found Grandma’s original recipe on this.
Cleaning out? Share what you are doing.
We just moved cross country this year, so I dont have too much cleaning out to do :0) I do a big purge before every move.
Working on projects? What are you up to?
Crocheting shawls for the women family members, making little purses for the little girls, I have already purchased most all of my children’s gifts (we don’t throw down at Christmas, we focus on Christ and his birth). Giving antique books to all my neices, nephews and God-children – this is my special “thing” every year for them.
PS – the men are getting venison jerky from me.
Decorating? Got ideas for moms decorating on a shoestring?
Use what you have, look at idea books, look around your home and make due with what you already have. I use many natural elements like pinecones, leafs, cattails, and this year shells (we live by the ocean now, don’t you know) in my decorating.
I love this time of year. It is the only time of year where more is MORE. I love the colors, the glitz, the shiny baubles and go ALL OUT. Lites, lites and more lites, mini trees and every surface decorated. I save doo-dads and whip them out at Christmas and make ornamets, decorations, and try to wrap my gifts so that even the presentation of the gift is special.
God Bless you all;
Trish Bevill
Thanksgiving is the favorite holiday in the Merrill home….next to individual birthday celebrations, of course! 🙂
This year we are taking the month “off” from regular studies to enjoy reading living books together, creating fun holiday related crafts and recipes, and just slowing down to refocus on our blessings.
We will make our annual hands and feet turkeys as well as a surprise centerpiece for a friend who has no children/grandchildren around any longer to make one for her. One year we made a turkey cake as our daughter’s birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day. The day before Thanksgiving we will get together to make crafts with an aunt and two cousins.
We will watch Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving and Mouse on the Mayflower, as well as NEST Family Entertainments dvd on William Bradford.
We are planning on enjoying Thanksgiving Day with family. Traditional favorites for this family are sweet potato casserole, lime jello salad, and of course, pies!
Hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving preparations and celebrations!! Vicki
I plan on going to my mom’s for Thanksgiving. I will do most of the cooking and plan on having lots of it done before going. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law will be there. My nephew is buying the turkey and bringing over for me to cook. I will cook it in my electric roaster. I have my sweet potatoes cooked and in the freezer for making potato pie and potato casserole. I have a wonderful roll recipe which uses oatmeal in it. I made rolls to freeze, but they didn’t make it to the freezer. So, I need to make some more. It would be easier on me for everyone to come here, but my grandmother (91) isn’t up to traveling much anymore. Below is my roll recipe that I got out of a magazine several years ago. I use about 1/3 to 1/2 unbleached flour and the rest is my whole wheat flour. I add just over the teaspoon of salt.
Oatmeal Dinner Rolls
2 cups water 1 cup dry quick oats
3 T butter 1 pack dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 T sugar 1 teas. salt
4 3/4 to 5 1/4 cups flour
Bring two cups water to boil. Add oats and butter. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm. In large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/3 cups water. Add cooled oats, sugars, salt, and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add enough flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured surface; knead 6 to 8 minutes, kneading in more flour, until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about one hour. Punch down. Let rest ten minutes. Shape into 18 balls and place in greased 9-inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until double, about 45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack to cool.
Aaaak. I can’t believe it is holiday time already! I am actually “on the move” to prepare for the holidays. I always do a Christmas planner, and this year I’m using one from organizedchristmas.org, so I’ve been starting on holiday preparations.
We don’t have Thanksgiving at our house. So far, I’ve never had to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, but we do lunch with my family and dinner with my dh’s family, and we are responsible for bringing something each year. With my family, dh usually makes mac and cheese- his specialty. With his family, we do something simple- like the bread- because we have to travel. Sometimes dh will make a pie or a cake- my birthday is the week of Thanksgiving. 🙂
As far as traditions, I usually do a thankful tree with my children. We also make an edible place favor for them to take to dh’s family get together. In the past, we’ve made cornucopias out of ice cream cones and filled them with fruit shaped gummies. This year, I read a cute idea of how to make a turkey with caramels on another web board, and I think we’ll do that instead.
I always do a Pilgrim/Indian study with the dc that has gotten more detailed as they get older. I’ve used the information from the Plimoth Plantation site several years. This year, I think I may look online for a free lapbook. 🙂
And of course, there is day after Thanksgiving shopping!!!! I love to hit the stores at 4am on Black Friday. It is rather surprising because I really don’t like to shop, and I am making some homemade gifts this year, and we’ve already bought quite a few along to save money. But, I just like getting out in the crowd that day. Call me crazy! Last year, our dc went home from the Thanksgiving bash with dh’s mom and dad, so dh and I could go together to the stores. That was lots of fun, and I think we’re planning that again. When they were younger, he stayed at home with them, and I went with my mom and sister.
