Good morning, DeVeria! Like yours, my grandmother also hosted Thanksgiving every year until 1985 (she died in 1986). Dozens of people gathered in her small bungalow. The cousins ate in the sunroom, the men ate in the dining room, and the women ate in the kitchen. After lunch, most everyone helped rake up and burn the leaves in her yard. I haven’t smelled burning leaves in a long, long time, but I know that smell would take me right back to her house.

Unfortunately, her tiny estate created a huge rift in the family and pitted 3 siblings against the other 3. Two of my mom’s brothers (she died in 2003) and their families now gather at my uncle’s house. I presume the other 3 siblings have their own celebration, but I don’t know that for sure.

Last summer I hosted a reunion to try to get everyone back together. It was partially successful. Only one family wasn’t represented at all.

It’s sad that even some cousins aren’t interested in renewing that relationship. But I was thrilled to learn that others are eager to have another reunion next summer!

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and safe travels.

Bless-ed are the peace makers.

Good morning! Keep trying…family is important and it will be the memories that bring everybody back together. Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!

And that is a very true statement.

I went to Hampton High School, noticed that last time I was there, many years back, the old bridge from downtown to Hampton University (Institute, back in my day, graduated in ’62) had been taken out, as part of Urban Renewal, gave me a sad turn. When I was there, the students used to be able to walk downtown from school, thru the very nice area of grand homes and huge trees.

Growing up, we would alternate years with T’giving at our house, then Christmas Eve dinner at my aunt’s then flip the next year.

But always with the “little kids” table. Even though it was set up right beside the regular table. I imagine most folks have ‘little kids table’ horror stories.

Hey, pups -

Would you like a little karma to go with your Thanksgiving dinner?

Rain may put pumpkin pie in peril, Nestle says

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9C2TT7O0.htm
[...]
Nestle is the largest national brand for canned pumpkin products, with 80 to 90 percent of the market, the company said.

It plants a special strain of pumpkin at a farm in Morton, Ill., which provides nearly all its supply. Nestle estimates if you turned all the pumpkins it grows on the farm to pie, it would total 90 million pies.
[...]
Farmers Market Organic, the country’s largest provider of organic canned pumpkin, said it didn’t experience the same issues with fungus and mold at its farm that big growers in the Midwest suffered this year and last.

And the company, based in Corvallis, Ore., said it increased its capacity and has shipped millions more cans of its product this year.
[...]

[my bold]

‘Course, if all the pumpkins you planted in one place rot in the field, you ain’t got 90 million pies to sell. *wicked chuckle*

Have seen reports that Libby pumpkin will be in short supply. Strangely, I had gotten some awhile back, to make sure I knew what else I would need for a pumpkin pie. I’ll be cooking it today.

Guess what! I went to Hampton High too! Graduated in 1989!

Yes, we alternate between my aunts’ houses also…but we are pretty much all together.

LOL

How amazing, did you know Judge Paul Crider? he was a favorite teacher. I lived near Langley Circle.

I was there at HHS as a senior the first year it was integrated, the poor lonely soul who was the first black student there, a year behind me, was son of the president of HU.

I seldom visit Hampton as my folks moved back to N.TX. soon after I graduated, but my sister was there recently, ran into former mayor Jimmy Eason, a classmate of my brother.

Uh oh, I hadn’t heard that. I got one of the last 2 cans at my grocer yesterday. Will start stocking up. I eat pumpkin pie almost daily (yes, for breakfast) during the holidays.

Its good you got it early..Pumpkin pie is not one of my favorites…maybe I haven’t had the right one.

No I didn’t know Judge Crider. I loved HHS! Those were the best years. All of my family is still there, and I go home a lot. I visit but I won’t go back and live.

Oh, yes, breakfast pumpkin pie is a treat and then some. I don’t even need the whipped cream on top.

Yes, DeVeria, it’s an acquired taste, some folks just don’t care that much about it.

