Friday Foto Friends: Thanksgiving...The Morning After

 Before I put away all of the Thanksgiving decor and begin our Christmas decorations, I wanted to share one more post about our Thanksgiving day...

I posted most of these pictures on Facebook last night, so if you've already seen them just bear with me...or you can move on if you wish...

But I had a few comments about the unusual "Turkey Cranberry Dish" shown above and below:

A few years ago, when we still lived in Salt Springs and had LOTS of room to host many guests for Thanksgiving and the holidays in general, one of our frequent guests was our neighbor John T., who lived alone behind our house.  I've told this story before HERE, and also mentioned this kind neighbor and his little "gifts" HERE.  But in case you missed the story before, let me share it once again.  Our neighbor and friend John loved to give little gifts. His mother at that time was in a nursing home and he was in the process of cleaning out her home to sell it. He often would leave me little "presents" on the fence post between our houses, but other times he would just bring things over that he wanted me to have...little knicknacks and figurines. But this lovely glass Turkey Dish he especially wanted me to have and use for cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, because that was his mother's tradition. He always remembered it being on their Thanksgiving table that way.  And so we did do that then, and John was a guest at our table.  He was very pleased and so was I to have it.  Well, since we've moved about 30 miles away from there, and because our house is not quite as conducive to having larger groups for special holiday dinners, we've kind of had to limit our guest list to family.  

I was feeling bad about not inviting John yesterday, so I called him to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving and to let him know that we would be using his mother's turkey cranberry dish again in memory of her, as she had passed away this past year. He was very pleased to know that. He is not in good health now himself, and I don't think he could have come up here by himself even if we had invited him, but I still felt sad that I hadn't thought about inviting him sooner.  But, again, my family had kind of laid down the law to me about doing too much and as it turned out, it was for the best for me to just have our smaller family gathering. 

So now you know the story of the Turkey Cranberry Dish.  I will continue to cherish it and honor our neighbor John T.'s  mother's memory (even though I never knew her) whenever we serve cranberry sauce!

Now on to the rest of our Thanksgiving day memories:

We were watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while cooking and waiting for the kids to arrive.  I just happened to notice this big balloon that said "Believe" on it, so had to capture a picture before it went on by.  "Believe" is my "One Word" for 2021, and so that is why it was so significant. I like that my little plaque on the wall above the TV also happened to be in the picture...

A dear friend made this for me...How appropriate that the "Believe" balloon was captured with this...it shows in Whom I believe...Jesus...

Of course the Believe balloon was part of the Santa and his sleigh display in the parade...which of course was meant to tell us to believe in Santa...and well, of course I believe in Santa too! Doesn't everybody? I mean, if you don't believe, you'll just get underwear and socks for Christmas!

I do believe in the joy and love and blessings of Christmas, because of Jesus...not because of Santa...but I still enjoy Santa too. Just don't let him take the place of the real meaning of Christmas...

More about that later as we begin the season of Advent this Sunday.  But for now, let's finish up Thanksgiving!

I think my plate was full to overflowing...

And my heart was full to overflowing too, with the wonderful blessings of family near by:

Hubby and me

Our sweet daughter in love Rose and our son Benton

Our cute son Scott

And of course we mustn't leave out our sweet grandpuppies Sugar and Spice.

Hubby is smiling because he'd been up to some mischief:

He thinks he's doing something funny when he takes candid pictures of me eating or sleeping or doing other things that should not be published here.  I said I would allow this one, but no more!

The Little Pilgrims came to join us and offer their thanks for so many blessings...

And let us not forget our other little friends, Lily Grace and her friends at the "Kid's Table":

Even they are "thankful"...

And these youngsters below exemplify what this day was really all about...Giving Thanks to the Lord, for He is good...His Love endures forever...

and also counting our blessings and naming them one by one...which we did around the table...there was a lot to say.  God has been very gracious to us this past year, and we are extremely grateful.

And thus ends another wonderful Thanksgiving day. God put the icing on the cake, or should I say the whipped cream on the pumpkin pie...by showing us this wonderful sunset in His skies...

"Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father

There is no shadow of turning with Thee

Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not

As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning, new mercies I see

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning, new mercies I see

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning, new mercies I see

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Lord, unto me"

Amen.

