Thanksgiving 2025 is a "Wrap".

 Oh dear friends, are you as tired as I am?  If you hosted Thanksgiving dinner at your house, I'm sure you know what I mean. But it's a happy tired, the kind that keeps you going even when your body is saying time to quit...but you don't want to miss a thing or leave something out, so you keep persevering in spite of your aches and pains. At least that's my experience...and now it's time to sit down and organized my thoughts and pictures and share it all with you before it's a dim memory!

Where to begin?  I guess I'll let the pictures do the talking for me (mostly).

Let's start with the day before Thanksgiving...this is what I did...One apple pie and two pumpkins.

And in between pie baking, we went out to lunch to meet my brother Clifford and his wife Caryl, down here in Florida from North Carolina. Caryl's extended family was gathering over at Palm Coast to celebrate Thanksgiving, but they had time on Wednesday to drive over to meet us for lunch. That was a wonderful surprise and blessing!

Our son Benton joined us as well, but sweet Rose had to work so unfortunately couldn't come.

We had a great visit, and I am so thankful for this time. We don't get to see each other very often, so I will grab every opportunity I can!

Back at home again...I got the tables set the night before. We were set for 11, but my brother in law sadly ended up not being able to come due to some health issues, but my sister Doris and the rest of her family still came anyway. We really missed having Art here, but totally understood his need to stay home and rest. My sister took home plenty of food for him to enjoy.

LOL.  Here's the family gathered around the table...Of course I caught people with their mouths full...LOL.  Sorry about that. I tried three times, but they were all funny...

I didn't get in the picture, but here's my plate:

That's my nephew Jack. He's the youngest member of the family, and such a cutie.

Actually I was trying to take a picture of this beautiful "paper" centerpiece that my sister brought as a "hostess gift".  Isn't it beautiful? It looks so real!

There's a story here...this is the lime jelled salad that my sister brought, however, somehow she stepped on the container/carrier that it was in, and this is how it looked! LOL. (It was covered with Saran Wrap so nothing got dirty, just smashed!)  It still tasted wonderful! LOL!!

 

 (kind of reminds me of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Aunt Bethany's jello mold story. LOL   IYKYK)

Speaking of cats...Blackie got a lot of attention from everyone all afternoon.  He followed us around while we walked around the yard after dinner and basically charmed everyone with his antics and rolling in the sand to show off his belly. He was quite happy. Kind of helped soothe the empty spot of not having Sunshine there too...

While us girls walked around and visited, the guys all played "football" in the front yard, well, they tossed a football back and forth and basically had fun just being "boys".

Meanwhile, we girls took pictures of each other...Here's Rose and my niece Debbie:

My sister Doris and Debbie, (her daughter):

Debbie, Doris and me...and Blackie in the background:

And here's the whole family gathered together...

My niece was playing around with an app on her phone that created funny pictures, and here's one she did of me: LOL!

And here's my sister Doris and I wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving:

As you can tell, we had a wonderful day, filled with laughter and good food and the joy of being together.  I am so thankful for our family and also for the ability for us to still be able to get together. 

This particular Thanksgiving quote/meme popped up on my Facebook page the day before Thanksgiving. Of course it really touched my heart, when you see that sweet little orange kitty curled up there...and then the verse itself...

It reminded me that even in the difficult times and moments of life, we are taught and encouraged to "Give Thanks".  It's not always easy to do so, when we are hurting from the loss of a dear pet or missing a precious loved one who was taken away far too soon, or when we see horrific things happening in the world or our nation's capitol on the eve of Thanksgiving.  

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18   NKJV

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; 

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

These are difficult words, but when we put our faith and trust in God, we know that somehow He always causes "all things to work together for our good" (per Romans 8:28. )  We have to look at the bigger picture that God sees from His side of heaven, and realize that this world is not our final home. There's a much larger story going on that we can't see, and we have to trust God to do what He deems best for us in every circumstance.  One day, we will see Jesus face to face, and all of our questions will be answered. All of our sorrows will be replaced with eternal joy and peace. For now, we have to accept this by faith no matter how difficult it is.  I am thankful for this peace that passes all understanding that only faith in Christ can give.  I pray for those who are still searching for this peace and hope it will be found.  Amen.

