Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you and your family and friends had a happy Thanksgiving! My husband's family get together on Thanksgiving Day and my family gets together sometimes during the weekend. This time it will be Sunday evening.

Yesterday we had a really great time at my sister-in-law's home, Kathi. We all brought our normal offerings to the table. Mine is broccoli salad and cheeseball. I also made a huge fresh fruit salad. Just put in all the fresh fruit you can find this time of year. I didn't do bananas. They sort of dissolve in a salad. But I used fresh strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, seedless grapes, cantalope, apples, seedless naval oranges, clementines (aka cuties, and they are seedless too), raisins. Then I added powdered sugar and stirred. That's all there is to it. The powdered sugar seems to sweeten AND preserve. The apples don't turn dark.

After dinner we visited and took photos of the family. We also watched some James Gregory standup videos on Youtube. The whole family laughed so hard!

I also got some snuggle time with my little grandnephew, Will. Poor little Savannah, his sister, didn't get to come because she has been sick. She had to go to Urgent Care on Wednesday and had a high temperature Wednesday night so Hannah kept her home. But Luke came with Will. Everybody got some lovey dovey time with him. He's only 6 mos old but already seems to love and know each of us. He will go to any of us.

We also missed our Jenny (our niece) and her husband and two boys. They live in Illinois, too far away to be here with us. But they are close to Kyle's family and his family always gets together like we do. I'm so glad they have family times and get togethers or she would be lonely. And they are a great help to them.

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving doing the things you like to do. It may not be a big family get together. That's OK as long as you are OK with it. It can be nerve wracking to have a big to do on Thanksgiving. Maybe you and your family prefer smaller gatherings, going out to a restaurant, watching a movie or football game, going shopping? It's OK to be "non-traditional" just like it's OK to be "traditional". Do what makes you and your family happy. The only requirement to this holiday is to be thankful to God for what He has done!

Tips

Recycling used pill bottles

Peel off labels by soaking them in hot soapy water. Rinse and dry before using. Cut pieces of masking tape to place around the bottle or lengthwise and write the contents on this.

Store small things like thumb tacks, paperclips, toothpicks, small nails-anything loose that never seems to have a place.

Store spices and dried herbs.

Use bottles for holding salad dressing, mayonnaise, ketchup or mustard for packed lunches or picnics.

Fishing organization: great for hooks, lures, bobbers, weights---any of the small loose items.

Craft supplies: sequins, wiggle eyes, needles, tiny ribbon roses, straight pins, safety pins, and beads.

Kits: The larger pill bottles work great for little first aid kits or sewing kits that fit in your purse, car glove compartment or suitcase.

Camping organization: matches, salt, pepper or another spices you'll need for grilling. Use them for shampoo, conditioner, dish soap etc.

Gardening: seed storage

Donating them to your veterinarian.

But remember...don't keep things because "one day" you will use it. If you know you won't be using it, throw it away. Hoarding is a mental illness.

My Aunt Judy's Fruitcake Recipe

Aunt Judy’s Fruitcake

5 lbs diced Candied Fruit 4 cups Sugar
2 ½ lbs Pecan Pieces 14 Eggs
1 box of White (or Gold) Raisins 1 Tbsp Vanilla
5 cups Self Rising Flour 1 cup Orange Juice
1 Tbsp Lemon Extract (or lemon juice) 1 lb melted Real Butter
Mix fruit with flour and nuts to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the pan while baking. Add remaining ingredients. Grease 4 tube pans. Get oven hot, then reduce heat to 225 when you put cakes in. Bake about 4 ½ hours. Make sure pans aren’t touching each other. Wipe off any excess batter from rims so it won’t burn. Pour Rum over the top to help preserve moisture. Makes 4 cakes. Source: Aunt Judy

To do one large fruit cake:
1 (2 lb) container of Candied Fruit (I got it at Walmart)
1 lb Pecan pieces 2 cups Sugar
1 box of White (or Gold) Raisins 7 Eggs
2 ½ cups Self Rising Flour ½ Tbsp Vanilla
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice ½ cup fresh Orange Juice
½ lb melted Real Butter

Mix fruit and nuts with flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the pan while baking. Add remaining ingredients. Grease 1 tube pans. Get oven hot, then reduce heat to 225 when you put cake in. Bake about 4 hours. Wipe off any excess batter from rims so it won’t burn. Pour Rum over the top to help preserve moisture. Makes 1 large cake.

Basketball

Our grandnephew, Brett, played basketball last Fall. Here is the digital scrapbook page I made of this.

BIG Pumpkin

Last fall two of our grandnephews and their cousin had their photo made on a big pumpkin. This is the digital scrapbook page I made of that picture.

Hunting

Kyle and his brother, Marc, were going hunting. Brett was going to tag along for awhile and Ryan was telling them goodbye. Here is the digital scrapbook page I made of the photos my niece, Jenny, took before they left that morning.