Okay, now it's time to start the big changeover from the Thanksgiving decor of the Pilgrims, Turkeys, and pumpkins, and bring out the Santas, Snowmen and Angels...but I'm taking my time and not rushing it. Just stay tuned for progress as it happens!

God bless you all and thank you for being my friends! You are definitely on my list of blessings!!

Thanksgiving Eve and Tuesday 4

Pre-Thanksgiving eve...last night to be exact, we were headed into town to go to the Community Thanksgiving Service at our church.  I told my hubby that the sky had a "pumpkin glow" to it.  I guess I had pumpkins on my mind...or maybe pumpkin pie...

Anyway, we enjoyed the community service very much. Our Pastor gave the sermon, and others from the different community churches shared in the different parts of the service.  It was very nice. We enjoyed singing some of the old familiar Thanksgiving hymns, 

"Come Ye Thankful People, Come", "We Gather Together", and "Count Your Blessings".

It was a wonderful way to prepare our hearts for these days of Thanksgiving.

I thought this flower arrangement was lovely...

This morning hubby and I took our usual walk in the woods, and God's creation displayed its own kind of autumn bouquet:

These leaves are from the common "Turkey Oak" tree, found here in these woods.

It's not a particularly pretty tree, and really the leaves only look this interesting because the early morning sun was shining through them, lighting them up and showing off their autumn colors.

Who says we don't get autumn leaves in Florida?

Here are some other interesting colorful leaves, I think on some immature wild persimmon trees.

I believe I've told you about them before HERE.

Even common ordinary kind of trees can be beautiful when clothed in God's heavenly light.

Yesterday morning I had to go have lab work first thing in the morning, and then we went out to breakfast at one of the local restaurants in Palatka.

Always a blessing to sit across the table from this smiling face.

Maybe he was smiling because he was looking at the bush of hair on top of my head.  I have been without a haircut in a while, and it just seemed to be growing up higher and higher. Thankfully today I was able to get it cut, but no pictures yet. Maybe tomorrow. 

I missed doing the Tuesday 4 Meme yesterday, but I think I will be answering the questions here:

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...


Thanksgiving is the subject.

1. What are you most thankful for this year?   I have to say my health and my family's health, and all the blessings God has provided for us this past year. Our kids have a wonderful "new" business, (Dixie Cottage), I am healing from my surgery slowly but surely, we have had a very good year in every way and I am so very thankful.

2.Company or just immediate family?  See my answers in the paragraph below...

3 Cooking or catering? Home or eating out?  "  " " "

4. What's for dessert?                                       " " " "

Here's the answers to the questions above:  So today I've been busy getting things ready for tomorrow. Even though we are just having our immediate family of five here at our house for dinner, there must be pumpkin pies. My sweet DIL is bringing an apple  pie too, along with the turkey and green beans. In addition to the pumpkin pies I am making the sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and jello. Oh, and Scott picked up some rolls. We should have more than enough food to fill us up and make us full to the brim with thankfulness.   

What's on the menu at your house?

Oh, BTW, the "Kids Table" is already set and ready for Lily Grace and her friends.

Tonight for our Thanksgiving eve dinner we had beef burritos with black beans. 

Scott was a little late getting home for supper, so he created his own spin on the burrito, using tortilla chips, some fried potato, the beef, cheese and sour cream. I think I like his concoction better, but it was too late. I was already full with my own burrito.  For some reason his food always looks better to me.

To top off this day and end it on an even more beautiful note, this was tonight's sunset:

I love how it keeps changing every few minutes...God's creative masterpieces never run out...

Even when it is practically just in black and white, it is still magnificent!!

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,

For His steadfast love endures forever."

Psalm 107:1

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

Our Thanksgiving Gift - Revisited from 2014

I originally shared this post in 2014, just six months after our son Matthew had passed away and we were "celebrating" (if you can call it that) our first Thanksgiving without him. Although we didn't often actually spend Thanksgiving together because he and his family lived in Maine, and we live in Florida, but it was just the fact that he was no longer there for us to call or talk to or look forward to seeing here on earth ever again.  So you can imagine how we were feeling as we approached the holiday season that year...a little empty and sad and not really in a celebratory mood.  And then this happened:

Original Post written 11/27/2014:

Just as our family was gathering together to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast, this lovely, regal creature, an American Bald Eagle, flew into a nearby treetop to bless us with his presence. Actually there were two of them, but this one stayed long enough for me to get a few pictures.