And now we prepare for Christmas...stay tuned...blessings and love  to all.  

Tuesday 4~We Gather Together

 

We Gather Together..



Welcome, welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 .


This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving Day when we gather together to ask the Lord's blessing as the song says.
What are your Thanksgiving Days like?


1. Do you celebrate with family, friends or by yourself?

This year we are celebrating with my sister Doris and her family, along with our own immediate family. Everyone is coming here to our house, so I am busily cleaning and preparing our house for a wonderful day! 

2. Do you watch the Thanksgiving Day parade from Macy's in New York City? The appearance of Santa at the end signals the start of the Christmas season. What does the day hold for you?

I rarely get to watch the parade as I am usually too busy in the kitchen to sit down and watch it, but if I can have it on while I work I will catch snippets of it in between my frantic pace of cooking in the kitchen.

3. What foods are the hit of Thanksgiving Day for you?

Well, of course we will have turkey, but that is not my favorite part of the meal. I am more of a "sides" person. I will be making my usual Sweet Potato Casserole as well as regular Mashed potatoes and gravy. My sister is bringing the stuffing, a jello salad, and the rolls.  My niece is bringing assorted vegie and relish trays or some kind of appetizer. Rose is roasting the turkeys (2 small ones) at her house  and bringing them here. I am making the pies: pumpkin, apple, and maybe a pecan pie if I don't wear out before then. LOL.  

4. We say grace before and after meals. Is grace a part of your Thanksgiving meal?

We always say grace before the meal, and then while we are gathered around the table we each share something we are especially thankful for.

Whatever your Thanksgiving traditions, I pray that the day is meaningful and filled with love for you whether with family, friends or alone. May God shine his blessing love down on you and yours and make us all truly thankful this year.

Thank you, Annie, for this post this week. I understand that today (25th) is also Annie's birthday, so let's all wish her a Happy Birthday!

I want to thank you all for your kind words of sympathy and support regarding the loss of our dear sweet kitty, Sunshine.  You are all the best friends, and I thank God for each one of you!   I am thankful for the time that God gave us with Sunshine. He truly was a blessing to us. Now we have to concentrate all our love and attention on his little buddy "Blackie", who is very lonely without his dear friend.  We are thankful to still have Blackie, even if he is a little "scamp". LOL.  He brings smiles to our faces.

Hug your family and furry friends a little tighter. We just never know when this day or this Thanksgiving may be our last time together.  May God bless you each and every one. Amen.

Link to a previous Thanksgiving Day post from years past.

Thursday Thankfulness from the Back Porch

Good Morning from the back porch!  Sunshine and Blackie are "greeting" you, but after looking at their eyes and posture, it's more like they are "glaring" at us!  I'm thinking they are saying, "How dare you make us stay out here where it's so cold while you are inside where it is so nice and warm!" (this picture was taken yesterday).   However, seriously, they have been doing fine and they seem to have taken advantage of the warm places that we prepared for them on the porch for the past couple of very cold days, and now today it is already 47 degrees and heading back up to 75 this afternoon, so they are just fine.  

So, just after I wrote that paragraph with that picture above, I got up to go to the bathroom. When I stepped into my bathroom I was literally shocked to see Blackie in there, snooping around quietly and acting like nothing was unusual about him being there...and I am like, "Blackie! How did you get in here???"  He kind of turned around and smiled at me as if to say, "Ha Ha! I fooled  you!! I got in when you weren't looking and I've been in here for 10 minutes and you didn't even know it!"  The only thing I can figure out is that when I stepped out on the front porch to put out the flag, he must've been right there by the front door and slipped in when I wasn't looking because I was focused on putting out the flag and looking at the sunrise!  It certainly was a shock to me, because he's rarely ever on the front porch in the morning. He is such a little scamp! 

So here we go, I am herding him back toward the back door... (he sees those doggy beds under the coffee table, which belong to our grandpuppies when they come to visit, and I think he was kind of smirking at them, as if to say, "just you wait...I'll be in here in those beds one of these days!") LOL.

Sunshine was right there at the back door as if to say, "Hey! How did you get in there without me?" Meanwhile Blackie headed to the edge of the porch to look out at the birds and pretend nothing was any different. Mister Innocent. LOL.