I am enjoying reading about Thanksgiving traditions and have already picked up some new ideas I hope to try this year.
Leah Courtney
I have to confess that Thanksgiving is just starting to appear on my radar. However, I know if I do not start planning this weekend it will seem to jump up on me all unaware and unprepared.
In years past, we were spoiled by living near extended family so that Thanksgiving dinner was together with each person assigned a dish to bring. Now that we live in a different part of the country, we’ll be doing the small family dinner. On the upside, it is the one meal my husband LOVES to cook. I just need to make sure everything is bought and here for him.
For my ‘plate’, I do need to get cleaning done and continue to unpack boxes from our move. Some items will be heading out to bless others and some things might be saved for our new neighborhood’s annual garage sale weekend this coming spring. Also, if I do not start on Christmas cards around Thanksgiving they end up morphing into New Year’s cards instead.
The week of Thanksgiving is hopefully going to have study of the holiday for homeschooling. The older boys started working on a Thanksgiving lapbook last year, but with my attention focused on moving to temporary quarters it ended up mostly undone. Finally, I am also going to map out Christmas gifts and plan what I can do with our serious stressed budget.
Laura O’Neill
We go to my Mom’s for Thanksgiving so I generally don’t do anything to get ready. This year someone gave me a devotional that I plan to use. It is called Thanks Living Treasures and is put out by Family Life. I usually have a Thanksgiving unit that we do for school for the month of November.
This is the time of year that I generally start working on Christmas gifts. I know, each year I stress over getting them done in time and promise myself to start earlier, but I never do. It is fun to work on Christmas gifts when it is cool outside. It gets me more in the mood. We start decorating the Friday after Thanksgiving. The kids love it. I prohibit the use of Christmas music and movies prior to Thanksgiving, though. I want us to not gloss over this holiday.
We are going to visit family out of town for Thanksgiving so I don’t need to get my house clean or do a lot of cooking. Instead I will just make and bring a dish to pass. Stress free- yippee!!
I am going to be learning along with my preschool age children this year about the “real” first Thanksgiving. I often feel ignorant when it comes to history things and I just don’t remember details about the things I learned in school and look forward to reading some good recommended books so we can learn together. I look forward to officially homeschooling them starting next year because I have a lot to learn with them!!!…as you can tell. 🙂 If anyone has any good Thanksgiving resources please mention them in your comments.
As for decorating. I bought a few gourds for 10 cents each and hang up a towel with some leaves on it. –now that’s shoesting decorating or saving money by not really decorating ! 🙂
Another way that we try to save some money during the holiday season is to stock up on cheap meat (hams, turkeys) and other baking supplies and things that will keep in the pantry. It’s a good time to make some inexpensive freezer meals. I can often find free or almost free pumpkins at this time so I stock up and make some puree for the freezer to use in recipes.
I am enjoying teaching my little ones the meaning of thankfulness and focusing on the many blessings of God for which we are thankful. Amy Matthys
There is so much to do. I cannot believe that the holidays are upon us. We started putting out the lights outside. The girls like to see them for a while. It takes time to get them all out there, so we start early.
As far as food, I have been learning how to bake home made bread. I am trying to organize my kitchen. I have small appliances everywhere and nowhere to put plates and meals. This makes food preparation very frustrating. I want to get the kitchen organized before the holidays so that food preparation will be easier. I do not know a lot about freezing holiday meals ahead of time. Any suggestions would be great. What all do you make ahead of time and freeze? Can it stay from now until Christmas so that you can prepare the same dish twice for Thanksgiving and Christmas? I would like to do that.
My children have made home made Christmas ornaments out of dough. We are in the process of painting them so that they will be ready to decorate the tree. They also made special ornaments for their friends. This makes an inexpensive, personal gift. We are also making “gifts in a jar” to give to neighbors. There are two great books with that title. They have simple instructions on how to assemble the jars and they have recipes that you attach. These are great to prepare ahead of time. We also make a few extras, in case we happened to forget someone on our list or have surprise visitors. We are then able to share a gift.
