Tradition

Thanksgiving week is full of traditions.  After eleven Thanksgivings with TJ, we have meshed together a lovely week of traditions both old and new.  From some of the foods we ate at our Thanksgivings as children, from ideas that other families have done, and new ones that we have begun as a family.  I think tradition is the glue that holds a family together.  It's what you look forward to with every season change and every holiday. The memories that flow from doing the same things year after year are what I hold onto and cherish so.

Something we have begun as our own family is to make pies and deliver them to people we are thankful for, the day before Thanksgiving.  The Sunday before, we get up early and make all the pie crusts to stick in the freezer.  This year it was fourteen pies!

During the week, we'll make a pie here and there until all are done.  We made pecan, TJ's pumpkin dessert that I turned into a pie, and cherry.  Not the cherry pie from a can, oh no.  I can't stand that thick, gloppy cherry pie filling.  Tart frozen cherries made the most wonderful pie ever!  I saved that one for our own Thanksgiving dinner and ate about half the pie myself.



We delivered pies to our beloved Pink Sisters who are cloistered nuns that live right here.  They pray all day, and we are so blessed to have them so close.  Our Bishop, George's godfather who also was celebrating his birthday, the kids teachers, our two wonderful priests, Matt Talbot Kitchen, and friends. 

Thanksgiving morning. 

Something my good friend Sarah's family always did when I was little and would be at her house was to set up a card table and have a puzzle going.  I bought a new one for the kids to try and work on in the morning.  Star Wars.  And although we didn't get too far on it, I like to leave it set out from now until through Christmas. 

The only stuffing I have ever had on Thanksgiving is my grandma Becky's.  It is fabulous.  Her stuffing is Thanksgiving to me.  I would never dream of making a different one.  The familiar smell of the green pepper, onion and celery sauteed  in butter on the stove affirm that it is indeed Thanksgiving!   We lay the bread out on the counter the night before so it can get all good and hard.  I love that the kids want to help with this so that they hopefully will make grandma's stuffing for their own Thanksgivings.

Another dish that we always had growing up was noodles.  This is from my grandma Gladys.  Kelsi noodles boiled in chicken stock.  Simple, and a must have.

My mom never made cranberry sauce when I was little.  TJ's dad has always made a delicious one and this year I was set on making my own.  I got the recipe from Laura and, oh my was it fabulous.  It could possibly have been my favorite dish at the table.  I think that Tom and I were the only one's who ate it, I can't remember if anyone else did...doesn't matter, more left over for me!!!

I see a new tradition for George beginning....he'll probably wear a Green Bay Packer shirt EVERY Thanksgiving day of his life, since they play every year on this day.  Of course we watch the game as a family traditon! 

And although many things don't go the way I've conjured them up in my mind to....the family prayer, sitting for hours at the table in conversation, the perfect Thanksgiving table, playing family games all day....I'm learning that especially with young children, to not expect perfection, but embrace the moment.  I'm not going to lie, that is hard for me.  I paint pictures in my mind of what I want a day to look like and when it doesn't happen that way I get disappointed. Oh, but I'm learning!

So much to be thankful for, so many gifts and blessings....thank you Lord.

A Change of Attitude Makes for a Much Better Day

We had a pie picnic for our Sunday dinner tonight. 

Why have I not thought of this sooner?  We've lived in our house for almost five years now, and have never once eaten a picnic on our boulevard.  But tonight we did. 

After a week of extremely unwelcome, freezing cold and rainy weather, the sun decided to show its lovely face around four o'clock today.  Naturally, we all flocked outside to ride bikes, play with the neighbor girl, and meander around the blvd.  As TJ and I were walking, we decided that neither of us were hungry enough to make the big dinner I had planned.  So I suggested why don't we just have the pie we made this morning for our dinner.  Skip the meal.  Dive right into dessert.  He was in.

We went inside and began gathering all that we needed.  As I grabbed the paper plates and paper towels I stopped myself.  No.  Let's do this picnic right, I thought.   I went and found the picnic basket we had gotten as a wedding present, good plates, our fun homemade napkins, and real forks instead of plastic.  The kids' excitement was growing as I was gathering.  We're going to eat on the boulevard?  We're only having pie for dinner?   Yep.

It was the best idea we'd had all day....other than making the sour cream and caramal apple pie, earlier that morning.

I'm an extremely routine person.  I crave it, I like to know what is coming up next, I'm always planning ahead and getting ready for something.   But tonight, as we were sitting there watching the kids play, I told TJ that what I don't like about routine is the continual moving on to the next thing.   Dinner done.  Up to baths.  Clean kitchen. Put kids in bed. Get ready for tomorrow.  Again, and again, and again. 

Tonight was different.  I didn't start picking up the dishes and packing up right away.  Instead I just sat there on the blanket and watched and listened to our children having a ball playing in the street.  They were singing and laying down in the street and picking flowers.  I just listened to them, holding onto the sound of their little voices.



Oh, and I took about a million pictures of it all, because that makes me happy.



Let me back up and tell you that this morning was a completely different story.  I woke up tired.  Evelyn had been up during the night with an ear infection.  But I had it in my head that I was going to get up super early and bake an apple pie in the dark, quiet of the kitchen, sipping my coffee and soaking in the peace that was sure to accompany it all.  Well, I woke up later than I wanted, found myself picking up the mess left from the night before and folding laundry that I was wanting to have done days ago.  By the time I got around to being ready to bake, everyone was up and I was grumpy and mad.  Add the fact that it was cold, dark and rainy out, and I was a mess.  After about an hour of this ridiculous behavior, TJ asked if I wanted to go to noon mass so we could just lounge around a bit longer.  Then it hit me that I have to be the one to change my attitude.  I have to make that decision to get over it when things don't go the way I envision them.  I was watching TJ being so patient and kind to them as I was acting like a baby.  All of a sudden I said to Thomas and Annie...you guys want to make a pie with me?  They were excited.  My mood changed a bit.   TJ asked what kind we were making.  I said apple.  He eagerly asked if this pie could have sour cream in it....and do we possibly have any caramel to go with it?  Mood growing better every second.  Soon, I found us all in the kitchen, baking and having a wonderful Sunday morning.  As TJ went out to run, I took extra effort in showing the kids how to measure and peel and slice.  I could feel my mood change from grumpy and irritated to one that was enjoying the moment.

 I thanked TJ later that morning for helping me to change my mood by watching him be patient with the kids.  He rarely tells me what I need to be doing, or points out that I am acting like a pouting child.  He more often just shows by his actions rather than telling me, and I love him for that.

One of my favorite quotes from St. Therese is:

The moment I began to forget myself, I led the happiest life possible.

I try and remind myself of that every day.  I should chant it with every breath I take since it will take saying it that often for me to actually do it. But instead, I like doing what I want to do, when I want to do it. I have my list of what needs to be accomplished and most of the time I'd rather get my list done than just be.  I will struggle the rest of my life with that, I'm sure.  

But IF I can remember to put myself last, and give my first efforts to God, TJ, and to our children, I'm sure that I will reap the rewards of happiness.  Genuine happiness.