It is not very often that we have an opportunity to witness such a magnificent bird up close.  I was awestruck by his beauty and majestic bearing. I was also somewhat comforted by his presence. There was something about this unusual encounter that brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face.

All week long I have been trying NOT to think about the fact that this week marks the sixth month since our son Matthew passed away.(Click HERE for more about that).  It isn't so much the fact that this is Thanksgiving, the first significant holiday since he left us for heaven...primarily because we really have not celebrated Thanksgiving with Matthew and his family very often due to the fact that they lived so far away from us and we had more family here near us that we usually spent this day with.  It's actually just the reality that he has been gone for six months...and there are times that I find myself thinking that it still can't be true.  There are moments when I still feel like I should be able to pick up the phone and call him and hear his voice...and sometimes the longing to do that gets to me.

So anyway, today I was trying not to think about the fact that our family pictures will never be complete again...and our Thanksgiving table will never be completely full...and there will always be someone very dear missing from our family gatherings no matter how many people are there...or how many months may go by...our son's sweet presence will never be physically with us again.

Then this eagle flew in and just sat there for a spell.  That was pretty significant if you ask me. Sometimes God knows how to send us little love messages from heaven.  He knows how to reach us and give the comfort we need at a tender moment.

I like that He chose an eagle to show us His love today.

"But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint."

Isaiah 40:31  

Have you ever sung this song?

"On Eagle's Wings"

by Michael Joncas

"You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord
Who abide in His shadow for life
Say to the Lord
"My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!"

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand.

The snare of the fowler will never capture you
And famine will bring you no fear
Under His wings your refuge
His faithfulness your shield.

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand.

You need not fear the terror of the night
Nor the arrow that flies by day
Though thousands fall about you
Near you it shall not come.

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand.

For to His angels He's given a command
To guard you in all of your ways
Upon their hands they will bear you up
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand..."

This was an unexpected blessing for our Thanksgiving day. God knows exactly what we need.

How about you? What unexpected blessings have you experienced this Thanksgiving...or this past week? Has God gone out of His way to show you He is always thinking about you, and that He loves you so much that He would go to extra lengths to show you just how much?  Think about it. I'll bet you could come up with something if you try.

"And God will raise you up on eagle's wings, Bear you on the breath of dawn, Make you to shine as the sun, and hold you in the palm of His hand."

Back to the present...November 23, 2021:     As we anticipate Thanksgiving this week, I am sure there are some of you who are going to experience a difficult day...many have suffered great loss in the past year  or two and this may be the first Thanksgiving without a significant loved one in your life.  I pray that God will show you His unfailing love and compassion as He bears you up on eagle's wings and carries you through the sorrow and trying times ahead.  May you feel His divine Presence in your heart and life, and know that He is holding you in the palm of His hand...and that your loved one is safe in the heavenly home God has prepared for him/her.  Be watching for those little signs and blessings that God may send your way to show you He is there for you.  Amen. and God Bless you, my friends.  

Monday Morning Praise

Good Monday Morning! It is the beginning of Thanksgiving week here in the United States...a week (day) set aside for giving thanks to God for all of His goodness and kindness and bountiful blessings. Of course, we should always give thanks to the Lord for all of His blessings and not wait for just one day or week of the year to do so...but I am glad that we do have this time designated to recognize our Creator God and all that He had done for us.

Our Pastor had a good message yesterday from Psalm 107.

And our choir sang a beautiful song (with a little help from the recorded background singers I must admit) entitled "Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks to the Risen Lord."

You can hear and see it here:

Alleluia, alleluia, shout for joy loud and long

Alleluia, alleluia, sing to God a glorious new song.

Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord

Alleluia, alleluia! Give praise to his name!

Jesus is Lord of all the earth.

He is the King of creation.

Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks for the risen Lord

Alleluia, alleluia! Give praise to his name!

Spread the good news o’er all the earth

Jesus has died and has risen.

We have been crucified with Christ

Now we shall live forever, forever.

Come let us praise the living God

Joyfully sing to the Savior.

Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord

Alleluia, alleluia! Give praise to his name!