Cranberries are in season right now. We are going to make home made cranberry sauce for the holidays.
I am learning that organization is the key to relaxing holidays. I want to enjoy making memories with the children and not be off in another room cooking and cleaning and missing out on the family fun. We usually take a hayride in our community, singing Christmas carols and looking at Christmas lights. I am looking forward to these traditions!
Katrina Boatwright
As a non American we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as such. Though we may visit with our American friends and share a meal.
However it is a really good time to remember all that we have to be thankful for. Especially with the whole Christmas season just about upon us….when it is so easy to get caught up and forget.
This month we have started a thanksgiving notebook. The purpose is to find 5 things every day that we can be thankful for. The idea being that each day it is something different.
It won’t take long and we should have a notebook full of blessing that will serve as a wonderful reminder of all God has done for us – and to which we can give Him thanks.
My parents are visiting this week as my daughter (their first grandchild) is having her first birthday next week. It’s coinciding with peak fall colors where we are here in SE Tennessee, so it’s a great time for them to visit. As they are here and I scrambled about preparing for their visit, I took note of harvest themed decor to bring out now and what’s missing still in boxes packed away that I want to bring out for Thanksgiving (and beginning Advent).
At the grocery run this Monday, I took note of which things were starting to drop in price so that I can tell when is a good time to buy (for example, fresh cranberries still aren’t a very good price yet, but some cheaper fowl is showing up and I may want to put some in the freezer for nice meals even beyond the holiday meals, flour is cheaper and so is butter –{staples I use all the time and should stock up on}).
That’s my quick participation for now. I will probably be back to read and share more before Friday once my company leave.
Dineen Ford
We are cleaning here, mostly de-cluttering for the holidays.
I just bought my frozen turkey, we make a big turkey every year and then use the leftovers to make some freezer meals. The larger the bird, the better meat to bone ratio. It does take longer to cook the large turkey, but not any harder.
We enjoy the whole day. We eat pumpkin bread and/or coffee cake for breakfast. Have an appetizer lunch, deviled eggs, cheese, crackers, & pepperoni, chips and dip, etc.
For Dinner we have turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, under the sea salad (lime jello/cream cheese/pear recipe) sparkling apple cider, maybe more?
Since we are military, our guests are different every year. Usually we have some single military guys, sometimes we have other military familes, once in a while we even get actual relatives. This year, we have invited a couple single military guys, and it seems like we will probably have a kind of open house with the neighbors we are friends with.
Wow, you all are inspiring. I wish I started preparing for Thanksgiving earlier, but I don’t. My father-in-law passed away a few weeks ago and I still am unsure of where my hubby side of the family will want to have Thanksgiving. It will be hard for them being the first holiday without him there.
I am looking forward to the Pumpkin Bar cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Honestly I have never thought about baking and freezing things early for Thanksgiving, maybe I should think about that. I do enjoy the cooking and preparations that take place the week of Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow at our Homeschool Co-op we will make some Turkeys out of felt and maybe we will turn them into napkin rings for our Thanksgiving dinner, that would be cute!
Lori Duncan
Well, I have started this month with alot of decluttering. I’ve brought 3-4 big garbage bags to Goodwill and thrown out alot of stuff too. I’ve cleaned in almost every room in the house and even the kids are helping (sometimes without me asking too!) Steven cleaned out the bathroom drawers yesterday which was nice and the girls are doing a good job keeping their room clean. It’s Hannah’s 16th birthday tomorrow so we’ll probably do some more cleaning and cooking for her party on Friday. We’ve invited several teens over for a bonfire and we’ll have sloppy joes, nacho cheese dip, cake, marshmallows and carmel apples.
We just had 2 doors delivered today and I’m hoping to have them up by Thanksgiving. So I’ll have some painting to do soon. We also will be putting new baseboard in soon – my goal is to have that done before Christmas. A friend of ours from church will be doing the work so it’ll be on his time frame. Don will probably work on his truck while Mike’s here working on our house. They do that alot and it really helps out both of us.
I haven’t done any cooking/baking yet. We have Thanksgiving dinner every year at Mike and Amy’s home (we are 1200 miles from our family) so I bring desserts to that but I may get a turkey and make our own turkey dinner for later that weekend. Don and Steven always go shopping the day after Thanksgiving so that’s their fun tradition. I don’t like to deal with the crowds so I am happy to let him do that. Amy is actually having dinner a little earlier this year in case Don and the older kids leave to go spend the night at a store (we live in northern FL so it doesn’t get too cold). They did that the last 2 years and were able to get the big items that we really wanted for Christmas – plus the teens really enjoy doing this with their dad. They ended up with a bunch of friends staying with them and I always go visit for a while and bring hot cocoa and leftovers.