I go with the flow of various family pieces. This year I’m taking a local organic turkey to my sister-in-law’s in the Poconos. 14-18 expected, and is an interesting crowd. My sil is 86, getting infirm, and I haven’t seen her for a couple of years, so it will be a good day. He daughters tell me her personality is deteriorating from old age, but she should be bearable for a couple of days. She was one of my mainstays after my husband (her brother)’s death in 1987, and the grinding will contest that followed.

Next time the FDL crowd gets together, remind me to bring along my yearbook for laughs.

The old Fort Monroe was a favorite place to visit, too.

Well it is good that you all are still in touch. So many times in laws lose contact and interest after the death of a loved one.

Yes it is…Hmmmm, don’t know about bringing the yearbook though. I was a totally different person then! You all wouldn’t believe it, if you saw it.

Don’t eat much pumpkin pie but I’ll not be buying any from nestle ever again…….a company so dumb that it puts all its “eggs in one basket” (as it were *g) doesn’t deserve to exist. And if you have access to any markets that sell locally grown “pie pumpkins”, it’s rather a lot more work to get from raw product to finished pie but you eliminate any additives the manufacturer might included.

Morning all, Used to be as many possible would gather for thanksgiving. My sister and I live within a mile or two so we get together. Her four sons are close by. My kids and their families are in OK and ND so that makes it tough.

Sounds like a good chance to be together, and I wish there was an event like that in my future. My family has so many rifts, some of my cousins I have never met, don’t even know their names. I will be visiting some that I do know, though, in December in Louisiana, and am looking forward to it.

Off for a bite of breakfast, pit stop to get all the knives sharpened and attend a grand opening for a new local senior resources center. The John McCutcheon concert last night in support for the local food pantry was fantastic!

Oh ok…well at least you will be with family. Do your kids come home on a particular holiday? It would be nice to plan a big family event where everybody comes home. Can you tell I can’t wait to go home?

My sil has twin daughters, now 58, neither of whom had children. So my son is kind of like my sil’s grandson (big age diff between me & my late husband, so he was in his 50s when our son was born). Her late husband & my son also shared a baseball obsession, further cementing the bond. It has been very nice having them in the picture.

I’m off to cart decayed trees to the burn pile, dodging bullets in this, the first day of rifle hunting. (Don’t worry, I know all about the hunting in the area surrounding my property.)

Be well.

It’s like that sometimes. All you can do is all you can do. Keep the lines of communication open with the ones you can. Friends can come and go, but family is supposed to always be there.

I say that life is both too short and too long for family rifts. Too short in the sense that there is limited time to be with people, and too long in the sense that a lifetime is a long time to have enemies.

I notice that many other people do not share my senitment.

I’m really off now.

Have fun! I’m going out later with the girls…can’t wait!

Be careful…my brother is out hunting today. I can’t relate.

No, some don’t share your sentiment, but it is the truth. At the end of the day, some things just aren’t that important to hold onto.

We saw the movie, The Big Night, with Stanley Tucci, and I decided we would have a timbale for Thanksgiving instead of our usual smoked turkey with smoked oyster stuffing. I got a slightly late start, and every single step took twice as long as I had guessed. Dinner was really late. People were not pleased, even though it tasted pretty good.

I learned the important lesson: stick with family traditions.

Good Morning DeVeria and All Other Pups
Right you are. I’ve learned that in some cases, it’s better to be kind than right. That goes for family rifts, I believe.
Which brings me to ask the question What Are You Thankful For? I’m thankful for those folks in my life who love me unconditionally and forgive me my trespasses so that we can stay friends and family.

Wow…yeah I practice when I am trying new dishes…I’m not that experienced. :)

On the other end of doing things differently for Thanksgiving, my kids got their choice and had a platter of hot dogs one year. Mostly, tho, I love turkey and the look/smell/big deal of it.

The rifts are just something we grew up with, in my generation, and I try to keep up with the ones who keep up with us. Have had a few experiences with being rebuffed by others, and just go with the flow then. It’s long ago, and not something I plan to dig into.

Now if you ask that question, I have a long list. I’m thankful for life, health and strength. I’m thankful for my family and friends that have been placed in my life. I’m thankful for my business. I’m thankful for my bouncing baby godson, Rashad. But most of all, I’m thankful for love and peace in my life. Whew, that felt good!

