Nov 28, 2025 – Recipes for Life
Despite what you are about to read today, this is not a cooking blog! [When I got to the end of my writing and reread it, I wondered how I’d wandered off my typical faith-based devotion topic; but then I realized that all of this IS part of our faith journey: gathering with family and friends, cooking, eating, being grateful….]
I got up early yesterday to start getting ready for the day and thought I’d at least pull up a few devotions and get a short blog out; but, even though we were only having a small Thanksgiving crowd this year, there was much straightening (dishes and debris from a small, but fun, gathering the night before) and prep to do to get ready. I guess I could have read and blogged at the end of the day when I finally settled on the couch (with pie) to watch whatever caught my attention (besides football). I’m not big on pro-football, but tomorrow you can bet every tv in the house will be on to try to catch all, or at least some, of the rivalry college games!
My favorite part of the day yesterday was breakfast with Davis before he headed back to Atlanta. [I fixed a delicious breakfast pizza that our small group leader had made for our brunch last week!] Thank You God for my children! My next favorite part of Thanksgiving Day has always been getting the sweet potatoes going while watching the parade. There are of course other items to organize (beans, gravy, washing dishes as I go, setting the table, snacks and coffee to keep us going while we prep…I really love all of it…because I love gathering and eating with family and friends).
I boil my potatoes, rather than bake, because it makes the mixing even smoother and the peeling (after they cool) is a breeze. [And here’s a tip if you haven’t already discovered it: if you mix the potatoes in a mixer, don’t scrape the beaters back into the potatoes because that’s where all the strings collect, or at least that’s what happens with my mixer.] If I were to have to pick a favorite Thanksgiving Day food, it would have to be Barbara’s dressing. Dressing, not stuffing. There IS a difference. I don’t know why that wins out over everything else (including desserts), but it does. Maybe it’s in part because, as with Don tackling the turkey (another thing I was grateful for yesterday), I don’t have to make it! But on top of that, it’s delicious! Really. It’s what I prefer over all the versions I’ve had throughout my life.
Don prefers to do a trashcan turkey (something he learned while our boys were in Boy Scouts); but, with a small crowd and no one really to sit outside (in the cold, which he was ultimately glad to not have to do yesterday) to tend the coals with him, he reluctantly (which means he pouted a bit) relented for an oven turkey especially when I found a secret new ingredient for him to wow everyone with. Besides his tubas (and other instruments), Don is well known for his Don Parks (he gets good parking spots everywhere he goes, seriously, ride with him and you’ll experience it) and Don Dip which is just Hidden Valley Ranch dip made with their packets (and sometimes with taco seasoning added). The turkey was delicious and didn’t taste like ranch dip, I guess because the HVR seasonings were mixed with butter and not sour cream.
I hear Don in the kitchen and “At Last” (which is the song I walked out to at our wedding in our yard) playing in a commercial so I’m going to cut this short and go have breakfast with him before I have to leave for physical therapy. Not sure why today’s entry was so talky, but it is what it is.
JC – “Rest in the deep assurance of My unfailing Love…. The best response to this glorious gift is a life steeped in thankfulness. Every time you thank Me, you acknowledge that I am your Lord and Provider. This is the proper stance for a child of God: receiving with thanksgiving. Bring Me the sacrifice of gratitude, and watch to see how much I bless you.”
[Note: I found two very good Netflix movies last night that I highly recommend. Find Me Falling starting Harry Connick Jr and The Life List starring Connie Britton.]