A few things I’ll probably make for some gifts are carmel puffed corn and chocolate covered peanuts. The kids also love to make ritz crackers with peanut butter in the middle and then dip them in chocolate. Then they put sprinkles on top. They’re always a big hit. I also love baking with pumpkin and trying new recipes.
I start decorating for fall in September. I really love this season and love to have pumpkins around. I have several candles that are either mulled cider or pumpkin that I have in the kitchen and living room. The day after Thanksgiving all the fall decorations come down and we put up the tree and lights on the house.
I bought some Thanksgiving cards today and wrote those out. My christmas cards are one thing I don’t put in the attic after Christmas when we put all the decorations away so they’re available any time I decide to get them out and started. One thing I’d like to do is get the kids pictures done at Sears and put them in the cards. I plan on doing that every November and usually don’t end up doing that but maybe this year I will!
We always read something in November that pertains to Thanksgiving so we’ll be starting that next week and they’ll also start thanksgiving copywork and we may work on a lapbook the girls didn’t finish last year.
That’s it for us!
Katie Anderson
UGG! i’m SUPPOSED to be getting my act together and making plans, making presents, making it HAPPEN, but its just not happening…. and i’m kind of down because my best friend, who’s kids are my kids best friends, and dh is my dh’s best friend, all moved to a different state, and now we no longer have plans for thanksgiving, sniff…. i’m trying to decide if its worth the whole shpeal for just us….. yeah, i know it is… its just depressing even to think about it. I guess i’ll make turkey and stuff… maybe i can figure out some new traditions for our family so T day wont’ be a complete bust.
This holiday season will be different for our family. We hae had many transitions to walk through this year. In January, my mother in law had a massive brain hemmorage, which has presented many physical changes for us. She lived right behing us and has not (and will not) be returning to her home. Then, in April, my dad had a spiral downward in his battle with cancer. He left this earth on September 11th….also my birthday. Needless to say, with all these changes, I have not felt very festive for the upcoming holidays.
We do have several traditions that we have done with the kids, that I hope to continue. One of the those traditions has been to have some craft or food that we have made in bulk to pass onto those we love. This is usually something that all the kids can be involved in, whether it is cooking or making crafts. We have always made one massive gingerbread house that we all work on as a family to create. Another tradition we have had is making a big batch of roll out sugar cookies and decorating them together as a family.
These are just a couple of the things that I can think of right now. I pray that this holiday season will be a memory maker in whatever you do.
Julie Bertsch
Thanksgiving is a special time of year in our family! My family has always made a big thing out of it but 9 years ago we had our oldest daughter added to our family which made it more special.
Preparing for Thanksgiving we get the outside cleaned up and ready for the winter. The flowerbeds are put to “sleep” for the winter, the shrubs are cut, the last mowing of the yard is done, and the kids toys are picked up and put up until next spring. A lot of our neighbors burn their leaves but we just make compost out of them for next spring.
After this we start with the inside of the house. We start in the living room and get it clean from top to bottom and go to each room in the house doing the same. This gets things ready for Thanksgiving Day when after being with my family we will put the Christmas tree up.
We are all starting to work on our Christmas gifts. We make most of our gifts for our family members so we have to start early enough to get it all done in time.
I have only had one Thanksgiving Dinner at our home since we were married 14 1/2 yrs ago. But each of us kids make something to go with the dinner that my mother will serve at the old homestead for lunch. My contribution is dinner rolls. The whole meal will be made up with:
Turkey/ham
Scalloped Potatoes (like my grandmother made)
Rolls
Fruit lettuce salad (my sister in law makes it)
Corn
Green Beans
* Coleslaw (like grandma made)
A head of cabbage, chopped into fine pieces. Mix maynonnaise, sugar and milk together (I do to taste), pour over the top of the cabbage and serve cold.
* Sweet Potatoes (like my grandmother made)
Boil the potatoes and take the skin off. Slice the potatoes into a greased glass pan and you can either leave them sliced or mash the up (we mash them). Pour 1/2 c of melted butter and 1/4 c of brown sugar over the top of them. Bake them at 350* for about 20-25 mins and them top them with marshmellows and just bake until they turn light brown.
