MAY YOU FIND THE QUIET JOY

Turkey and trimmings

Heart of our family

And Pumpkin pie

Nip of wood smoke in the air

Keeping the traditions    

Smiling faces, hugs and love

Grandma’s house

In the kitchen preparations

Viewing the happy circle around the Table

Invoking memories of those gone but never forgotten

New generation of little ones added

Giving heartfelt thanks for the riches in my life—my family and friends

Giving thanks has always been a time of reflection. Taking stock of the good in my life.  It has never been about money or pricey accouterments. It isn't relegated to one day in the year but it's practiced throughout the year and especially when things seem bad.  That's the time I really look for the positives. Negatives are always easy to find and if I look at only negatives it will rob me of inner peace and contentment. So I refocus my heart and simplify my eye to see the things that really matter.

For me, Thanksgiving is so much more than a feast upon the table. It's a reality check.

I realize I have all the important things like my faith, family and good friends, a job that provides food and place to live, and while I may creak and hurt sometimes I am alive and breathing.

Heartfelt thanksgiving is celebrating the simple things and finding contentment in those riches. Contentment breeds quiet joy. 

May you find the quiet joy. 

TEN THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR

KEOKE COFFEE

Ingredients

1 ounce Kahlua
1 ounce crème de cacao
1 ounce brandy
1 cup freshly brewed coffee
Whipped cream

Directions

Combine Kahlua, creme de cacao, and brandy in a large mug or heat-proof glass. Add one cup of fresh brewed coffee and stir. Top with whipped cream.

Makes 1 drink. 

TEN THINGS I’M THANKFUL FOR:

1. ALL my appliances work (now about that light switch in bathroom…)
2. I have a short commute to work this winter.
3. I don’t have 3 feet of snow to shovel (sorry grandma).
4. I didn't have to deal with no electricity, floods, winds, hurricanes, or tornadoes. THIS year.
5. My 18 year old is FINALLY mastering deductive reasoning and the principle of cause and effect. It’s only taken…never mind.
6. That my husband does dishes, laundry, feeds the critters, cooks a fab breakfast, brings me coffee, and cleans (next week, the cat box).
7. The rancher on the next property finally realized he was missing a bull and 3 cows and came and got them from my pasture—before my dogs went mute from excessive fits of barking.
8. That there is more than one use for lasagna pans.
9. That the family Thanksgiving Dinner is at my mom’s house (I did mention I have a large family) and my 2 Wild game potpies and 3 desert pies are all cooked. Whew!
10. That God gave me a well-developed sense of humor and good friends to handle life’s glitches.

Laughter isn't just good medicine—it’s life’s saving grace.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

MONDAY MUSINGS: REMEMBERING HOLIDAYS PAST

The twenty-four pound turkey was cooked to perfection. It was my first Thanksgiving turkey, all golden and as pretty as the picture in the cookbook. The stuffing was fabulous. I couldn't wait for my mom and dad to see it. But first, it had to make it to northern Idaho before it graced my parent’s table. I had researched and talked to a chef I knew at a restaurant in town about how to take it out with about thirty minutes left to cook so when it was warmed up in the oven it wouldn't be overcooked. I even made a rich broth to inject so it wouldn't be dry and extra for the gravy to be made in when I got to moms.

 

My husband and I were stationed in northern California and I was still getting used to the oddness of warm temperatures and sunshine in November. It felt strange baking a turkey and pies in summer like weather—but I was excited about making the meal, the trip north, and seeing everyone’s faces when I put that turkey on the table. The pies were so pretty, too, with all the cut pastry autumn leaves set atop the pumpkin pies.

Everything was finished the night before we left. I had a special pan with a top for the turkey and containers for the pies so and we rigged up a place in trunk of my Cougar XR7 to put them so they’d be safe and cool for the journey. At 6:00 a.m. Wednesday morning I was carefully packing it all up for the drive north. We figured we be driving up the drive way to my parents’ house between 8-9:30 p.m. It was a bit overcast since we were expecting rain and such a difference from the bright sunshine the day before. We were excited and primed for a fun trip north.

It was the trip from hell.

Unbeknownst to us, the California drought had elected to end the day we left. We knew there would be rain but not how much. By the time we got to the Oregon border we heard that the rain could turn to slush and snow in the upper Siskiyous. Being young and adventurous—read not having the sense God gave a gnat—we pressed on. It was awful by late afternoon. Mountain passes were being inundated with record-breaking precipitation. We had no problems driving through the rain into the mountains; it was driving through the two feet plus of snow coming down the passes and facing ‘chains required’ that became the problem. Oh and getting out of them alive.

