Tag Archives: thanksgiving

tasks…

08 Sunday Oct 2017

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yesterday I spent time setting the table for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner with my Winnipeg kids…

doing these small tasks while thinking of so many previous Thanksgivings brought to mind how George and I would work as a team to get the house and dinner ready for friends and family…

his job was to grocery shop and get the house organized… that could be tidying or cleaning or reorganizing the hall closet, depending on what he felt was most important… and often, to make a pie…

my job was to prep and cook the meal…

now I get to shop, tidy and everything else… the good news is that someone comes in now and again to clean so I don’t have to do that piece…

I have worked out a system where I do bits and pieces of the prep work over a few days before the special day so that I don’t feel exhausted…

yesterday I even made an apple pie…

today I started my day with a walk to and around the Park…

it was cool and windy… spent quite a bit of time with the geese… still trying to get some good shots of them taking off and landing…

once home I made stuffing, cranberry sauce, peeled and cooked turnip, prepped potatoes, green beans and cauliflower… also cooked the ham and started pea soup…

sounds like a lot, but fit in naps and tv too;-)… there is something holy about preparing space and food for others…

lots of memories as I moved through the day, but this time they are happy, not sad… a step forward…

be thankful…

09 Sunday Oct 2016

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wanted to write a thanksgiving message for Facebook and it took up a good portion of the morning to get it just the way I wanted…

put the turkey in the oven and then ran out for a few final groceries… relaxed and read as a few items cooked ahead of time…

kids arrived and we had dinner a bit early as my son-in-law had to leave for work around six…

the boys all helped with clean-up before we had pumpkin and coconut cream pies….

so great to have everything done by the time everyone leaves…

one went off to work and the rest of us headed over to the Park to collect poke balls…

just before we left, middle guy and I took a selfie…

he dressed up with a white shirt and tie for dinner…

at the Park we walked through the Leo Mol Garden gathering poke balls and took this pic of “our bench“…

then a few of us walked around the Formal Gardens while others drove/parked and waited…

beautiful sky… 

great way to end a lovely thanksgiving…

thankful…

07 Friday Oct 2016

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more lovely blossoms in the living room this morning…

headed out, met my daughter at Starbucks and then we went and found fresh turkeys for our dinners… they are coming here on Sunday and they are having a dinner for my son-in-law’s family on Monday at their house…

made zucchini-cheese soup, pretty tasty…

later we went to see Cirque du Soleil’s TORUK… it was wonderful…

this one had a narrator which helped everyone understand the story… the last one we saw was a bit confusing, lol…

came home and made the second meal from my #ChefsPlate box…

delicious…but I am certainly using more pots and bowls…

missing my beloved a lot over the last few days… guess it is the whole thanksgiving thing…

I am so thankful for the years we had together…

thanksgiving…

12 Monday Oct 2015

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got picked up by the kids on their way home from a family dinner last night…

had a sleepover at their house and this morning my daughter, a friend of hers, and I, went to Thermea…

  
it was windy first thing when I woke up…

 trees swaying in the backyard…  

blowing in the front…

pouring as we drove there, but we went anyway… when we came out of the locker room the rain had stopped and there were few people around… wind was a bit strong but we had a great time and had most of the areas to ourselves… even got to sit around one of the fire pits…

lovely start to our Thanksgiving day…

from there we popped over to Ikea to take back a few surplus items from their kitchen reno… I usually try not to go to stores on holidays but this was the only time we could get there… 

picked up a couple of cushion covers and a lovely orchid…

 

reminded me of my beloved who was always bringing orchids home to me… seemed like a great thanksgiving treat…
ended the day with a wonderful turkey dinner…

  

dark…

08 Thursday Oct 2015

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first thing this morning when I went out to the car it was dark…

  
really dark… it was extra early as we had an event first thing…

found the darkness a bit sad… a reminder that soon it will be cold and dark so much of the time…

  
the good part of it all was that the traffic was light, lol…

couldn’t tell what the weather was going to be like… did have the heat on in the car which was nice…

was thinking it was going to rain but it didn’t during the day…

on the drive home it was overcast and did spit a bit…

 the traffic was light again, as I got to leave early…

excellent start to my long Thanksgiving weekend…

news…

05 Monday Oct 2015

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good news… my eyes are in good shape… saw the eye doctor this morning… surprised me with a field test… thankfully it came out okay… always nervous when taking one… 

sky was changing every time I came out of a business…

  
met with my finance guy and my investments are doing fine as well…

then off to pick up a few groceries… had a lovely wander around at Costco… didn’t even buy much that wasn’t on my list, lol… finished up at Safeway where I picked up the other items for Thanksgiving dinner on the weekend…

on the drive home the sky changed yet again…

  
at least there was a bit of blue in it…

had a nap after all the groceries were put away, and then made a couple of pita pizzas for dinner…

