HAPPY THANKSGIVING

TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES!

 

WE ARE HEADING TO THANKSGIVING MASS AND THAN HOME TO CELEBRATE EVERYTHING WE ARE THANKFUL FOR THIS YEAR.

 

I HAVE SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR! I THANK ALL OF YOU THAT HAVE STAYED WITH MY BLOG. I HAVE BEEN SUPER BUSY BUT PLAN ON COMING BACK EACH DAY OR TWO TO ADD POSTS.

 

PRAYING ALL OF YOU HAVE A VERY BLESSED THANKSGIVING!

DADDY AND MADEYLN AT A DINNER PARTY

 



Always Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my family and friends! This year I have much to be thankful for, the Lord has held me up through so much. I wanted to share the things I am thankful for this year, well the top 5 things anyway.

1. My faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I have been attacked by much this year in my faith and the Lord never left my side. My marriage was attacked, my unborn baby and my body, along with my health. During these dark times in my life I draw closer to Jesus and fight off Satan and his demons while doing it. I remember all the people I have read about in the Holy bible and find great comfort knowing that I am not alone. Many Women have gone through much and they stopped to praise God and thank him for all He has done.

1 Samuel 2:1-10

New International Version (NIV)

Hannah’s Prayer

2 Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn^[a] is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.

² “There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

³ “Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.

⁴ “The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
⁵ Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.

⁶ “The Lord brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
⁷ The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
⁸ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
on them he has set the world.
⁹ He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;
¹⁰ those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

    2. My husband and my children - A fearless leader and 8 wonderful gifts from heaven. I do not deserve any of them they are gifts sent to me from my father in heaven. They make my day a true blessing, even though the house is loud and never clean 100% I give thanks for each and every one of them.   


    3. My Church Family- We have the best Pastor any church could ever ask for. Our Pastor also has a incredible wife that I would call one of my closest and dearest freinds. A church family that really cares and loves each and every one of my children. I have never been to a church like this one, I think churches could learn a thing or two from just spending 1 day with them. The Lord is so good!

    4. Good Food - My family has never gone one day without food and good food. We put our trust in the Lord and he always provides.  

    5. Last Laundry - We have to do 4-5 loads a day and it never seems to end! This only could mean 1 thing we have been given lots of clothing to wear. We have everything we need and I am thankful that we have stores to shop at that save our large family money.

Really I could go on and on about what I am thankful for. Extended family,  great homeschooling books, blogs, music and so on! So much to be thankful for this year and I pray that all of you have a very blessed and yummy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Menu

Okay here we are once again getting ready for Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to every minute of it. I know most think it is crazy to even think about cooking so much but I really love the look on everyone's face when they see all the food. In my family we have big eaters, and girls who love to help in the kitchen so we have a blast! It becomes more of a family binding time for us and a learning processes for the little ones. This year will look a little different than last year's Thanksgiving I like add new things and change things up a little. We will still keep my husband's top choices of course. a few.

Thanksgiving Menu 2012

Breakfast

Swirly crustless quiche - taken from the Practical Paleo cookbook, just a fabulous book if you enjoy eating well.

Fresh Strawberries and Oranges with coffee or tea

Now not everything can be to healthy on Thanksgiving so the rest of the menu has a little of everything.


Appetizers

Mixed olives, Brie cheese with cranberries, and crackers ( some gluten Free some not)

Red Pepper, Carrots, and Cucumber tray, with our favorite dip


Main dishes

Turkey with Gravy

Spiced lamb meatballs with balsamic-fig compote - taken from the Practical Paleo cookbook.


Sides

Stuffing - either Oyster-dressing, or Cornbread-dressing-with-sausage-and-apples

Scalloped potato gratin or Delicious_creamy_mashed_potatoes

Green bean casserole - We are making two this year green-bean-casserole and best-ever-green-bean-casserole

Whiskey-glazed-carrots

Brussels-sprouts-with-balsamic-and-cranberries - a small amount just to try it this year, not sure it will be a hit or not

Soul-sweet-taters-step-by-step-recipe - we will be adding little marshmallows but only a little since ALL my daughters love them

Cranberry relish

Homemade whole cranberry sauce


Breads

Pw_dinner_rolls_-_no_kneading_required - these look just easy and yummy!

Cornbread


Desserts

Frosty Pumpkin Dessert

Louisa May Alcott's Apple Slump - taken from one of our favorite Thanksgiving books, An Old - Fashioned Thanksgiving


That's our feast this year and I can't wait! Black Friday starts Thursday night this year and I will be out and about just like last year! Baby Thomas will sleep a lot I hope since he loves his car seat, or I might just have to carry him in my Moby Wrap

 

Black Friday 2011

One word to say about Black Friday FUN! It is one of my favorite days of the year. I know I sound crazy, but I love to shop and I love great deals. This year I went shopping with my oldest daughter and she loved going and seeing all the people. I was told next year she wanted to go again and help plan out everything.


