Happy Thanksgiving

By Elizabeth Prata

Thanksgiving is a time for food, fellowship, and celebrations of thanks for all we have and all the Lord has done (if you're Christian). The first Thanksgiving I'm sure was full of tales, laughter, jokes, games, dancing, even drinking, but the main event was the food.

Breaking bread with loved ones is special, it's an intimate act to eat with people. It speaks of love, it speak of peace. It is a moment when you are relaxed and all is in harmony. When you break bread with people over a table, your guard is let down and you are at your most free from disturbance.

At Thanksgiving we eat foods we don't normally eat, since we want to mark the occasion as distinct from weekday dinners or Saturday tailgates and the like. We eat fancier food, food that takes time to prepare and  when it's brought to the table with oohs and ahs.

Growing up my ole ma used to be known for her creamy, smooth mashed potatoes. Also we enjoyed the sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. Well, everything she cooked was really good. Now that I live alone, I don't cook fancy meals or complicated meals. I look for things I can make in bulk or have only three or four ingredients. I like making soups and stews and roasting veggies, but I don't tend to make casseroles very often. That's why I was excited for Thanksgiving.

I saw "was" because I already had mine. I ate the feast cooked at school, in which the lunch ladies do a spectacular job of making all the things associated with the day: real turkey and gravy, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, rolls, and the like.

Then a few days later we had our church Thanksgiving. The church provided paper goods, the drinks, and the meat: ham and either smoked or roasted turkey. We all brought side dishes and I gorged on wonderful items I don't make myself.

Yum, that's all I can say. The fellowship with the folks I love was so relaxing and lovely, eating over the foods and seasoning our meal with talk of the grace of Jesus.

I'm catching up on reading. I downloaded or saved lots of articles and booklets "to read later". Many times, later never comes, and I forget what I've downloaded. Having time to go through my files on the laptop is like Christmas, renewing my memory of just what all the saved goodies are.

To add to the scene, I brewed some Malaysian peppermint tea and it's in a 100 year old teapot and a 60 year old teacup- Hall's Philadelphia teapot and a Home Laughlin eggshell Georgian cup. I watched a movie earlier, but I got bored with it. Three Guys Named Mike, in which Jane Wyman embarks on a stewardess career (a novelty in 1951 as commercial airlines were new) and meets three guys named Mike. By the end she picks one.

Lots of extended scenes of planes, landings, takeoffs, etc, which I bet the 1951 audience were fascinated with. And of course the meet cute of the 3 Mikes. I watched half then cut to the chase and slid the slider to the end. She picked Mike. Har.

So it's been quiet here. Just me doing some laundry, reading, napping, tea drinking. Nothing new, it's what I always do on school break.

I do plan to go out on Friday. It will have been a week since I grocery shopped and 5 days since I met with humanity in any form. I'll need food, and also head to the Dollar Store for supplies. I buy my  hard goods at the Dollar Store, things like steel wool pads, paper towels, soaps, etc. I buy the fresh at Kroger. I'll also return the book I'd borrowed from the Library, and head to The Special Store.

That is my favorite store of all. Well, of the three I regularly frequent. The ladies buy estates then resell them in their store. You never know what you'll find. The aforementioned teapot and cup came from there. I need a pair of bookends and a lampshade for my reading lamp. The one I have on the reading lamp is too small. The bookends are to go on top of the bookcase I'd gotten there a few months ago from that same store. But Murray likes small spaces and likes to jump on the bookcase, which is only 3 feet high. From there he will soon learn he can jump to the bureau. I don't want him on the bureau. So I'll put some books on the top of the bookcase to prevent the jumping onto and subsequent napping on its top, in feline awkward positions.

It's really funny to see him curled up on a one foot square item, like the hassock or the other small bookcase I have next to the door, where I hang my purse and camera as I come in. Anyway, the bookends will be the barrier. If there are small curtains or sheers at the store I'll pick some of them up too. The curtain at the kitchen window is old and crumbling, and I'm sure full of cooking smells by now.

At Kroger my list will be short and plain. Feasting will be over and I'll go back to regular plain eating, and the grocery list reflects that. Back to reality!

I hope your Thanksgiving Day is wonderful. I am thankful for so many things. I have a great life. The Lord has knitted together a perfect life for me, the way I am and what I need and the job I do...He is kind, our Lord. I love my apartment my job, my church, my cat, my friends, my county, my country, all of it! I'm grateful to Jesus for His regard of this tired, weak, blundering servant.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Run for your lives, turkeys!