And once again they sat down and got back to their normal places...

But Blackie looked back and gave me one last glance as if to say, "I almost fooled you this time! You better watch out, because I know all the tricks, and one of these days you won't be able to get me back out that door!"    Yeah, I'm thinking this blog is becoming a saga of whose will is going to break first...mine or the cats, (or my hubby...who is the real stern one behind the mandate of no cats in the house...and yet he goes out to give them treats when they really don't need them, and I hear him talking baby talk to them when he doesn't think I'm listening...)

Stay tuned.  I wonder how many of you are placing bets on how soon those cats will be living in our house? LOL.  

Meanwhile, life is calm and peaceful out on the still very dry Still Waters Pond. This was the scene this morning, with Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane literally walking on the dry pond over to the shore, which really isn't a shore anymore...it's all dry land these days. That black bird you see behind them is that male Muscovy Duck...who is still hanging around and trying to sneak up on the porch when we aren't looking... Did I say life was 'calm and peaceful'?  LOL. 

Yesterday morning hubby had a follow up Doctor visit to go over his labs from last week...and Praise the Lord! They were all really good, and he had a very good visit with the doctor. Things are looking much better than they were earlier this year, and we are VERY thankful.    So we BOTH had good doctor reports this week!!

From there we stopped at the hospital so I could visit our neighbor, who has been in there for about a week. This is the same neighbor who used to feed our kitties before I took over. She has had a lot of health issues over the past year, and has been in and out of the hospital several times after falling in her home.  It's really been a rough time, and her daughter works full time and lives a couple of hours away, so things have been really challenging for both of them.  I've tried to help as much as I could, but there's only so much I could do, along with other home health people her daughter has had to hire to come and check on her and help out.  Anyway, finally her daughter was able to find a rehab place for her closer to her home, and she is going to be going there for at least a month, and then we'll see what happens after that. I wanted to see her before she left today because I know I won't be able to go visit her at the rehab place 2 hours away.  I am thankful that she will be taken care of and hopefully she will get stronger...and of course her dream is to be able to come back to her home...but time will tell and I pray for what is really best for her.

After that it was lunch time, so hubby and I decided to go try out a restaurant in Palatka that has just reopened in a new location after about a year of renovation, etc.  We'd never been to that restaurant before, so we really didn't know what to expect, but we'd heard that people really loved it and they were anxiously awaiting for it to reopen. We got there around 11:15 a.m. for lunch, and there was already a line waiting!  Thankfully we got in pretty quick, and we were not disappointed in the food or the service...and the atmosphere was very "country". Of course I took pictures!

The name of the restaurant is "Bradley's", and they serve southern country style food and seafood. Oh, and steak and catfish too, on their supper menu, but we rarely go out for supper. Although I love some good catfish, and so we may have to go back for that sometime...

Here's some of the decor...one of Sunshine and Blackie's distant cousins was there: LOL.  (a.k.a. a Bobcat)

This area is known for large mouth bass fishing...and it looks like someone caught a few prize fish!

We are not far from the Ocala National Forest, so these fellas aren't far from "home".  There were a LOT of these deer mounted on all the walls of the restaurant...I was half expecting to see venison on the menu, but it wasn't...

LOL...This is what goes on at night out there on the shores of the lakes in the area...Welcome to north central Florida!  

Oops...that fella didn't get away...

I thought this painting was quite interesting.    Might be a bit too remote and swampy for my liking, but this is typical of places in "old Florida"...

And here's my plate! I ordered the Chicken and Dumplings special for the day, and it came with a choice of vegies...I chose Collard Greens, and Zipper Peas, and a "Hoecake"!  I had to ask what the "hoecake" would be, and was told it was cornbread. Imagine my surprise when it came looking more like a "pancake", but it was definitely cornbread! It was all REALLY good, if you like southern country cooking!

Hubby had the Chopped Beef Steak smothered in mushrooms and gravy, rice and gravy, and green beans. He ordered the hush puppies for his bread. Normally we have those with seafood, but they were good with this too...

It was all good, and we will definitely be going back! Now I see why people were standing in line waiting!!