  
delicious…

now to plan what I will eat tomorrow…

traditions…

13 Monday Oct 2014

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for the last few days I’ve been preparing for tonight’s dinner…

this year I made two new things… the first was the dressing that my grandson wanted… apparently there wasn’t enough sausage in it so he didn’t like it…

the second was a turnip puff… a friend wrote about it in a blog and it sounded interesting so I checked it out on Pinterest, liked the look of it, and made some… two of us really liked it, the other not so much… my mom and dad felt that gravy just wasn’t great without turnip water in it, so I’ve cooked turnips as part of our celebration dinners for at least thirty years…

had a good time setting the table… included plates and bowls from our elders…

IMG_8816-1.JPGduring dinner we talked about the various items and where they came from…

had also put one of the candelabras from Crystal and Jeff’s wedding on the table… during dinner we thought of people who were missing – those who’ve moved on from this world and those who are just not close by – and we lit the candles as we thought of them…

before dinner the boys went out to find some leaves to go on the plate with the pumpkin… then they spent some time tree climbing…

IMG_8819.JPGlovely day and great dinner… so much to be thankful for…

dressing…

12 Sunday Oct 2014

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when I was at the kids’ place on Friday my youngest grandson gave me a recipe for dressing that he wanted me to make for Thanksgiving dinner…

this is very odd because he doesn’t eat dressing, or much else, unless it is Caesar salad and baked potatoes…

they had all worked on this recipe at daycare and he ate three plates full of it… he asked them to write down the recipe and they also sent a note saying how much he liked it…

how could I not make it…

IMG_8773.JPGran out and picked up the last few things I needed, including the sausage for the special dressing…

I did laugh because while he was telling me about the recipe my daughter was shaking her head no the entire time… she loves my dressing and has never liked when I have made different versions… luckily the version he was wanting is made as a casserole…

so, two types of stuffing made, potatoes, turnips and cauliflower cut and ready…

still need to finish setting the table…

thanks…

11 Saturday Oct 2014

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spent a quiet day doing things around the house…

realized again how blessed I am… able to do whatever I want…

IMG_8765.JPGenjoying the beautiful flowers as I was working on the dining room table for Monday’s dinner…

able to have all the food we want for our Thanksgiving celebration… dug out a chicken from the freezer, got turnip, potatoes and squash in the last few days…

have the time and items to make the table special… pulled out dishes that had belonged to our elders to bring them to the dinner…

tonight I made myself a steak… cooked it in a frying pan with help from Gordon Ramsey… well a video online, lol… it was delicious…

IMG_8766.JPGit is good to take the time for thanks…

blessings…

14 Monday Oct 2013

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had a quiet morning, doing a bit of laundry and some final prep for tonight’s dinner…

kids came over just after noon and the house filled up with the smell of Crystal’s pumpkin cheesecake baking while Jeff, with a little help from Kyler and I, raked up the leaves and put away some lawn furniture… then the two of them caught the fish from the pond… rather easily I might add…

the big boys catching the fish...

the big boys catching the fish…

they moved them to their winter condo in the house… the little guys came to watch the transfer, both wanting to help, but the bucket just got dumped so all they could do was feed them, lol…

pouring the fish into their winter home...

pouring the fish into their winter home…

the water looked a bit murky but the tank was filled with life…

winter condo quite filled up...

winter condo quite filled up…

turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, turnip, brussel sprouts, Caesar salad, along with home-made cranberry sauce (with the canned stuff for those who didn’t like the home-made version) and gravy filled us up… and then we had luscious cheesecake with whipped cream…

ready to eat...

ready to eat…

last year we had a crowd, although Crystal wasn’t here… this year it was just the Winnipeg family, although we were missing our Ottawa contingent who celebrated yesterday…

after dinner Crystal took a few photos of the great centrepiece that Kyler and Tavin prepared… they found leaves outside, brought up the Thanksgiving decorations box and put everything together… we added two pumpkins from a friend and a few fresh tomatoes grown in the garden… we included the silver pheasant salt and pepper shakers that my mom brought back to my grandma from England, the bunny the boys gave to Grandpa when he had his heart surgery, and at dinner used a gravy boat from his mom… very nice…

thanksgiving centrepiece...

thanksgiving centrepiece…

we shared around the table many of the things we are thankful for and they included: school, family, Grandpa, friends, Elisabeth, iPads, moms, meat, work and time with family… .

after everyone had left, I took a few pictures of the happy fish… then I talked with Cyndi, finished tidying the kitchen and am now heading for bed…

happy fish...

happy fish…

this is the second Thanksgiving without my beloved and during dinner I told a few stories about our parents, and Jeff and Crystal shared stories of big family dinners over the years… no tears, just good memories…