Planning really is the key for an evening of savings. You must plan out everything, and be okay if things don't always stay on path. Before I leave our home at 8pm Thursday evening I say a prayer for Gods guidance and protection. I know when I leave my house on Thursday I won’t be home till Friday late afternoon, so lots of prayers and plans are needed.


I am not one for being out and about without my husband close by late at night. Normally he would be out with me but this year he had to work so I took my German Sheppard for protection she had a great time I think.


Off topic, but something woth noting, in my state we have a wonderful Governor that took a stand for us and signed a bill that now allows me to feel much safer. I now can carry a gun on me for safety which I am thrilled about. This is a freedom we have in this country, a freedom we had stripped from us. I just want to say thank you Governor Scott Walker for making Wisconsin a much safer place to live.


Sorry, I just had to have a shout out for our Governor. We have a lot of people in our state that would rather live in fear, among other things and want him out. I say THANK YOU and press on don’t give up or give in you are doing great things for us in Wisconsin.


Back on topic, you can’t let it bother you if that last item is all sold out by the time you reach it. If God wants you to have something I believe it will be yours in his timing, you can’t say you didn’t try. Because of this thinking I have a blast, I have complete fun each year and I just enjoy every single minute of my evening/day.


This year I think was a record when it came to staying up. I woke up Thursday morning at 5am to start cooking and went back to bed 34 hours later at 8pm Friday evening. I did get a 1hr cat nap between stores opening which really did nothing except make me tired. I was able to get some great deals this year and I'm glad I went. We had great weather and people were just happy it seems this year; standing in line for hrs at a time you have a chance to meet some very nice people which is part of the fun.


I did do less shopping and more hanging out with my daughter which was the best part of it all. My savings were not as much as past years but I did save about $730, I made $45 an hr shopping this year better then a part time jobJ and much more fun. It makes my husband happy when he hears this; I make our family money stretch that much more.


Over all Black Friday this year was a success and I can’t wait to do it again next year.


Blessings,
Pamela

A little look at our Thanksgiving

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We had such a wonderful time and we made it very easy and simple. Simple to us is just not having to do after dinner dishes like pots and pans. We used throw away cooking pans and nice paper plates which is  big for me to do. I like to take out the nice china but then again I don’t do dishes in my home which I am thankful for this Thanksgiving. My husband and daughters always do this for me since I cook so much. Because we kept it simple this year we had  more time for reading Thanksgiving stories and resting.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of our day, along with our treat ideas for Thanksgiving. I forgot to post this a couple of days ago so I thought I would just blend it in here.

 
We always make treats to go along with our Thanksgiving movie. One of the treats is called Blessing mix. I found this idea a few years ago over at Organized Christmas. You will find how to make them and the tags to go along with the treats. We have been making this each year since and my girls look forward to it each year. Before handing them out I do tie each bag with a pretty ribbon.

The other treat this year was new to us; it's called Edible Indian corn. Jessica over at Shower of Roses showed how to make these. I made mine as healthy and tasty as I could, the girls loved them and I think we just added some more yummy treats to our Thanksgiving evening. My oldest daughter and I saved our treats for Black Friday shopping this year. Again I forgot to show the finished treat. We put our edible corn in little treat bags and tired the bottoms with ribbon.

This is our dining room all set up for dinner, we always have crafts up in our home since we HS our kids. Our dining room is where we eat and school our children so we have just a few turkeys sitting around. These are some of our theme boards around our dining room. Thanks giving leaves and Thankful Turkeys made by our kids. I just love homemade decorations don't you?

       This is our family table on a bright and sunny afternoon. We were blessed with great weather.

Daddy with his finished Turkey

And now pictures of all the yummy sides, notice the very elegant pans that we cooked and served our food in. I posted our Thanksgiving Menu if you would like to know everything I served. We did not make the hens this year maybe next year. I served am Apple Pie instead and a Pumpkin Cake as well with no pictures of either. I did manage to take a picture of a little left over cake though made up for my Husbands lunch the next day.

Mac and Cheese

                                                                       Scalloped Potatoes

                                                         Some of the Homemade Cranberries

                                                      Kasha Mandarin Oranges and raisins

                                                                     Polish potato bread

                                                                           Corn Bread

                                                                    Kielbasa Stuffing

                                                                I made Sweet Potato Soup

                                                                                Turkey

                                                                 Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potato soup and potato bread to start.

A little Pumpkin cake with homemade Whipcream to finish.

