Thanks Given

I make a point of being thankful for what I have, everyday. I am trying to teach this to my girls. Today we took the time to count our blessings as this day is designated for such but honestly it makes me bat sh*t crazy that we have to have a day just to stop and count our blessings. Be thankful everyday....please.

Lily wrote her thanks down and read them at the table:

Dear Family.

On this Thanksgiving day I want to thank each one of you.

Rosie, I am sorry when I get mad at you when you are sincerely trying to help. I thank you for your help.

Dad, I thank you for always trying to keep cool while Rosie and I are really annoying.

And last but not least, Mom, I appreciate when you always do little things like laundry, making our meals, cleaning the house, etc. I would never have been able to do it myself.

With a thankful heart,
Lily.

Some of our dinner guests.

Turkey Eve

I haven't spotted any Pilgrims yet but i did spot an Indian earlier so I know that Turkey Day is very very close.

So that's what she needed that brown paper bag for at school.

#%&

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving people. The official kick off of the American holiday season. There is no turning back and just because my bright red passport identifies me as a foreigner I live here in a house with full fledged Americans so I have to get with it. I must pull my head out of the sand and start liberally shouting, Gobble till you wobble and Ho Ho Ho.

I am so not ready for this, this year. I thought I was going to be better prepared and feeling festive but I'm not. The festive part I can pull off in a second but the prepared part is out of control and so not happening. #%&*

I had the best intentions. I meant to send all my gifts that needed to go back to the UK back with my sister when she left but I failed to buy them. I just cannot get my head around the fact that Christmas is just around the corner. Seriously how can it be? Wasn't it only just here? My sister was here for Halloween. Halloween happens in October so there must be loads of time and she only left one week ago today.

I can only hope that by next Thursday the commercials on T.V. will have moved me into overdrive and instead of sleeping through the night I will be out shopping with all the other nutcases in the wee hours of Black Friday.

The girls have asked that we not host Thanksgiving this year and their reason made me laugh. My children do not like the fact that on Thanksgiving day we eat our meals in reverse order. The large meal is eaten at lunch time and the small meal eaten later. To them that is wrong. plain. and. simple. It messes with their heads and they both detest it. 

I'd better go and start writing a list and checking it twice of course. On second thoughts how can it possibly be Thanksgiving next week that's just absurd. 

Thanksgiving day

I didn't post about Thanksgiving day, somehow it got overshadowed by my Black Friday madness and the fun we had with friends.

I'm not cooking that huge meal again. It's not worth it. The turkey isn't a big deal. Thanks to a cookery book written by and English chef, that I received as a wedding present, cooking the turkey is fool proof and even I can do it with my eyes closed. A little fluff and fuss to begin with and again towards the end but other than that it just sits all alone in the oven cooking itself. It's the side dishes that are madness. Lets face it you don't normally have between 6-10 different sides. Well perhaps you do, we don't. They aren't things you cook on an ordinary day and they are all fussy.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time in the kitchen. The girls were getting bored, the hubby fell asleep and my cries for help didn't wake him. As I got hotter than my kitchen and started banging things about not a soul stirred. We needed to eat early as Jacob had to work and I wanted him to be included in the festivities. By noon I was rushing around like a Black Friday shopper (hah) and nothing was happening. The table needed to be set, the house hoovered, the floors washed, etc etc.

Once our guests arrived everything was in place and they were blissfully oblivious to the chaos of minutes before. My mood was anything but festive but I kept it in check and as usually happens when one has a good time it changed instantly.

Once we sat down to eat, the meal was devoured in minutes. It was all good and everyone enjoyed it, everyone except Lily who has suddenly decided she will no longer eat meat, doesn't like sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce or half the veggies and other sides that we had. She a microscopic portion of food on her plate which concerned me. It couldn't keep a flea alive. Rosie actually ate more than her.

So much work for a few seconds. Perhaps it is because I'm not a foodie but it seems like such a waste of time. The company was great and we had a lovely time. The rest of the day spent enjoying each others company.

I'm done with the cooking. I really don't think my kids will be scarred for life and missing some great memories if I don't cook, they are more like to be scarred by my cooking. So from here on out, we are eating out or having it delivered on the holidays unless Jacob wants to do it.