Well Folks, I guess this is all from the back porch today. I'm very thankful for all of these blessings and also that today has turned out to be a lovely sunshiny warm day. Oh, and I just found out that my sister and her family are going to come here for Thanksgiving, and I am very happy about that! It's been a while since they've all been here at our house for Thanksgiving (or any dinner), so it will be wonderful. Now I just have to start cleaning house and planning ahead...

Here's a good thought for today...

 John 14:27 NKJV

 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

One more thing I am thankful for is that the government shutdown is over and hopefully things will get back to some kind of normal. Praying for all those who have been seriously impacted by this shutdown in one way or another. 

Thank you all for your kind words and prayers for my daughter in law's sister's family. You all are a wonderful family of friends. I do thank God for each and every one of you.  

Monday Monday~Bits and Pieces

 Good Monday Morning! I hope I can get this posted while it is still morning! Of course, now that we have that "extra hour", I should get more done.  When I say "extra hour", it's because since we turned our clocks back, instead of sleeping for that extra hour, my body still thinks it's time to get up and so do the cats! Our "Blink" cameras on the back porch go "ding", to tell us that there is action on the porch, meaning one or both of our kitties are out there, and their feeding time does NOT change in their minds! So I might as well get up and get the day rolling! 

(these pictures of Sunshine and Blackie were taken on another morning, when it was daylight!

It's still too dark out there this morning to take any pictures!)

I entitled this "Bits and Pieces", because I have a little of this and little of that to share, tying up some loose ends and answering some questions about previous posts, so buckle up, get your cup of tea or coffee and let's go!

We'll start with this...

Looks perfectly fine, right?  Well, last night I was moving this lovely china cannister from underneath  the cabinet where it is currently being stored until springtime, and that lovely lid slipped off, hit the floor, and the sweet little heart shaped topper broke off the top, Of Course!

In the picture above, it is waiting for the super glue to dry...while I was in the bathroom dousing my thumb and index finger (forefinger) with acetone/fingernail polish remover, Dawn soap, and filing between them with a metal fingernail file, why? Because dummy me got my fingers stuck together with Super Glue! (no pictures of that, but let me tell you, the struggle was REAL).  And I had tried SO hard not to let that happen...I don't even know how it did, but it did, and they were stuck good! But because this was not my first rodeo, (yes, I've done it before), I knew about the Acetone and the fingernail file trick, and the internet (thanks to hubby looking it up) also suggested the warm soapy water, and after about 15 minutes of working on this calamity, they finally came unstuck! And I didn't even lose any skin in the process!  Note to self: Next time, wear rubber gloves when using Super Glue!  And note to you, if this ever happens to you, be sure you have some fingernail polish remover (Acetone) on hand. It works the best, but you will need all of the other items listed above as well to get it completely unstuck without too much damage to your fingers!  I just thank the Lord I didn't touch my face or my eye with that super glue on my finger! Or any other tender spot on my body! That could have been disastrous!

Okay, moving right along!

Some of you wanted to know about this little Thanksgiving Vignette from my Sunday post:

The only "new to me" item in this picture is the little cast iron wood cook stove! All the other pieces and the sweet thankful people I have had for many years, well except for the little wooden table and chairs...that was a gift from my sister in law Peggy a few years ago for my dollhouse, but they are actually a little too big for Pamela's Victorian Cottage, so I was happy to finally come up with a way to use them here.

This little cast iron stove is a new to me item, found this past Saturday at our church's thrift store yard sale! I knew when I saw it there that I wanted it, but I tried to talk myself out of it. My first thought was that it would go in Pamela's Victorian Cottage, but it is actually too big for it.  But, after walking away from it and coming back again, this little black beauty finally came home with me.  Once I got it home I had to figure out where it would go, and that's when I remembered that it was time to bring out the Thanksgiving people for the month of November, and guess what? They are just the right size for this, and so the Thanksgiving Family Dinner Tableau was created!  I must say that even my hubby remarked about how special it was and he was pleased...so that's something!   Usually hubby doesn't pay that much attention to my little "creations" and decorations, but he actually noticed this and liked it, so I guess it was worth the donation I made to our Thrift Store to make this a new part of our family holiday traditions.    Plus, it reminded me of one that my mother used to have, and I don't know what ever happened to it, but you know how it is when you see something that reminds you of a loved one who has gone on before...? Yeah, I'm that sentimental...