* Rhubarb Sauce (like my grandmother made)
3 c rhubarb
1 c sugar
Wash rhubarb; peel if skin is tough. Cut in 1″ pieces. Add sugar to rhubarb and a very small amount of hot water. Cover and cook slowly until tender, about 25 mins. Makes 6 servings. We add 1 pkg of strawberry jello after it is cooked. The sauce is good on bread, pancakes or as a sauce for ice cream.
Pumpkin Pie
Double Chocolate Cake
Cheese Cake
Butterscotch Pudding Pie (a family tradition)
Before lunch we take family pictures around the old home place. One of my sister in law doesn’t like this part but she is a good sport.
My kids are working on decorations to put up in their dads office this weekend for Thanksgiving and this has been a lot of fun.
The weekend after thanksgiving I will have my Christmas letter ready to be mailed out and then start cooking and doing the fun things for Christmas time.
We have two Christmas trees that we put up every year. One goes in our living room and one in the family room. The one in the living room is where the kids get to put all the decorations they make every year for the holidays and the one in the family room is the one where the breakable things go that aren’t to be played with.
We will be start making our Christmas chains that will go on our ceiling in the next week or so and start making the ornaments for the kids tree. We also decorate a tree and office for dh.
Due to having sugar problems myself and my father in law having diabeties, I do a bunch of sugar free goodies up during the holidays.
We always do something for the battered women’s home that is in the area. We make things for them and also the kids go through their stuffed animals and decide which ones they are ready to pass on. This is a lot of fun for our family and has taught the kids it is just as much fun to give as get the presents. Our lawn will turn into the manger scene starting the weekend after Thanksgiving. We have three different sets that we put up and they all are different and we love seeing them up year after year.
Yes, we enjoy the holidays but we always celebrate a special birthday before celebrating with gifts. Even tho’ my youngest ds was born 3 days before Christmas we don’t forget whose real birthday it is and I make a special birthday cake just for Jesus and we sing happy birthday to Him. Christmas Day you will find our car going around the city looking at the beautiful lights.
I am looking forward to all the season celebrating but trying to remind myself that the simple things can be the best, too. As we come up to Thanksgiving and Christmas may we count our blessing one by one and remember that God is still in control.
Orilla Crider
What wonderful ideas have been shared already!!!
For the first time in our married life, we will be alone as a family this year. No friends, no family….just our little family of 6.
We’re planning to make ahead as much as possible and make it a day of relaxing. Some board games, some movies…some relaxing. Sounds perfectly lovely to me!
Our children have talked about performing a skit of the first Thanksgiving. They’re doing some reading now to prepare. Can’t wait to see it!!
Laurie Bostwick
Wow! I cannot believe it is already 3 weeks from Thanksgiving! I should really be planning something special to do with our children school-wise. We don’t have family celebrations here–yet. We alternate years for Thanksgiving with our grandparents–yes both DH & I have a set of grandparents still living AND hosting the family get-togethers 🙂 Christmas Eve is spent at my grandmother’s and Christmas day we spend with DH’s family. We aren’t totally off the hook with hosting though. Four of our five children have birthdays between November 17th and December 23rd. This year, DD #2 shares her birthday with DD #4’s first birthday! We do like to make a big deal about birthdays in our house. I need to come up with something extra cute for Sarah’s first birthday. Child #4 had a train cake for his first birthday that was so cute. Now I have to top it! 🙂 We will have one celebration with all of the family here for all four children’s birthdays. I do my semi-annual deep cleaning & de-cluttering to prepare for it. I usually serve chili or spaghetti to be easy on me ( make ahead & freeze) and be different from all of the other rich foods we eat this time of year.
Blessings!
Hillary in Indiana
I guess I am blessed in that my parents and in-laws really get along well together. In the past we have had one giant Thanksgiving dinner with all of us being together. We are going to do that again this year, and I am in charge of the organizing. I’ve already sent the invitations and I am keeping track of all the dishes that everyone is bringing.
I’ve made the list of items that I’m bringing, and I will begin shopping this week for the items I need to prepare the dishes. We don’t go all out with decorations, just food. We are a very large family when we are all together and you know that many hands make light work!
I’m really looking forward to our meal together!!
Each year we either go to my parent’s home in Kentucky or to eat Thanksgiving dinner with my husband’s family. Since there are several aunts and uncles, they trade-off having Thanksgiving at their houses. This year we’re most likely going to his Aunt Anita’s house in Alabaster.