This is my resignation.

Pre Thanksgiving jitters

My kitchen looks as if it was the target of a terrorist attack. I look like a went a few rounds with Tyson and it's all because I am trying to get a head start on the Thanksgiving meal. I was not cut out to be a cook. I don't even like food that much. Each year I host Thanksgiving for all my family and any Ex-Pats that get lost in the shuffle. This year it is going to be smaller....probably because my cooking skills killed off a few last year.

I dutifully went to the supermarket with an almighty list in hand and came home sans a turkey. Seriously such responsibility should not be thrust upon me. As I meandered the store grabbing all the things that one needs for Thanksgiving, minus the Turkey, I was struck by how much stuff the other people were buying and thought I should get the extra stuff too. Perhaps it really isn't Thanksgiving without garbage sack sized bags of chips or the worlds largest container of whipped cream. What do I know, (a) I'm a foreigner in these parts and (b) I can't flipping cook!

There is so much to do. So many side dishes to be made. Each one more fancy and complicated than the last. As I type my stuffing is sitting on the stove, the flavours all "coming together" whatever the h*ll that means. It smells good but that just might be the wine. Not the wine in it but the wine I am drinking just to stay a float. It stops me throwing things across the room too when the cookery book uses a term that I actually have to Google before I can do it.

There's a saying in this house: Mummy only has a kitchen because it came with the house.

I found this recipe and still think I should try it. It's for people like me who don't know how to cook.

Here is a turkey recipe that also includes the use of popcorn as a stuffing ingredient -- imagine that. When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect for people like me, who just are not sure how to tell when turkey is thoroughly cooked, but not dried out. Give this a try.

1 - 15 lb. turkey 1 cup melted butter 1 cup stuffing (Pepperidge Farm is Good) 1 cup un-popped popcorn (ORVILLE REDENBACHER'S LOW FAT IS BEST) Salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush turkey well with melted butter, salt, and pepper. Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking pan making sure the neck end is toward the front of the oven, not the back.

After about 4 hours listen for the popping sounds.


When the turkey's ass blows the oven door open and the bird flies across the room,.... it's done.

Happy Thanksgiving and gobble til ya wobble.


Oh and I am adding a new label for my posts, it's "humour" for those who might think I am 100% serious and actually drinking wine by the vat at noon.

A Day To Be Thankful.

Neither Jacob nor myself have any extended family here in Miami but our close friends have become our chosen family, and we were all together under one roof celebrating today.

We invited our friends to join us and even though they all know that I am no chef they still accepted the offer. As the numbers kept climbing I was getting panicky. How on earth does one cook for 14 people? I now know the answer, you google every single question that you have and then email your friend Viv who is a master Chef.

I pulled it off and we all sat down to a feast fit for a king.

My favourite part of the day was sharing it with Pammie, Armando and their son Adam and his girlfriend. Pam was the first person I met when I moved here 25 yrs ago. It has been many years since we all sat down at the same table and it was fantastic. Truly something to give thanks for. My friend Jakie and her girls also shared the day with us. I don't think I have ever had a Thanksgiving that was quite so special.

When I was busy in the kitchen the girls made napkin holders out of paper towel rolls and little turkeys. (we don't fool around with little scissors in this house)

After many hours of prepping and cooking we were ready to serve.

Hmm, I have just realised that certain people dodged the camera

Our menu was: Roasted turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, gravy, green beans with almonds, Beaumont Inn corn pudding, Hawaiian Sweet potatoes with oranges and pineapple, roasted brussel sprouts with garlic and ham, mashed potatoes and of course dinner rolls. It was wonderful. Jakie and Pammie brought dessert and it was heavenly.

Young love....Adam and Alina


Every year the we take the girls for a walk on Thanksgiving day and collect pine cones with them. Not sure what pine cones have to do with Thanksgiving but it has become a tradition. This year we were minus Jacob as he had to leave and go to work.

W had a "berry" good walk.









Lily showing off her acorns

When we came home the girls tucked into their G*diva chocolate turkeys.