                                                                      When dinner was over

Some of us slept, and we could not pass up taking a picture of both.

The rest of the day was spent talking and just relaxing, we finished cleaning up and finished making our plans for Black Friday.  Another wonderful blessed day from our father in Heaven.

Blessings,

Pamela

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

As we share our day with family and friends, let’s not forget to give thanks to our father in heaven.

As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, let’s remember the meaning behind the word Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a national Holiday in our country and not a religious holiday.

I see it as a day that should be more about God, and less about the food and the football.

Thanksgiving

= to give thanks.

Thanks for what?

Everything, thank the one and only creator in heaven for everything you have!

We should learn to pray daily, give thanks and be grateful for every breath we get to take.

Of course it's okay to eat all the yummy food today and fall asleep after eating way too much.

Just remember who provided the food you will be eating. Remember, to love those your with today, and give thanks above all things.

I pray that all my readers, family and friends have a very blessed Thanksgiving.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Family Menu on Thanksgiving Day

 
Thanksgiving is next week I just can’t believe it, where did November go. Thanksgiving means lots of cooking for me and my family. My husband and my girls all cook together and it is such a blast for us to all be together cooking as a family. So we finished our last day of school today, and we will take off all of next week to enjoy family time, crafts, and get ready for the start of Advent/Christmas season. Each year is a little different in our home when it comes to this big feast day. I always cook or should I say we always cook, and we normally will not have any company since our family in either direction is over 2hrs away.

We have done so many different things over the years depending on what season of life were in. We have built so many memories with our children by making this day a family feast and day of thanks. We have gone out for wonderful buffets which are always a hit, and we have had many years of the traditional Thanksgiving, with prayer and Thanks around our family table.

So, this year we are trying something new in our home. Still keeping our thoughts and prayers on our great nation but also adding some of my husband’s heritage to our day. We will be cooking an American/Polish Thanksgiving. We will be reading some new books, and trying some new food and I can't wait.

Here I have a little of what our day will look like with food:) Did I say yet that I LOVE to cook and love food, Well I do I love both!

 I will start cooking much of our sides and desserts early next week. Baking will be done on Wed and then off to Church service. Thanksgiving Day I am up at 3am for setting up our home and dressing our turkey and hens. I normally get up at 5am for mommy time so this is not much different.


Thanksgiving Day Menu 2011


Bagels and Cream Cheese ~ for breakfast- 7am


Vegetable tray ~ This is just for snacking on- This includes Peppers, cauliflower, broccolii, carrots, pickles, and olives. I will also be making a Ranch dip homemade.

Dinner will be at 1pm nice and early, we must rest up for Black Friday :)

To start our meal we will have a Pumpkin soup

Main dishes

Turkey ~ will be our main dish for dinner which is very popular in Eastern Europe and America.
I was thinking of adding a few Hens to our meal this year. I think the girls will love it, and this would be our first year having them.

Sides

Kielbasa stuffing ~ This stuffing is made with real Kielbasa sausage
(Not your local large store bought kind from the factory), Rye and Pumpernickel breads, onions, Apples, carrots and celery.

Kasha with Mandarin Oranges and Raisins

Brukiew z Ziemniak ~This is a Rutabaga Mash (a small amount not sure what will think of this yet).

Scalloped potatoes

Green Bean Casserole ~ Not Polish but a must have in our home

Homemade Mac and Cheese

Sos Zurawinowo-Porzeczkowy ~ This is a Polish Cranberry-Currant Sauce

Wild Cranberry Sauce Recipe ~ This a Gluten Free cranberry sauce (since mom is cutting most Gluten out of her diet).

A Cranberry Ginger Relish

Breads

Polish Potato Bread

Corn Bread ~ Because my daughters love it, and it is so easy to make.

Desserts

Maria's Apple Slices

Pumpkin Cheesecake

It looks like a lot of food for 7 kids and 3 adults I know, but it is Thanksgiving. I think leftovers are great, and I really don’t have to cook much at all for the next week.  

So what is on your Thanksgiving table this year? What will your family be making? Are you going somewhere, are you cooking or just relaxing and having pizza?

Blessings,
Pamela

Thanksgiving Books

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I can't wait.  I wanted to share some of the books we read as a family each year. Most of these we own others we check out from our library each year.

So in no special order here is our family reading list for Thanksgiving 2011

P is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet

If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

T is for Turkey:A True Thanksgiving Story

Thanks for Thanksgiving

The Night Before Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving

Cranberry Thanksgiving

Five silly turkeys

If you were at- the first Thanksgiving

An old-fashioned Thanksgiving (We also watch this movie each year).

A pioneer Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving rules

The Thanksgiving story

A Thanksgiving turkey

The very first Thanksgiving Day