Since we’re not responsible for the entire meal, we usually take a dish or two, similar to a pot luck or family reunion. Isn’t that what Thanksgiving really is anyhow? 😉 Every year we take Pineapple Casserole and it’s always a hit. Here’s the recipe. Now, I know it doesn’t sound like it would be good, but it really is.
Pineapple Casserole (This recipe is from Paula Deen, so you know it HAS to be yummy!)
Ingredients
* 1 cup sugar
* 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
* 2 (20-ounce) cans pineapple chunks, drained, and 6 tablespoons pineapple juice reserved
* 1 cup cracker crumbs (recommended: Ritz)
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted, plus extra for greasing pan
Steps
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a two-quart casserole dish with butter.
In a large bowl, stir together the sugar and flour. Gradually stir in the cheese. Add the drained pineapple chunks, and stir until ingredients are well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish.
In another medium bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, melted butter, and reserved pineapple juice, stirring with a rubber spatula until evenly blended or combine in food processor. Spread crumb mixture on top of pineapple mixture. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
This is one of those types of casseroles that you can enjoy hot out of the oven (don’t burn your mouth, though), after it’s cooled down, or it’s even better the next day if there’s any left.
I also need to start thinking about something else to take, so I’m looking with interest at the recipes added here. Some of those sound great and I may have to give them a try.
It’s at this time of year we FINALLY find out from family what they want as gifts. I don’t know why they won’t tell me earlier in the year so I don’t have to scramble to find what they want. So, I’ll be headed out this week to pick up presents.
I like to be finished with gift-buying before Thanksgiving, but some of the items wanted this year it may be better to wait until the day after. I hate the thought of going to ANY store the day after Thanksgiving, but I’m all for saving money! 😀
May all your holidays be blessed!
Well, Thanksgiving is creeping up on my faster and faster each year. I put a countdown banner for Thanksgiving and Christmas on my blog to help me remember keep focus on it.
We usually try to get a free turkey by limiting our shopping as much as possible to one of the stores near our home that offers a free turkey if you buy a certain $$ amount of money in the month of November. We have a recipe for my mom’s stuffing and I will put that in here.
Mom’s Stuffing (for in the turkey)
Saute:
3 large onions
4 stalks of celery
2 sticks (1 cup) margarine
add:
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. Bell’s Seasoning
toss with:
two loves of white bread (cheap storebrand, sandwich type)
salt inside of bird
stuff and sew
put melted margarine and salt on the outside
cook for 25 min per lb under 12 lbs. or 20 min per lb. over 12 lbs
I will also have some pictures of Thanksgiving decorating we have done and other Thanksgiving ideas on my blog if you want to look.
Debbie Phillips
I’m like some of the others….I don’t host the Thanksgiving meal, so I don’t have a whole lot of preparing to do here at my own home. My parents always have everyone over at their home on Thanksgiving evening, but I do try to help my mother by bringing some food. I usually do a sweet potato souffle and some sort of dessert. Because I have already prepared several bags of apple pie filling for the freezer…I think that dessert will probably be a couple of apple pies this year! LOL
We also have another unusual thing we do. My husband’s family lives about two hours away from us, so we usually do Thanksgiving ‘lunch’ with them before driving back home to be with my family that night. It makes for a long day, but it’s just the way we’ve always done things. My sister and her family travel down here from their home about three hours away, so otherwise I wouldn’t get to see her if we didn’t come back home for Thanksgiving supper at my parent’s house.
My niece is getting married on November 22, so we will all be in Savannah for the wedding the week before Thanksgiving. My pastor husband has a part in the ceremony, I’m singing, and our 4yo is the ring bearer. It’s going to be crazy busy doing all that, so I’m really glad that I DON’T host Thanksgiving at my house!
Having said all that, I do have plans to get some deep cleaning and rearranging during our Thanksgiving school break to start preparing for the Christmas season which will be right around the corner! And I do like to get out my Thanksgiving decorations and table settings/centerpiece….even though it’s just for US!
I LOVE the holiday season!
Blessings,
Amy O.
This is our family’s very favorite holiday of the year!! We cleaned and decorated
the house from top to bottom the last 2 weeks in Oct. Pumpkins, gourds, scarecrows, pilgrims, all over the house and stickers on the windows. Then we invited grandma to spend 2 weeks with us. While she is here we are having our
traditional Thanksgiving meal this Sat.