We were halfway through the passes and figured we’d beat the heavy snowfall. Pfft—that snow hit and hit hard. We were screwed either way. Not a lot of places to stop up there so the stupid gnats, I mean we, pressed on. Let me tell you, there are places up there that guardrails are non-existent. All those gorgeous visas you see off to the right where the ground drops away hundreds a feet? Not so pretty when you’re driving slippery roads downhill and limited visibility—not to mention brainless people driving too fast for the road conditions. Both Dan and I had lots of experience driving in snow and we were careful but you can’t control others.

Like the car almost a quarter of a mile ahead of us pulling a U-Haul. I had noticed it slipping and the U-Haul trailer weaving a bit and had backed off, letting distance grow between us—just in case. When they hit black ice and lost control I saw it. I don’t panic in dangerous situations. I’m very calm and focused but I’ll admit I felt fear as I watched it unfold.

Oh. My. God.

My heart jumped and I could feel the sharp tingles of adrenaline surging through my body as I lightly tapped my brakes. I knew the moment my car lost its grip with the road and spun towards the right side and the drop. I fought with all the strength and skill at my disposal to keep my car from going nose first over the drop and death. I turned the wheel hard to swing the back end around and away from the drop. Two 360-degree turns are fun at amusement parks but not so much on icy downhill grade. I wrestled with the wheel to bring the car back towards the snow packed median while sliding downhill and finally got the hood aimed in the right direction.

My husband had been sleeping in the passenger seat and my dog in the back and Dan woke up shouting and the dog came flying from the back window, where she had been laying, and hit the back of the passenger seat. I dimly heard her kayoing from floor. I didn't have time to soothe anyone. My entire focus was fighting to stay on the slick road. The car slid sideways toward the median and I corrected the trajectory so the left side of the hood was pointing in the correct direction. I didn't want to hit it the wrong way and slingshot the car back and across the road and off the precipice. I needed the snow to grab the car and hold it. It did but I still slid about twenty-five feet against the snow bank made by the snowplows before getting the nose and wheel right.

Ka-thunk 

I did it.  I dropped my head to the steering wheel, breathing in and out. It felt good to be able to do so. Thankfully no one had been behind us. 

I was bruised. Dog was bruised but okay. Dan was doing his Italian sputter with colorful metaphors, so he was okay, too. But we were alive and the car in one piece so far as I could tell. I didn't give myself but a moment to take stock before getting out of the car to assess the damage and how soon I could get back on the road. We couldn't stay there.

I was stuck in the snow bank. Oh yippy kai yay. But, it was better than the alternative.

I waded through the snow on the left of the car—at least three feet of snow between the car and the concrete—and decided we had to dig left front tire and fender out the snow. While Dan cleared the road area in front of the car I cleared the back tires and then we went to work on the packed snow and ice holding the left front tire and fender. Your hearing is acute up in those passes and I heard the semi’s air breaks and jingle of heavy chains long before I saw it. He was in control and gently braking as he came down to where my bright red hazard lights were flashing in the dark.

Sam’s truck was the last vehicle allowed through before they closed the pass. Sam chose to come through the pass to help us.

He came to a stop about thirty feet behind us. One of the truckers going the opposite direction had warned him about us. The last he had seen was our car heading towards the drop. Another trucker a bit behind him said we did some fancy driving and drove into the median snow bank and were digging the car out. Sam helped Dan dig away all the snow from the front of the car—which wasn't even scratched, btw—so he could attach a thick tie-down strap to the front of the car and then pulled us out of the snow bank.

Sweet dear man.

Sam shared some hot sweet coffee with us. Said since I had been driving and would continue to drive I needed it. He was right. I didn't have time for the shakes that were sure to come. I knew I had to get us down that last grade and out of the mountains. My knuckles were white as I gripped the steering wheel and followed Sam down the last steep grade to fairly level ground. Officers and a paramedic were waiting for us to be sure we were okay. The others were still up where the U-Haul went off the road.We were fine which is more than I can say for the other car. They set a thirty-minute observation for us and it gave us time and get warm and rest a bit. Those donuts sure were good.

Sam came back from his truck with some hot chocolate/coffee mixture with some marshmallows on top and made it a point to tell me a woman needed chocolate in cases such as this.  That chocolate about kicked my ass. He laughed and winked at my expression when I took the first sip and realized there was brandy—just a bit—in that mix. Forty-five minutes later we were back on the road and on our way to Portland where we would spend the night before pressing on to the family.

By the next day it was much easier to drive on northeast to my parent’s house. There was lots of snow but well plowed roads. My dad and brothers were waiting with the trucks to take us up the mountain. No way my car would have made it the three miles up the mountain to the house.

Thanksgiving was celebrated by candlelight on Friday evening that year. One pie was slightly crushed by something in the trunk that had crash-landed on it during the wild ride. My family still oooh and aahed over the turkey and fixings.

