Nice Thanksgiving in Good Company

We got back yesterday from spending a couple days at my sister's house or rather trailer since they are full time RV folks. Another sister came with her husband and fur babies. I think this was the first time we were together for Thanksgiving in more that 30 years. We were all busy raising families and living far apart. For each of us if we went to see family at all it meant going to Mom's house and not to see each other. We are all 3, us girls, living in Arizona now so we are much closer than we have been in a very long time. It feels good to have extended family close. 

Kristi, hosting us, created a wonderful meal. She had also invited a couple that lives in the park that they do so we had 8 around an outdoor table. We had turkey and ham. For sides there were mashed and sweet potatoes, dressing, asparagus, creamed spinach, rolls, gravy and homemade cranberry sauce. It was a lot of food even for 8 people and she will be busy planning uses for the leftovers now that we have all gone home.

My small addition, besides helping with cooking, was to make the bread you see here and make a cranberry salad that Jim loves. I saved this bread recipe a long time ago and this week seemed to be the perfect time to make it. You can find the recipe at Simply So Good No Knead Pumpkin Harvest Bread.

This bread has canned pumpkin, not pie filling, in it. You also put in sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and dried fruit. The recipe recommends the Golden Berry Blend from Trader Joe's. This is not a light fluffy bread, but it is so good. We set out a bread tray at dinner with this bread and the more traditional dinner rolls surrounding it. If you do not have a Trader Joe's near you this fruit blend of golden raisins, cherries, cranberries and blueberries can be found on Amazon.

In other random news about me, I made it to the 2nd skein in my knitting. That happened last night when we were watching the first Christmas movies after dinner. That accomplishment felt so good. There really is hope that I can get this done and blocked in time to travel with it.

Hope all of you readers in the US had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend!

Back with more again soon. 

Take care and stay cozy! 

 

Turkey and Tunes

Two things start the holiday season in our family. The first is the Thanksgiving meal. This year it included a smoked turkey done by my husband. It tasted wonderful and Jim was so proud of how it looked he took a picture as you can see here.

The second thing is that we play Christmas music as a background to the meal. Jim put up some speakers on the patio and we played the music with his itouch. That's right here in Arizona we were able to have Thanksgiving dinner outside on the patio. It is such a great way to feed a crowd and there are no worries about kids making a mess!

I found a shop on ArtFire that has a Christmas CD for sale. You might want to take a look if you are considering a new tradition like ours. Just click on the picture to find out more!

Very Happy Birthday Wishes!

aycee is having a birthday today!

Even though we can't be with her today we enjoyed her visit last week! This is our last picture of her from the Thanksgiving visit. She and her family were setting out on their long drive home.

Happy birthday Kaycee!

Almost Here

Just one more day and then Halloween. I have the candy ready for the little ones coming to the door. I will have a treat for the ones with hair supplements like colors or glitter, the masked ones, the princesses, fairies, skeletons and super heroes. It is all about the kids and then it will be over and we can all move on to the next holiday which is one of my favorites, Thanksgiving, and we will have a houseful.

Great Weekend

My weekend was busy and fun and I hope yours was too. On Saturday we went up to Payson. That drive seems to be a regular one for us on the weekends. We stopped at the fruit stand again as they were getting ready to close for the day. When a tired vendor of fruits and vegetables is getting ready to pack up and go home it is a good time to shop. We got almost 2 cases of tomatoes, a case of apples, some pears and some potatoes all for $10! I have spent today making tomato sauce and trying out drying some of the tomatoes in the oven. Tomorrow I am going to make some apple pies to go in the freezer for Thanksgiving when we will have a houseful.

Sunday was spent getting cars washed and going to the Cardinals game. We were treated to seats in a suite by Jim’s boss. (Thank you Tony!) It was a nail biter fourth quarter but the defense really saved the game. It was so much fun to be in the crowd on a winning day.We had a small brush with fame after the game. We ended up at the elevators at the same time as John McCain and one of his daughters. Jim shook his hand. I didn’t get the camera out and ask for a picture because I figure every one needs a day off. We wondered later if senators have some secret safety products to protect them when needed when they are out in public. There were some quiet guys in suits around but I really don’t know if they were part of his group or not.

Smart and Forgetful

Movie Reviews

I found this quick little evaluation to be a bit surprising. I found the link on Musings of Mommy Bee. Not too shabby a result for a girl who only was in college for a couple semesters before she met a certain sailor who whisked away from all that to live on Guam and start a family.

While basking in the glow of pride I have to admit something about the certain sailor. It seems, as I was informed by my daughter Cindy, that I forgot to post about his birthday on Sunday. He never wants much fuss made over him on that day but it was remembered. We had one of his favorite dinners, which is his grandmother's spaghetti sauce and garlic bread. He had a carrot cake for dessert. I also found some reed diffusers for his office at home and the one at work. He mentioned he had seen them somewhere else and liked the idea.

Being from June to January older than he is I always like it when he catches up to me in age. Then the teasing can stop about me being an old lady!

If you read this blog regularly you will know that I am famous or is that infamous for the pictures I choose of the birthday person. I don't know what he will say about today's picture but I suspect not a thing. He doesn't read my blog because as he puts it I live with you I don't need to read about your life. Oh well.

So here is Grandpa Jim with all six of our grandkids in the picture on Thanksgiving.

For Kaycee

One of the events included in our Thanksgiving trip to Utah was celebrating a birthday. Our oldest granddaughter turns 11 today and we had an early celebration while Grandpa and Grandma were around. We all got together on Friday (Black Friday) and went bowling and then back to the house for cake and ice cream. It was a fun day!So on your real birthday Kaycee I want to wish you all the best!

Thanks

Today is a good day to think about what you are thankful for. Most of us would start that list with things like family and good health. At least that is where my list would start. I would add that I am thankful that my eyesight and hands are ok so that I can still knit and crochet as well as send greetings to you all through this blog. I am also thankful for silly things like that my husband is not a great outdoorsman. That means that I can look at the beautiful new snow on the mountains at my son's Utah house and not running amok on a cold mountain breathing the smell of snowmobile exhaust. The turkey is in and others will start arriving soon. It's all good.