Thanksgiving

We ate "dinner" at 2pm and I am STILL stuffed!

In 1/2 an hour I am leaving to hit the Black Friday sales with friends.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and was able to find many things to be thankful for!

Twas the night before Thanksgiving

The monkeys are asleep :) The house is filled with sweet and savory smells.

The following dishes are done:
No-Cook Cranberry, Raspberry & Apple Relish - The San Francisco Chronicle
Sangria Cranberry Sauce - Don't remember where I got it
Mom's Turkey Stuffing - Simply recipes, but completely bastardized

Tomorrow I will make the rest of the dishes and will start posting recipes and pictures.

While waiting for the stuffing (actually dressing since it's outside the bird), I opened the Pampered Chef packages I received today and segregated every ones orders. I felt like a kid in a candy store.

I LOVE their products and had A BLAST at the party I hosted. The last party I hosted was about 8 years ago. Every now and then I get the idea that I want to sell Pampered Chef. I believe in the products and use many of them daily in my cooking.

However, I already have very little free time. I wonder if I would make enough money for it to be worth it? Has anyone had any experience with selling Pampered Chef? In this economy, extra money would sure be a good thing!

One Big Holiday

I know others have blogged about this, like Lucy, but it finally hit me over the head today!

I received and email about a tree lighting on the 19th. I figured it was for December 19th - a little late, but OK. Oh no - it turns out that it was for THIS coming up Thursday. November 19th!!

WTF??? How is there a tree lighting before Thanksgiving has even come and gone? And then a co-worker of mine told me that Santa is already in the mall near his house! Really?? Doesn't Santa need to eat his turkey first?

We truly are turning in to one big commercial holiday and Thanksgiving doesn't make the cut because no one is buying "Happy Thanksgiving Cards". We gloss over the holidays that are meant to teach a lesson - thankfulness on Thanksgiving, appreciation for our Armed forces on Veterans Day or Memorial Day - and go straight to the holidays where we can make money.

This Thanksgiving let's be thankful just a little bit more and maybe the power of positive thinking (OK, yes I read the newest Dan Brown book recently) will counteract the commercialism of America.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am extremely thankful:

For this country...
Where I am free to "Pursue happiness" no matter what my religious, political or moral beliefs are.
Where people voluntarily get in a Best Buy line at 2pm to be the first when the doors open at 5am the next morning - instead of standing in a bread line for hours to get food to live.
For the immigrants who came before me, who paved the way for my family to escape religious and political persecution.

For my children...
For reminding me that there is a fine line between sanity and absolutely frickin' nuts!
Who don't take me as seriously as I take myself.
Who remind me that it's OK to be sad and mad - by teaching them I reinforce these lessons in myself.
Who I love more than anything else in this world - and who infuriate me at the same time!

For the 16 lb. turkey...
Who gave his life so I may stuff at least 4 of the lbs. in to my face in one sitting, and then pick at at least 1 more lb. throughout the rest of the day.
Who is responsible for me laying on my back, with my belly looking at least 5 months pregnant.

For my friends...
Who I know will always be there, via telephone, text, email, facebook or blogger, for me day or night!

HAVE A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!