Turkey Day; Elf Culture

Well, our Thanksgiving Day was such a blessing, even though we were under the weather. Daughter, son and I had walking pneumonia. Son's was not as bad a case.

Our church family blessed us with "fixin's" and hubby cooked a magnificent turkey!

We are so thankful and appreciative for the delicious sides and pies that were delivered to us. It was such an amazing feast! It was such a beautiful time for our little family. There is so much to be thankful for!!!

Before we ate, we prayed, and then we went around the table and each of us spoke of what we were thankful for this year. It was a such a sweet time. God has brought us through so much as a little family. We are coming full circle with a lot of healing in our lives.

Here are a few snaps from our Thanksgiving Day:

The beautiful bird, cooked to perfection! Honestly, the juiciest and most tender turkey we've ever had! It was a Butterball.



Yummy!


So tender the bones came right out of the legs when he went to pick them up!



My pomegranates that I LOVE!! Also, in the background are delicious pies. I was so enthralled by my yummy poms, forgot to take the foil off of the pies to show them off! However, I assure you, the pies were spectacular!! In appearance and taste! Our friend Teresa made a sweet potato with meringue, pumpkin, pecan, and apple/pear pie. We had to put two of them in the freezer. Seriously, so much food, no way we could eat it all even in a week! Thanks T! Thank you everyone who contributed.



Our table...





...and of course, after the Macy's parade...ball games were on our TV. ;) Take a good look at this one...it is our living room before Elf Culture struck our home. :D



Turkey time, and giving of Thanks...

Sweet baby girl. My mini me and beautiful sweetheart.


Next up, handsomeness. Our awesome and thoughtful son.


The man behind the bird. I have the best husband in the world! He's so caring and loving. And he can cook too!!



Ok...so several weeks ago when all had the beginning of our crud, with sore throats and congestion, etc...we were all totally in need of a pick me up. So, we watched the movie ELF. Which is our very fave!! It always makes us laugh.

Well, this movie gave us a great idea!! We decided to invent a tradition for our little family called Elf Culture. haha. We pulled out the arts and crafts box, and began cutting out snow flakes...LOTs and LOTS of snowflakes. Then, we made paper chains, and garland by stringing together cotton balls. hehehe. You'd have to watch the movie to "get" all of this.

Sooooo, we saved everything up. Today we pulled out our Christmas decor, and our home made items to begin decorating.

Below are a few pics. This is only the beginning. We still have tons of snowflakes to hang from the ceiling and such. I'm trying to figure out how I am going to hang them without putting a bunch of pinholes in the ceiling. We are using 3M command hooks for the garland and things hanging around the window. But the ceiling is very high, and I'm not sure yet how we will handle this part. I'm fairly inventive, so I'll figure something out. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to comment.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...the beginnings of our family's Elf Culture.



I elfed this lighting fixture, and daughter elfed the next one...





J's elf work. Love it!



While my daughter and I were being little elves in the living room and dining rooms. Son was trimming his bedroom Christmas tree. :)



Christmas is my favorite time of year. Not only because of the beautiful decorations, and lights, but because it represents when Jesus Christ was born. He lived, he died, and he rose to break the bonds of sin. If we confess our sinfulness, confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and Saviour, and receive Him into our hearts and lives, we will have everlasting life. We have a relationship with Jesus, as with a friend. Talk with Him, pray to him. He hears our every heart's concern; cries with us, and rejoices with us. He is our truest friend. While man/woman will fail us, Jesus never fails us.

Click Here for The Story of Jesus' Birth

Ever Had A...

...Cushaw Pie?

Well, it was new to me. Our friends Woody and Lynn introduced us to the cushaw.

I just now pulled my homemade pie out of the oven (at 11 pm..what am I thinkin'! Well, it is really 10pm if you have already turned your clock back. Don't forget to fall back tonight!).

I've heard cushaw pie tastes like sweet potato pie. Well, it sure doesn't smell like sweet potato pie to me! lol I'll let you know tomorrow...after it cools and sets up.

Here is a pic of the pie I just pulled out of the oven. I cooked the cushaw in the oven (cut the whole cushaw in half and baked on 350 until the meat was soft and the skin puckered), scooped the meat out and mashed it. Then added milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, nutmeg, allspice, and a little flour...I think that is it! Well, if you click below you can see the whole recipe to make sure I did not miss anything. :)




The recipe called for lemon extract, but I went with vanilla instead. That may have been a no no. Also, I added too much milk by mistake. The recipe called for 1/4 c of cream, and I added 1 c. of skim milk. So.....not sure how this will turn out. Either way, it looked nice coming out of the oven.


You can find the recipe by CLICKING HERE for CUSHAW PIE RECIPE.

I've got pumpkin on the stove that I've baked, need to scoop and puree' for pies before I head to bed. We use my friend Cindy's pie recipe. Love it!