My problem here has been getting used to high altitude cooking. I am at about 6000 ft. so times change and recipes need to be modified.

Cspan will be carrying the “debate” on health insurance reform at 9:45 EST.

http://www.c-span.org/

Offhand, I’d treat pumpkin like any other hard squash: just cut into quarters or more and bake 350-75 for hour or more ’til passes your fork test. easy to remove seeds, etc. after, scrape out squash. stores in fridge. Sweet potato can be substituted for pumpkin as many have discovered in past.

Hot Doggies? That’s cute and reminded me of the year when my daughter was about eight years old and decided she didn’t like turkey. I was hosting the family get together, so I made her what she wanted, macaroni and cheese. My mother let me, and everyone else, know that it wasn’t traditional and that I should just make her eat it. I’m thankful that I decided a long time ago that I don’t have to listen to my mother, and further, that I’ve finally let go of caring when she says mean things. I’ve learned to let it slide. *g*

See, I wouldn’t have a clue.

thanks

Now I love sweet potato pie. The pumpkin pie I had just wasn’t sweet…it was bland.

The debate will be a farce. Rethugs will have their rants written by AHIP. Doubt the rethugs will add any facts.

Mornin’, DeVeria, pups

When I was a kid Thanxgiver was usually with the paternal grandparents. My dad was an only child so it wasn’t a big affair. Xmas, on the other hand, was huge. My stepmother had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Xmas dinner looked like a Norman Rockwell painting, complete with kids’ tables. By 1970 both grandfathers had died and as far as I know there were few family gatherings after that. From 1970-75 it was with MIL. After I got out of the Navy (75) Thanxgiver and Xmas was with friends. This year will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 years at Billy and Linds’s house for both. I’m gonna take some jumbo shrimp over, butterfly ‘em, marinate ‘em in Italian dressing for about 20 minutes and put ‘em on the grill, 3 minutes a side. Hmmmmm, good.

And that makes life so much easier…

That sounds delicious! I love shrimp…marinating in Italian dressing. Mmmm, I’m gonna have to try that!

My granma made the best sweet potato pie. Wish I had her recipe. She got it from her mom so that sucker’s gotta be 150 years old.

The hot dogs were something the kids were thankful for, which actually is all the holiday is about. Sometimes a look at what we actually are celebrating helps. Other times, not.

That wonderful art of letting things slide past has always been invaluable. Think I will be thankful for that, this year.

I’ll have one of those jumbos to take on my Thanksgiving Camping Trip, please?
Hey, Dragon. Do you have a funny stories from the Little Kids Table?

Let it slide, or when blogging….scroll….or for the religiously inclined, turning the other cheek.

Really easy and is delish. I put alum foil on the grill, spreads the heat a little better.

I like all sweet potato pies, but there is none quite like my mothers. I had a good one last weekend, but it wasn’t “mama’s”.

I love shrimp…I’m going to have to try that.

Not that I remember. I was the oldest and there was quite an age difference between me and my cousins. I imagine I thought they were all little brats. I’d eat and go off into the woods with any friends who’d managed to escape their families. If it had snowed we all went sledding. Had some great dirt roads on hills with packed snow.

Has anyone heard how Christy is doing these days?

pumpkin pies my grandmother and mother baked were made with canned pumpkin, lots of spice as were light brown in color and distinct flavor — guessing some brown sugar for sweetening.

When I was growing up, my family shared Thanksgiving dinner with the family of a man my pop worked with. Traded houses each year. The other family was a fairly strict Lutheran one and their house was always Perfect. Not a leaf out of place type and I was always a little bit nervous over there. One year, as we sat down for the meal, the father turned to his young son and asked him to lead the prayer, which was always the same one, Come Lord Jesus be our guest…but the son launched into Now I lay me down to sleep. Everyone cracked up and it lightened the whole mood.

My MIL was famous for her pecan pie. There were numerous pecan trees on the ranch and gathering them was an annual tradition. Shelling them would get old though.