Now my girls are in bed and I am reflecting and giving thanks for my wonderful life.

Is anyone else appalled at how many businesses are open today?

Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours.

We have a wonderful day planned with so many special friends. I hope your Thanksgiving is very special also.

Friends To Be Thankful For.

We have always had a Wednesday get together in the park and we love it. 2 of the families moved away this summer and our play dates just aren't the same. Thankfully they are back in town for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families so we made a point to get together today.

It was like a little slice of heaven.

The crazy mums. I look a bit frazzled...it's the fear of cooking tomorrow.

Jacob and Evan
Lily and Ju-la la. It's Julia but Rosie can't say that.
Rosie and Ju-la-la

And then tonight after their baths they went off into Lily's bedroom and came out looking like this. I love my girls, so much and they always keep me laughing. After a few minutes of being dressed like that Lily told me the ceiling fan wasn't really cooling her down ...No kidding!

Thanksgiving.

Lily made a little paper turkey yesterday and gave each one of us a feather to write on what we are thankful for. I thought it was such a lovely idea. I am thankful for my family, my home and my health, our troops and of course a myriad of other things that I couldn't fit on this tiny feather. Lily is thankful for her family, her shelter and her food, Jacob is thankful for Mommy, Lily and Rose and Rosie said she was thankful for Mummy, Daddy, Big Lily and anything orange. Obviously she couldn't write her list so Lily did it for her but she did not persuade her in anyway.

I think it is hugely important as a parent to teach my children to be thankful for all that they have and to realise that there are many people all over the world that have very little and in some cases nothing. Lily truly understands this and often takes the money that she has in her piggy bank and asks if she can donate it to Half the Sky or to one of the many projects run by our adoption agency, WACAP. We are not a family that practises an organized religion mainly because Jacob and I are of different faiths and don't agree with each others beliefs wholeheartedly but we are a very spiritual family. In my opinion, and we are all entitled to opinions, you do not need religion to instill right and wrong into your children. Good morals and values are found in your heart and soul.

Teaching my children to be thankful is something that is a daily task and not something that I do on the last Thursday of November but having a day to celebrate the Pilgrims and the Mayflower and feasting on turkey and pumpkin pie together with friends and family is a wonderful way to celebrate American traditions.

So yes I am very thankful for many many things both large and small but not just today, everyday.

I am especially thankful for these 2 little girls who have made my heart complete.

Happy Thanksgiving.

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP,
MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS,
MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER
STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.

Happy Thanksgiving!


Happy Thanksgiving to all.
I hope that each and everyone of you has something that you are thankful for. We are truly blessed with a life that we are very thankful for. Of course on the top of our list is Miss Lily. Each and everyday I wonder what I ever did to deserve such an amazing gift.

A Day To Be Thankful And Confused

Thanksgiving proved to be a very confusing day for Lily. We started it off with something that we have been doing for the last couple of years and that is a walk around a nearby park to gather pine cones for our holiday display. She loves this and so do we.

Here she is looking for some pine cones:

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Found One:

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This year someone had beaten us to it and pine cones were few and far between so Jacob had to beat through the undergrowth and find them for her while we waited for him to re-appear with the goods!


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Thanks Daddy

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Then it was back home to eat our big Thanksgiving lunch. Since the airlines never sleep Jacob had to work yesterday so we decided to eat before he went to work so that he wouldnt miss out. We set the table with Lily's help, she didn't question anything, she put her placemat down that she made at school, helped with the tablecloth and all the place settings. It wasn't until we sat down to eat this huge meal that she questioned it. Why are we eating dinner now was her first question and then after we expained why she looked so worried and said, do I have to have my bath and go to bed afterwards? We cracked up. Our child is a creature of habit and doesnt like things out of whack! This really messed with her head and for the rest of the day she was out of sorts it was so funny. She refused dessert at lunchtime because you just don't get dessert for lunch. By the time we had "dinner" I think her brain literally itched. I ended up feeding her, her usual lunch fare just to see if that would help. Well, see for yourselves.

It's just WRONG

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Gobble Gobble

Happy Thansgiving to all.
We have so much to be thankful for and hope that all of you do as well.