Menu:
Ham
Mashed potatoes/gravy
sweet potato casserole
green bean casserole
deviled eggs
broccoli salad
stuffing
cranberry sauce
???
pumpkin pie
coconut cream pie
cheesecake
Complete with grandma’s fine china she gave us and name cards the
girls made. Even a tablecloth!!
Another day this month we will give gifts to each other. We do this one at a time.
Example: Dad gives son a gift, then tells him some things he is very thankful
for in his life. It is a time of blessing each other and being thankful for the family
God has given! Makes sweet memories!!
The night before Thanksgiving we will be leaving on a family trip. We are heading
South and traveling along the Gulf of Mexico, maybe play in the water, walk on the
beach, etc. all the way to Florida. Then we are heading north to Atlanta, GA to go to Stone Mountain. We have to be back to TX by Sunday evening,but plan to have some good quality family time.
We are not a very traditional family…but we enjoy life together. Carolyn Griggs
Shoestring budget decorating that I’ve done:
We eat winter squash, so rather than buying mini gourds and pumpkins to decorate with, I make arrangements with the squashes I have bought to eat. As the menus use them up, the arrangements shrink. Fill up arrangements with apples and pears also that are food already being bought (rather than spent just for decorating).
Take a nice walk and gather leaves, nuts, and branches of colorful berries such as bittersweet for simple arrangements in vases, arranged on a placemat or even a sheet of construction paper. Sometimes wrappings of things have nice seasonal images too for use as runners or basket liners.
This late in the season, a lot of harvest and fall-themed things are deeply discounted as stores are filling up for Christmas. Check out what is left to fill in the gaps of what you need or would like. Now is the time to get some fall-colored candles or ribbons that maybe weren’t going like hotcakes at the end of August.
To save on storage space, (other than the Christmas wreaths) I keep one wreath that I switch out decorations and ribbons on for the season. I buy decorations when I see that they are deeply discounted at the end of their retail season.
I haven’t done this, but I think I will start this year: a Thanksgiving tree. Sketch out a tree shape on a large piece of paper. Cut out leaf shapes of various fall colors suitable to the size of your tree, but of a decent size to write on (simple shape like a birch leaf is easiest). Attach an envelope to the large paper with staples or sturdy tape and insert leaves, a pen and glue stick. Have family write things they are thankful for on the leaves and attach to tree in the weeks approaching the holiday.
Ahead of time cooking I do:
Cranberry sauce and jelly. My husband has fond memories of what he calls “clear cranberry sauce” that his dad made. So I make cranberry jelly, each year reducing the sugar to get it more and more tart (we like the tart cranberry flavor and my husband has Type 1 diabetes). It’s a two-for one task, because I keep the berries after straining the juice for the jelly for a whole-berry sauce for me. For just the two of us, one bag of berries makes plenty of jelly and sauce for meat condiment and sandwich topping to last us until January. I sometimes spice the whole-berry jelly with a bit of cinnamon.
Ah! I love fall! It seems like a more productive time for “New Year’s Resolutions” than January does. I seem to want to “nest” when cool weather finally comes around. I am working on purging clutter and doing a little “spiffing” of my home. Sometimes just a little tweaking is all my home needs to feel new and beautiful. One of my favorite things to do that is SO inexpensive, but so refreshing is window mistreatments. Yup – I said mistreatments. I could never afford to buy “real” window treatments, and then I discovered “The Nester”, a blog at http://nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/. She has such fantastic ideas for decorating with spare fabric, Goodwill finds, and Target clearance rack redos. I was so excited when I found some fabric that exactly matched my living room on the Walmart $1 fabric rack – one hour later, with the help of a glue gun and some thumbtacks – I had completely redone my living room window – and it looks INCREDIBLE!
My other favorite tip, is stalking the mistint paint rack at the home center. It’s amazing the finds you can come across there. Most of the time, you can get a gallon of paint for under $5, and it is usually really trendy colors that are available. It’s amazing how much a new coat of paint can refresh a room – especially when there is a house full of little grimy fingers, like at my house. I know I’m lazy – but I swear it takes me less time to repaint a wall that it does to really scrub it down!