The silly gnats had a lot to be thankful for that year.

• Any memories you'd care to share?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Being Thankful

~Sia McKye~

~Life doesn't come tied with a bow, but it's still a gift~

It’s that time of the year when we gather together as family and friends and give thanks for the blessings we have in our life. For some, that’s what this meal means and for others it’s a time when most are off work and a perfect time for family and friends to gather.

It’s the start of the winter holidays and one of the biggest shopping days of the year is the day after Thanksgiving. A ritual in some families I know. The men sit around and watch football and the women march off to the stores like Betty Rubble and Wilma Flintstone, yelling Charge!

It’s called Black Friday and the time of year merchants are enticing shoppers to the stores to begin the Christmas holiday shopping. Merchants look at it as a way of getting out of the red and show a profit for the quarter. Doesn’t always happen but they certainly want a ‘black’ Friday and profit. Retailers throughout the country heavily promote sales. Stores are often decorated for the Christmas season weeks beforehand and retailers open very early to offer door buster deals, loss leaders and other incentives to draw people to their shops. To them, Black Friday is a blessing.

Those that work Black Friday find it’s a time when insanity reigns. Long work day and hordes of rude people swarming to get to the sales items before someone else grabs it, even if it means trampling over whoever is in front of you ( as we’ve seen in the headlines the past few years). Store employees, while exhausted at the end of the day, count it a blessing they have a job, when so many don’t.

For those who love to shop, while chaotic, love the challenge and finding the deals. Many have lists and have faithfully studied the Ads and know just where they’re going and what they’re getting. They come home tired but happy they’ve gotten the main part of their holiday shopping done and saved money. For them that is a blessing.

Is this season merely commercial? Are possessions and getting more the only part of this season?

Traditionally, in many of the early colonies in the United States, it was a time to give thanks to God for the plentiful harvest that would take the settlers through the winter. It was sharing the abundance of that harvest in a community meal. You might say it was one of the first ‘potluck’ dinners held on these shores. Everyone brought something to contribute to the feast. Understandably, it began as a religious holiday, although today it’s lost most of the religious aspects and become a secular holiday. It wasn’t until 1941 it became a Federal holiday.

Early times in this country were rough and survival was a blessing. If there was a bad harvest, it meant winter rationing of the food and worse case scenario was starvation. There were no stores or markets to save the day because the few in existence depended upon the harvest as well. But the land was rich, game plentiful. The settlers learned to farm those things that would grow well here. European methods didn’t always work, nor did the usual fare they were used to growing. They learned from the Native Americans how to grow corn, squash, and many newer vegetables. The first feasts didn’t have huge golden turkeys, candied yams, fluffy dinner rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, or cranberries and pumpkin pie. Instead the first feasts included: duck, geese, some wild turkey, venison, fish, lobster, clams, swan, berries, dried fruit, pumpkin, squash, and many vegetables. Flour was almost non-existent, but they did have cornmeal. They also had little or no sugar, but there was wild honey, fruits and other sweet produce.

The feast was designed to draw families and the community together by sharing what they had in a community meal. They had many losses: of life, livestock, homes, and livelihood. But they gave thanks for those that did survive and the things they did have. They shared laughter and love to overcome the tragedies.

Today, for many families, this is a time to be thankful for food on the table, family around them. It’s a time of renewing family bonds, remembering those who have passed, rejoicing over the new ones born. Breaking bread together is one of the oldest rituals practiced by people.

Our family dinner is usually potluck and we coordinate with everyone on the menu and everyone brings something. The host or hostess, cooks the turkey and ham. With such a large group and the weather usually good, we tend to set up the food in Mama's garage on serving tables and carry it outside to eat at tables set up outside on the lawn.

I’m thankful for having my family and good friends around me. Coming together helps to overcome the year’s tragedies: loss of life, loss of livelihood, and some tough economic times. This year will be rough on my family, as we’ve lost our younger brother and my mother, her son. I'm thankful for the time we had with him. Good times. We come together to remind ourselves we are alive and we do have plenty to share. It’s a time to laugh over tales of the past and present, to lift a glass to those no longer with us, and share the ‘do you remember when…’?

At the core, we’re still a family. We have new ones coming in, either by marriage, or birth. We have plenty of love to go around. We focus on what we have, what remains, not on who or what we don’t have. Looking at the positives. My mother always told us that contentment comes from being thankful for what we have. Being thankful for the people we have in our lives. "Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need." She says, and I believe her, this is how we find happiness. Contentment with what we have and family and friends to share it with. When I look at it that way, I realize there is so much in my life for which to be thankful.

• What are your blessings? What are you thankful for this year?