Thanksgiving Blessings

Wishing you all a very blessed

Thanksgiving!

Psalm 100

Make a joyful shout

to the LORD, all you lands!

Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the LORD, He is God;

It is He who has made us,

and not we ourselves;

We are His people

and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into His gates with

thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to him and bless His name.

For the LORD is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

As always,

Blessings,

Kelly

Getting Ready for T-Day

Homemade cranberry sauce- yummy and (somewhat!) healthy!

Happy Wednesday before Thanksgiving! It's been a busy day in the kitchen, and the house smells absolutely amazing. I have 2 loaves of bread, 36 rolls, 6 individual pie crusts baked, a bowl of Watergate salad chilling in the fridge and a batch of cranberry sauce finishing up in the crock pot. I still have a cheese log to make, but that will have to wait until after our dinner of left overs.

Here's a little poem I made up for fun. I'm by no means Longfellow or Frost, but I hope you enjoy it!

'Twas the day before Thanksgiving, and all through the land

Ladies were busy with pie crust in hand.

The children were busy with their crayons and their paper,

The tables were set with fine china and tapers.

The men were all dreaming of drumsticks and touchdowns,

While women were baking and thinking of pounds.

The stores were jam packed with last minute shoppers,

And in many kitchens went mixers and choppers.

Travelers made their way home, by land and by air,

While turkeys were thawed and brined with great care.

Rolls and breads were baked with flour and yeast,

All to be eaten with the great turkey feast.

Recipes were checked and compared on the phone,

Batters were beaten and cream whipped to foam.

It was busy indeed, that Wednesday before,

And when you thought all was done, look, there was more!

Here's wishing you well, many blessings, take care!

For, before you know it, Black Friday soon will be here!

Have a wonderful day!
Blessings,
Kelly

A Birthday, Thanksgiving Plans and More

HAPPY 11TH  BIRTHDAY TEDDY BEAR!!!

Yes, it is our Teddy Bear's birthday today. Unfortunately, he's home from school with a cold. I'm not so sure if he feels that it is unfortunate or not, though, because he gets to play the video games that he got! We had a family party for him yesterday, and tomorrow after school we are going to the movies with a friend to celebrate. Tonight we will have a small cake after a spaghetti dinner and keep things low-key.

Having TB home this morning skewed my grocery shopping plans a bit, but thankfully my Mom was able to watch him so I could zip down and back quickly before it got too crazy at the stores in town. And she even (Thank you so much, Mom!!!) blessedly, washed the dishes and folded laundry for me. I can't thank the Lord enough for blessing me with such a helping and caring mother! So, now I have more time to sit down and plan for the week. The kiddos will be home from school starting on Wednesday, so I want to have some crafts, goodies and activities to do with them during the week. Also, I am making bread and rolls to bring to my sister's on Thursday. Friday I will be having my DH's family over for appetizers and desserts in the early afternoon, so I need to finalize my menu for that.

Tomorrow I will be doing the majority of the baking that needs to be done for Thanksgiving get togethers. This is what my plan looks like so far:

• make 2 loaves of bread and a batch of rolls for my sister's on Thursday
• make a pan of choc. chip cookie bars for Friday
• finish the Thanksgiving lap book
• clean the bathroom
• get some laundry done (seems like this is always on the list!)

 

Wednesday I will have the children help me make the cranberry sauce, Watergate salad, and a batch of individual pizza crusts. We'll also work on getting the house set for Friday, and they love to make napkin rings and place cards for the table. I usually just set out crayons, stickers and index cards for them. I'll talk to them more about what they would like to make on Wednesday.

I tried to get my holiday planner sheets into PDF format so that I could post them here for you, but it didn't work. And I'm just not technically savvy, so I have no idea what to do! I haven't been able to keep up on the "Don't Wing It Wednesdays" for before Thanksgiving, but I will be keeping up for Advent and Christmas.

I have my Advent wreath pulled out for Sunday, I just need to pick up my candles for it. I'm thinking of having a cardinal theme for Christmas decorations this year (I have plenty of cardinal things already!) so I would like to find a ribbon to decorate the wreath with, too. I also need to make up my mind about how to approach the Jesse tree; do I want to make ornaments, try to find ornaments, do an actual tree or make a poster? I'll have time on the drive Saturday to think this over.

Have a lovely Monday, Friends!
Blessings,
Kelly

Don't Wing It Wednesday #2

O.k., I'm a bit behind due to an emergency subbing job at the school and an impromptu lunch invite, so I'm going to dive right in there today. It's Wednesday, so we're working on our "Don't Wing It" for the holidays.

I've gotten quite a bit of work done for my holiday planner. I was able to make up new versions of my planning pages on my laptop and get them printed. For those of you who don't want to fuss on your own, (I admit to being a control freak when it comes to these things!) I have some links for Thanksgiving planners that are FREE!

One page planning calendar from Ocean Spray

Multi paged plannerOne page check list from Martha Stewart

One sheet calendar for planning from Family Fun- very cute!

A 1 week planner from Family Fun- cute, too!

 Another 1 pager
A Disney 1 pager with pilgrim Mickey and Minnie

As soon as I'm able to, I'm going to try to get my planning sheets into PDF form so that I can share them. If that doesn't work, I'll at least be able to show pics so that you can get an idea of what they look like if you would like to make your own.

Yesterday I was able to play  work on the Thanksgiving lap book. Here are some links that I used for materials, including some actual lap book materials put together for you, all for free.

Nice lap book templates and some decorations

Printable coloring pages and games (I used this site for our Easter Lap book)

Although these resources are for a specific Thanksgiving book, you'll find templates and mini books that will be useful.

The First Thanksgiving mini book

Thanksgiving lap book page from Squidoo.com. Scroll down to get to printable section

Alright, so for our family's Thanksgiving, we actually get 3 (yes, THREE!!) feasts. One on Thurs. with Mama's side of the family, put on by my lovely older sister. Next up is Daddy's side of the family on Friday, which I put on at our home. And then we head up north to my aunt's for my mother's side of the family. (Luckily Aunt Audrey always does a ham in addition to a turkey, because by that time my DH and I are just about sick of turkey!) So I will be making something for each of the feasts we will be attending, plus putting on a meal. I plan on making as much ahead of time as I can. I also usually keep my meal as simple and fuss free as possible. I'll be sharing my actual menu and some tips soon.

For ways to celebrate thankfulness and gratitude, I was going to make a wreath in which we filled with leaves and acorns made of paper that we wrote what we are thankful for on. Then I found this adorable poster. Very cute and simple, it makes this Mama happy! We started a new dinner time tradition, as well. Just before we say grace, I light a tea candle in a pretty holder, the Busy Bear says grace and then thanks the Lord for something that they are thankful for that day. When they are done eating, they get to blow the candle out.

I still have more to share, so be sure to check back soon!

Blessings,

Kelly