To find cute “accessories” for your house – there’s nothing like Goodwill and a can of black spray paint. Check out this blog post for a redo on a cute little stool that took it from 1970s drab to really cute and “fab”: http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/2008/10/furniture-rehab-update.html I spray paint picture frames, candle holders, terra cotta pots, baskets, old furniture from garage sales and Goodwill – you name it. And, if you stick with a common color of spray paint – everything matches! I even found a really cute idea for my pet food to make it cute – using all those old popcorn tins from previous Christmases! http://watchthewindblowby.blogspot.com/2008/08/im-so-outside-box-im-in-can.html
So – my holiday advice – go find something “trashy” and turn it into treasure! You won’t spend much, and you’ll have a really great time!
We exchange gifts the day after Thanksgiving! We wanted to help our son and daughter-in-love to have one less place that they have to run to at Christmas time. They will still have five exchanges to attend! Lots of family in the area which is of course a blessing, but…. My husband decided that he wants to be able to really see his grandchildren (when they give us some (smile)) for more than a few minutes so he thought that this might be a good idea! It also takes some of the “antsy” out of our younger children so that they can focus a little better on Jesus’ birthday instead of everything they want!
September and October are very busy around here, so many of our regular upkeep and cleaning plans have been put aside. I plan to do a deep “spring cleaning” this next week so that over the holidays I can relax a bit and enjoy just touch up cleaning.
I will also be planning out the Thanksgiving menu. We always have traditional favorites, but I would like to try something new.
Several family members live in our area. I am working on ways to celebrate with them throughout the season and not just on the actual holidays. A few ideas: cookie baking, progressive dinner, Christmas lights sight-seeing, gift making, gift wrapping, holiday music concerts, etc.
Lastly, I have been working on quilted placemats for a while. I would love to finish them. One side is for Thanksgiving and one side is for Christmas.
I am new to mommy homework. I look forward to reading other ideas!
Jo
Preparing for Thanksgiving!
I always start getting excited about Thanksgiving in October. Autumn is my favorite season.
In preparing for Thanksgiving….I start with my fall cleaning in October. I steam clean the carpets, clean out closets, clean out the garage, and detail clean my car, clean out the fire place and do the fall yard clean up.
I put out a fall wreath on the front door. I always love to burn scented candles but during this time I will stock up on my supply. I especially love to burn the baking scents like vanilla, apple-spice, gingerbread etc.
We visit a local farm and pumpkin patch. We get pumpkins and squash and a bushel of apples.
I bake mini loaves of apple bread, pecan pies, apple pies, and make fried apples to freeze. We also enjoy making caramel apples, caramel corn.
Apple Bread Recipe
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
2 cups diced apples
Cream margarine and sugar. Stir in eggs, milk and vanilla. Add baking soda, flour, and apples. (Batter will be stiff) Put into one large or two small loaf pans. (greased) Prepare topping and crumble on top. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until done. (closer to an hour for large loaf) Use toothpick test.
Crumble Topping
4 TBSP margarine or butter (not softened)
4 TBSP flour
4 TBSP sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
Cut together with fork or pastry blender-crumble over loaves.
A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving I will clean out the freezer and buy extra disposable storage containers for yummy leftovers. I also plan my menu at this time and start watching sale ads for the best shopping deals. I love to buy 2 or 3 turkeys when they are on sale during this time.
I also start on crafts and homemade gifts. I especially love to make homemade “Swiss Mocha.”
I will make ahead a large batch of cinnamon rolls for ‘Thanksgiving’ morning. This is helpful so I do not have to worry about breakfast while preparing for our dinner.
Oh and I almost forgot…my favorite movie to watch is “A Day of Thanks on Walton’s Mountain.”
Brenda Keller
How do I prepare for Thanksgiving? I begin by making Apple sauce, and stewed apples with dates for Apple Crisp, and stuffing. Then a deep cleaning on our apartment. We then start making the items for dinner ahead of time. Clover leaf rolls, pies etc. Turkey or Roast Duck are not done until the day before Thanksgiving day. This is done so that on Thanksgiving the only thing we have to do is make the vegetables, steam the meat with gravy, bake the rolls and Eat!
We start our home made gifts around this time. I make quilts, so I will quilt Lap quilts, and childrens quilts for gifts and to sell. This year I have a goal of 20 quilts. We make other gifts as well. Amanda my 12 year old niece that we are raising loves to make soap and candles. We both make jewelry too.
During this time on Fridays Amanda will make double batches of Sugar cookies to decorate later. The freezer is usually pretty full by the end of November with winter supplies , Christmas cookies and such.
That’s about all I do to get ready.