Alleluia, alleluia, sing to God a glorious new song.

Maybe while you are listening to the music you can enjoy these photos of flowers around my yard, taken yesterday afternoon.  I was surprised to find these azaleas blooming:

And these pretty different kinds of mums from a leftover pot from last fall:

Another pretty yellow mum:

And this swamp sunflower from alongside the pond:

And the hollyberries ripe and ready and waiting for the birds to come. However, we really don't have as many berries as we did last year, and so far no sign of the Robins or Cedar Waxwings that devoured them in a few days last November. The squirrels have been enjoying these in the meantime:

I have been surprised to see the geranium plant still blooming on the front porch:

And the little pot of Penta is still blooming too:

All these flowers give thanks to God every day with their colorful smiling "faces" looking heavenward.

Also it was fun to see the Great Blue Heron back in Still Waters Pond yesterday afternoon. We haven't seen him in a while, and it was good to see him standing there like a statue in the evening sun, watching for some unsuspecting fish or frog to provide his dinner.

But perhaps the most fun of all was the offerings of praise from these Sand Hill Cranes early yesterday morning. 

Please click on each of these two videos to get the full picture.  In the first video they are dancing their dance of praise.  Be sure to turn on the sound so you can hear them singing in the 2nd video:

Even though their voices are not very melodious, I believe they  are singing their praises to their Creator. Maybe this is their rendition of:

"Alleluia, alleluia, shout for joy loud and long

Alleluia, alleluia, sing to God a glorious new song.

Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord

Alleluia, alleluia! Give praise to his name!"

Listen to what the Psalmist says in praise to our God:

Let All Things Praise the Lord

Psalm 150

"1 Praise the Lord!

Praise God in His sanctuary;

Praise Him in His mighty firmament!

2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;

Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;

Praise Him with the lute and harp!

4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;

Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!

5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;

Praise Him with clashing cymbals!

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!"

Look around and see what you can hear and see singing and praising our Creator  this week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

"Random Prompts" of Thankfulness

 Good Saturday Morning Friends! I hope this day finds you feeling happy and blessed and ready for a wonderful week of Thanksgiving!  Our little friends at Pamela's Victorian Cottage have been busy getting ready for their Thanksgiving feast:

Everyone is buzzing around, decorating the house and helping Mama with the menu for our guests. Most of all, they wanted to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.

I know, I know...some of my newer blogging friends probably don't even know anything about this little family at Pamela's Victorian Cottage. (click that link for the very beginning of their story)  They've kind of been in the background lately, but they are still very much "alive and well" here in my little "Room With a View".  If you'd like to know more about this sweet little family, you can click on the links on my sidebar for Pamela's Victorian Cottage and you will find lots of happy times with Mama and her house full of children.  That particular link above will take you back to Autumn Days from last year.  I hope you will enjoy this sweet little family and their adventures.

Now on to other current events.

Recently I made a new blogging friend, Jennifer Smith at Trading Ashes for Beauty.  In this following post she shared some "Random Prompts for Which to be thankful"...Trading Ashes for Beauty, "Random Prompts for Which to be Thankful",  by Jennifer Smith,   and I liked her post so much I asked her if it would be okay if I borrowed her "Random Prompts" for a post of my own sometime. She was very happy to oblige me and so I've been thinking about this for a week or so and thought it was time to give it a whirl. So here you go:

THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK.
That would be hard to say. I may have to come back to this one, because the week isn't over yet, and also some of the things that are on this list below may add up to the "best thing that happened this week".  (see down below)

SOMETHING THAT MAKES ME HAPPY.

I have to think...does it have to be a "thing"?  Probably blogging and sitting here chatting with my friends in blogland makes me happy. I think this was one the best decisions I ever made way back over ten years ago...to start this blog. It keeps my mind challenged to think of things to share with you, and it also has opened the door to a whole new world out there filled with lovely people that I would never have gotten to know otherwise!  Say what you will about "social media"...I know it has its faults, but I love being connected with so many special people in all parts of the world who have blessed my life with their stories and smiles.  So yes, blogging is a "something that makes me happy".

SOMEONE THAT MAKES ME SMILE.

Well, gee, my hubby makes me smile every day.  He also makes me get up and take walks with him everyday. And that is a good thing.  He's been making me smile for over 53 years.  We met in September of 1968, and were married in August of 1969.  And we've been smiling together every since. 

A SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS THIS WEEK.

On Monday we attended a funeral at our church for one of our dear sweet members who passed away. The ladies of the church were also providing a reception for the family after the funeral. When we arrived at the parking lot of the church I had a cake carrier in my hand to take to the fellowship hall.  A kind gentleman (I believe he was part of the funeral home staff), came up to my car door and opened the door for me and took the cake carrier and said he would carry it for me to the fellowship hall! I was so surprised by this little act of kindness that I never expected.  Then to top that off, the next evening I went to choir practice for the first time since my surgery. I am still a little bit "wobbly" in some ways...just not quite as full of vim and vigor as "normal".  After practice was over, the Pastor went over to the fellowship hall and came out carrying my now empty cake carrier and brought it to me so that I wouldn't have to go looking for it.  I never expected that either. I didn't even know he knew that I had a cake carrier in the fellowship hall, but apparently he had seen it there (my name is written on the container), and he wanted to save me the trip over there to get it.  Again, I was flabbergasted by this little act of kindness.  You know, it's the simple things that really mean a lot!  I am happy this little exercise has helped me to think about these things!

THE LAST PERSON WHO GAVE ME SOMETHING.

I showed you this picture yesterday: 

My sweet Daughter in Love Rose brought this over to me as a little pre-Christmas decor gift!

Of course, it is from both her and our son Benton. This picture was taken last week on their 4th anniversary.  I feel very blessed to have such a dear daughter in law living right here near us who actually goes out of her way to do special little things to brighten our days. 

A RECENTLY ACHIEVED GOAL.

As many of you may know, last year I was on a mission to discover the history/genealogy of my paternal grandmother because she was adopted.  Through Ancestry.com and also doing the DNA testing, I was able to discover the birth parents of my grandmother. You can read more about that HERE. My goal last year was to put it all together, at least as much as I could, by my grandmother's 125th birthday, which was December 27, 2020.  And so that story linked above was the achievement of that goal.  I am still on a quest to find pictures of my grandmother's birth parents, and have been in contact with several descendants of both sides of her birth family.  And that leads me to this next prompt:

THE MOST RECENT BLESSING I RECEIVED.

One of my new "cousins" that I connected with through the genealogy research recently sent me a few pictures that she could find, not of our mutual Great Grandfather, but of his daughter and son's families, who would be my grandmother's half-siblings.  Of course, these pictures are from the 1940's, and it isn't very clear to me who is who, and my "cousin" wasn't really sure either, but she went out of her way to mail me these pictures so I could see them.  I scanned them into my computer and then returned them to her.  I will share this one with you.  My Grandmother's half sister Lenora is in the center of this picture, standing in front of the person with his hands up in the air. She has on a dress with what looks like large sunflowers on it.  Her brother Roy is somewhere in this picture, but we don't know which one. This looks like a big happy family. My cousin said they used to have a lot of family reunions back in the day. I told her that it's too bad my Grandmother never got to know her half-siblings and their families. I know they all would have been great friends.  Perhaps they are all acquainted now in heaven and enjoying each other now for eternity.

To me, having this new "cousin" go out of her way to send me these pictures was a real blessing. We never even knew each other existed until last year.  

Later:  Okay, now that I've written about all the other prompts here above, I think the best thing that has happened thus far this week is writing about all these other things that have made me stop and count my blessings and think about these good things that have happened!

Perhaps you might want to do a similar exercise...you can use these prompts (because Jennifer Smith said so, but you might want to visit her first and tell her about it and make a new friend in the process!), 

or you may use your own random prompts.  Some of you already do that on a regular basis.  

Hope you and yours have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!!  And thank you, Jennifer Smith, for these wonderful "random prompts about things we are thankful for". 

Post Script Added Note: I just received word that our blogging friend Mildred Nalley, formerly of "Laurel Wood" blog, has entered her heavenly home this morning.  I heard from her niece that she passed away peacefully earlier this morning. For those of you who knew Mildred and would like to send a card of condolence to her family, please contact me via email or send me a private message if you need more information.  Please keep her husband John, brother Larry Williams and sister Karen, also a former blogger who is not in good health either at this time, and other nieces and nephews and family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.