Okay, next bits and pieces...Many of you had some good ideas about what I should do with my leftover Halloween Candy that didn't get passed out due to lack of the large number of Trick or Treaters we usually have...

Some of you suggested that I take it to church or something like that. Well, that's basically what I did. First off, on Saturday morning we headed to a Farmer's Market where our son was selling more of his wooden items.  I gave him a bag full of the candy bags to pass out to the other vendors and/or any customers who came by. And so he did, and he managed to get rid of quite a few...

And although I didn't take any pictures at our Church Thrift Shop Yard Sale, I took the rest of the candy bags to them and they also passed them out to customers, and if there were any left they were going to take them to Sunday School on Sunday.  (This is a picture of the Thrift Shop on a normal day):

Oh, and the only thing I bought at the Farmer's Market where we visited earlier was a loaf of homemade Cinnamon Raisin Swirl bread, with which I made some scrumptious French Toast this morning for breakfast:

And yes, that's SPAM!  Don't knock it unless you've tried it, especially with some warm maple syrup on it!

That little blue and white corner of a dish in that you can see in that picture above reminds me of these other "bits and pieces" of pictures I took not too long ago:

I was washing this Currier and Ives Butter Dish, and I couldn't remember if I'd ever shown you pictures of my Currier & Ive's china or not! So, apparently this was on a day when I didn't have much to do or to show you in a post, so I saved these pictures for some future "blog fodder".  Yes, I have a lot of these dishes, and I used to have even more, but I gave quite a few pieces away to some dear friends who were helping me when we were packing up to move to this house.  If you don't mind, here's a few more pictures of the ones I have left. I think there's still at least 10 of these dinner plates left as well as the other side dishes as shown below:

Dinner Plate

Sugar Bowl and Creamer! Does anyone use Creamer Pitchers anymore? Someday I may do a post on all of the various creamers I have, but not today...

The lid of the Sugar Bowl

A Teacup, and somehow I managed to get rid of all the saucers for the tea cups, but I only have two of these left anyway. They are an awkward size to use, so I rarely do.

I have only one of this salad or sandwich size plate

Meat Platter

Another serving platter

Soup Bowl...I have at least 8 of these.

Vegetable Serving Bowl

Cereal Bowl

Small Berry or fruit or jello salad Bowl

Another large Vegetable Serving Bowl

Large Round Platter

Small Dessert  Plate (in the middle)

Many of these dishes were accumulated over the years by gifts from family or friends, and a few I may have picked up at yard sales here and there. We usually use these at Christmas or Thanksgiving, but this year I plan to use these new plates for Thanksgiving:

Many of you will recognize these as coming from the Dollar Tree:

Dinner Plates...I have 10 of these.

And I love these little dessert plates...don't you?

I have accumulated these over the past few years from the Dollar Tree, and so hopefully we will be able to use them this Thanksgiving.  Those plans are still up in the air as to who is coming, but one way or the other, they will be used, even though our youngest son (Scott) informed me that these dishes were made in China and may have lead paint and he's not so sure he wants to eat off of them...yes...some people can be too picky, but hey! He can use whatever plate he wants just so long as he comes to dinner and helps clean up in the kitchen afterwards! LOL. Gotta love him!

Okay, one last Bits and Pieces...

You remember how we've had trouble with stray dogs coming up on our porch and terrorizing the cats and eating their food? Well our son Benton finally was able to get a gate built to put at the entrance to the porch from the steps,,,

with a little help from Blackie...

He was showing how he could still get back and forth around the gate...

Yes, hello Blackie...Say good morning to everyone:

Anyway, we thought that would be all that was needed until a new set of stray dogs came the next day and got right on the porch around that gate just like the cats do...so Hubby got busy and put these board on there to block them...

And so far so good. So there! It may not be perfect, but it works.

Okay, it's time to put this post to the publisher and get a move on! 

Here's some food for thought for today from 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

"6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."

Good thoughts for this Thanksgiving season as we ponder how we may be able to bless others during these upcoming holidays...

Have a blessed and wonderful day my friends.