Bleepin' Blizzard!

Leapin' Lizards! We were slammed this weekend with more than a foot of snow. It didn't stop us from going to Maine on Saturday to do some outlet shopping when it was just the flurries. Today, we opted to stay in even though we still had quite a few errands to run. It was coming down as strong as it did last Friday and it still has not let up.

Since we really did not want to venture out and do errands, we just set up the 4-season porch in preparation for the holiday gatherings. The view from the room actually helped get us into the Christmas spirit. We played Christmas tunes while we worked in the room and did chores around the house. We also finally got around to decorating the tree that we got last Friday right before the start of this blizzard. There's finally a sign of the holidays in our home.

Yup, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We pray for a joyous Christmas season for everyone.

Eat Turkey Like A Pig

That's what I did during the Thanksgiving holiday. I ate like a p-i-g. For us, the holiday stretched out for the entire long weekend because we prepared too much food, as usual. Ergo, we spent the weekend trying to finish it all off.

I prepared a 21-lb. turkey for Thanksgiving dinner of 12 people. Sounds just about right if everyone had a pound and a half, right? But who was I kidding? How many people really eat a pound and a half of meat in one sitting? That, aside from the other yummy dishes that were served - among them, carrot & clementine soup, roasted ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, wild rice & crouton stuffing, arroz con gandules, cranberry salad, flan de queso, etc. with Pinot Noir and Reisling to wash it all down. Just thinking about sampling all that is enough to give anyone a heartburn. But the next day, we rallied on. I asked most everyone back for dinner and we again sat and ate with gusto like the first evening. The celebration stretched through the weekend finishing everything off, as well as eating another turkey that my sister-in-law didn't make on Thursday night just because we already had too much food.

Thanksgiving is a pretty new holiday for me as I've only been in the US for about a decade, but it has grown to be my favorite holiday of all. I love its thoughtful and no-frills quality. It's just good food, great company, enjoyable fellowship with family and friends and a reminder to be thankful for every single thing that we have been blessed with in life - the things that really matter.