As I never attended big family gatherings, one time when I was talking with a cousin I never had met is my only memory of kids’ tables. Since he exclaimed how well he remembered when I sat with them at the kids’ table, keeping my mouth shut to be polite is my major memory now related to kids’ tables.

Not I, said the Demi. Funny you should ask though, as we have had many PUAC threads where we shared recipes and gratefulness. So, this am I went on the CHS blog archive site to see if I could find something from last year or the year before and the archives seem to only include 09. :(

My stepmother’s mother was like that. Nothing out of place, ever.

Saying grace?

Rubba dub dub
Thanks for the grub
Yayyyyy, God.

Ha! That’s my favorite too.

That has gotten me a lot of scowls in my lifetime.

Why? It’s a good one. Fuckin’ uptight people. Wouldn’t a scowl kind of be the opposite of being grateful?

Time to start on the pumpkin pie makings now, I still need brown sugar. A reminder though, lotsa hungry folks out there.

Wow, only 5 more months of Moyer’s Journal. Damn. Oh, well, he’s entitled. Gonna be hard to replace him. Not a lot of integrity out there.

Yeah, and it’s only gonna get worse.

Did he say that last night? Missed it. We went out for dinner.

Sounds fantastic…Today is the day for Angela’s first medical housecall. I’ve had to seriously clean house for the guests;)) Since I’ve never met the Dr., should be interesting.

Remember when we talked about bags? Angela is not such a snob; she enjoys very simple brown bags…now in several rooms.

now that’s cute

G’Morning Bev
What are your plans for the holiday? One of the traditions around here is the cat gets the gizzard.

I wouldn’t mind trying that again. I didn’t care for it as a child, but I like pecans now.

Did you see last night? Tapes, etc of escalating in Viet Nam..Remarkable. Doing the parallel to our “now”, of course.

I saw it on HuffPo minutes ago. Missed his show last night.

Mainly, going to do meals at Salvation Army. They feed alot of people at both Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Lot of parallels. I’ll have to watch it sometime this weekend. Nagi just tried to jump up onto one of the speakers. Again. Same result. Speaker upside down on floor, The Rocket lookin’ for a place to hide. *g*

I’ve done that before, but not at the Salvation Army. Very memorable.

And I just saw there is already a Seminal post.

Ain’t you got fun over there?;))

Dem, I asked a nearby liquor store about Ginger beer; they do not have it.
Lady said “we should and will get it.” She mentioned a couple she thinks are the best….I’ll let you know. Would certainly cut down on my quest.

pumpkin pie receipt:

1 c sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp cinn., 1/2 tsp cloves, 1 2/3 c carnation (lg can ), 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp all spice, 1 1/2 c canned pumpkin, 2 eggs slightly beaten

mix all til smooth. place in unbaked pie shell. bake in hot oven 425 for 15 minutes. lower to 350 and continue baking about 35 more minutes or til custard is firm.

Thanks for the reminder. T’will be perfect for Thursday.

Good Girl! A PUAC thread before Thanksgiving would not be complete without a least one recipe.

That’s another thing I’ve never tried…

sems easy enough…thx for the recipe

The suggestion originated here as an aid to sinus problems…I had never heard of it….but now reallly like it.

Im out to prepare for the cat doc…Have fun. B

Good Morning DeVeria,

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Sure was fun to read all the comments this morning, funny how universal some things are – the ruffled feathers, kiddy tables, and the love and comfort of good food with the friends and family.

To memories, I’d like to add the requisite Pilgrim and turkey candles, the torture of smelling roast turkey all day and having to WAIT so long to eat it, and the occasional roar from the folks watching football.

another good reason to try

Have a good one!

Now I am really ready for Thanksgiving. Thanks pups!

I go on the world’s oldest annual mountain bike event, the Appetite Seminar. Since 1975 a crowd now numbering in the hundreds has ridden the same tough loop in order to work up an appetite.

bryanforcongress.org I,m a Dem running for US Congress Dist 1 against Jeff Miller, I need help here. Thanks Jim Bryan 1-850-652-3350 8321 stokes Rd Laurel Hill Fl 32567