Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving

As the day winds down I reflect about the beauty and joys the day has brought.

It was with much satisfaction that most of our food was either grown in our gardens, our neighbors gardens, or bought local.

We had our own butternut squash, local organic carrots, the potatoes we dug ourselves and purchased from our neighbors.  I bought stuffing. (in a box... I know... uggg).  Next year my goal is to make my own.  I also purchased canned jellied cranberry sauce.  (again, double ugggg).  Dear husband loves this, but next year I am going to at least buy organic and see about buying some cranberries and making my own.

Our pumpkin pie came from our local pumkins with whipped cream from a farm in our town. 

The turkey was fresh, 23 pounds and also came from a farm in our town.  We are planning to raise our own next year if we can hire or barter with someone who will help us with the processing.

cutting the turkey


pumpkin cooking


finished pies



our table with birch bark napkin rings and birch branch candle holders

I couldn't resist these two wines with the chicken and rooster labels.

It was special visiting with family.


dear husband with his father and brother
As I was washing dishes, I started to get a bit sad thinking of how much we have and of those who do not.  We had just shared in an amazing meal, are warm and have the joy of being surrounded by family.

On my way to town the other day, a church had a quote in their sign that read
"Gratitude is saying thanks and sharing the gifts with others."

Happy Thanksgiving.
Warm wishes, Tonya

15 comments:

  1. Many blessings to you and your family! I hope you received my email! If not, thanks again!

    Many, many warm hugs all around!
    Matty

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  2. I love the look of your table, and your birch candle holders!! xx

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  3. My favorite homemade cranberry sauce is a childhood recipe but so easy and VERY good. You put a small can of crushed pineapple (drained) and 1 cup of sugar and an entire orange cut into chunks (cut out the part with any stem pieces but do put in the rind and everything else) - in a blender and blend until smooth. Then you add a 12 ounce bag of fresh cranberries (rinse first and remove any stems) and blend until smooth again. It is sweet and tart and delicious...and it tastes best if made the day before so the flavors can blend!

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  4. Tonya - how grateful you are and so very compassionate. I also a feeling of sadness - as I was watching the Thanksgiving Parade here in Philadelphia - the announcer spoke about a program called Philabundence - a program that feeds the poor. He shared a sad fact - there are 44,000 children living in poverty in Philadelphia!!! I am a lump in my thought just thinking about it. I am grateful for what I have - but not because of what other don't have - what those children don't have makes me angry and sad. Sigh.
    I guess this will be what gets my ball rolling and that I can be thankful for - the ability to help others - just like your sign.
    Namaste, Nicole

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  5. Your Thanksgiving looks like it was not only delicious but a true recognition of all that we have, not only material comforts but family love and closeness.

    I'm very impressed that you make pumpkin pie from scratch. Here in Scotland, it's difficult to buy pumpkin puree, and I have tried making pumpkin pies from real pumpkins (the ones we get here are more like squash, maybe 6 inches in diameter) but I've never had anything like good results. I'd be curious to know if you have some tips for me.

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  6. Happy Thanksgiving! You are right, it's the warmth of our home and family that are the things we should be most grateful for x

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  7. It sounds like a wonderful Thanksgiving, Tonya! If you figure out how to make jellied cranberry sauce, please share. We buy organic, but my kids love the jellied kind and I can't find a good recipe to replace the canned. :)

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  8. Lovely. Your table and your sentiments sum up the holiday so perfectly. Thanks for sharing :)

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  9. Many thanksgiving blessings to you - it is reflections like this that are the true spirit of this time of year .
    I would have thought that cranberries would grow well where you are. We have just panted some bushes on some of our land which is wet and peaty - hoping for some homegrown cranberry sauce next year. xx

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  10. It looks and sounds so homegrown and wonderful, Tonya! We started making our own cranberry sauce a couple of years ago- it's very good- very strong!
    <3

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  11. There is such joy in eating your own produce, literally the fruits of your labours. The tragedy of children in poverty is a tragic counterpoint - and yet, you know, while you can't make light of the very real tragedy of most of those kids, it has to be said that a few of them, on a technicality, will be the kids who grow up on farms like mine, and perhaps Tonya's! For yes, my children apparently count as marginalised - no vacations, no laptops, no branded trainers - they conveniently fit all the criteria for relative poverty. When we're hoping an praying that those kids get lifted out of poverty, and working toward that goal, lets aim for the true riches of home, family, love and good food, rather than material benchmarks which may hide a worse kind of poverty.

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  12. So glad your day was joy-filled. Wonderful you could have extended family visit:-)

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  13. Enjoy having a glimpse of your family's life through your lovely blog. I visit often and am always blessed in some way! Stop by some time to visit and *follow* the happenings at our country cottage. :o) Blessings, Mumsie

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  14. It looks like you had a wonderful celebration! I feel the same way often-grateful for all that I have, how lucky I am, and feeling sad for people who suffer. It could have easily been otherwise. Thanks for a beautiful post.

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