Thanksgiving Preview

L.L. Barkat issued an invitation to her place for Thanksgiving!I’m so totally there to see what she can whip up for us…Guess what? You’re invited, too!Here’s the official invite, straight from the source:

You are cordially invited by L.L. Barkat to join a Thanksgiving Celebration. Just post about a Thanksgiving memory, something you are thankful for this year, a special family Thanksgiving tradition, your favorite “thanksgiving” bible verse, or anything else you can dream up.Be serious, spiritual, creative, beautiful, humorous, whatever… it’s a celebration and good celebrations welcome all kinds of expression!As a token of thanks for joining us, L.L. will link to you in the Thanksgiving Celebration post (and Christianity Today and High Calling Blogs will link back to said post, so their readers can check out the full celebration). You can make L.L.’s link-love job easier by dropping a comment at the Thanksgiving Celebration post. See you at the pie table!To participate in the Thanksgiving Celebration:1. post your Thanksgiving reflection with the invitation above and this little list of two2. send the invitation to 5 or more friends (or just stash it in your cyber-drawer as a keepsake and take another bite of pie)

Speaking of pie…Mmm….this was taken two years ago.I hope we can consume a similar set of goodies this year, when family and friends will gather at our home to share the feast.We bought a turkey so big, it may require a small crane to extract it from the freezer.We chose this big bird not only to feed our guests all that they desire, but also to ensure a few leftovers.My mom and a dear friend will share the cooking duties with me — after nibbling appetizers, we’ll have the turkey and ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, Hawaiian rolls, corn casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, noodles cooked in broth, pea salad, lots of pie, and a Texas sheet cake for the few who don’t love pie.So many carbohydrates…so little fiber!But this is what we craved when some of the guests and I drew up the menu.After the meal but before dessert, we’ll go for a walk around the neighborhood. The kids jump on scooters or bikes while the rest of us stroll.The kids have a musical program planned — a flute solo and several piano pieces.They’re also going to create a gratitude table. A small wooden table in the kitchen will be cleared, and the kids will devise some system for guests to record the things for which they are grateful. This can continue during appetizers and food preparation, hopefully accumulating a long list of explanations. Then, at some point during the meal or on our walk, we can share them.They’ll also help with place cards and table decor.Last year, after the plates were cleared, we played “Apples to Apples.” This year, the kids want to play a game called “Telephone-Pictionary.”After we fill up with pie and coffee, we’ll sit around until we fade into carb-induced oblivion. Some will nap. Some will rinse dishes. Some will play games or work on the thousand-piece puzzle my daughter set up on a card table in the living room.And I’ll set up a few things for the next day’s breakfast before climbing into bed, reflecting on conversations and recalling the laughter, hoping everyone loved sharing the day with us as much as we did with them.  

For Pea Salad

For the noodles my grandma rolled out by hand,for the pickles and olives in a divided glass dish,and pea salad with hard-boiled eggs;for all the things we only ate at her house,gathered around the oval tableset with a white cloth,

I give thanks.

For my friend’s apple pie and corn casserole,and cranberry sauce cooked from scratch;for my mom’s texas sheet cakegreen beans, stuffing, and pumpkin pie

and for the pea saladshe offered to bringthat reaches back toThanksgivings past,

I give thanks.

Because we hold to tastesand smellsand memoriesand love

I’ll set the tablewith a white cloth.

We’ll eat noodles,and pea salad.

And for all these thingsand moreI’ll give thanks.