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Thanksgiving 2003

As I think about all that I have to be thankful for, a song keeps running through my mind. It was written by a man named Sal St. George. He ran a production company on Long Island and put together the wonderful Dickens Festival our family had the privilege to be a part of a couple of years ago. We sang this song, in our Victorian garb as we gathered up partner's from the audience and danced with them. The song's lyrics go like this,

"When you're tired, but you can't sleep,
count your blessings, instead of sheep,
and you'll fall asleep, counting your blessings!"

If you didn't order it this year, I urge you to get it next year. We will definitely be carrying it again! One aspect of this book that's really neat is, as you turn the pages, one part of the page are words written in a large type while the other half of the page are words written in smaller type. This is to accomodate the age variations reading the book. So the older children can read the smaller type, while I read the large type to the little ones. One excerpt of the book, which you may know, is something I had before I even had the book! Here it is:

'Whenever the Thanksgiving season approaches, for the sake of my own family, I earnestly seize the opportunity to remember, recount, and re-teach the Christian legacy of our nation, forged some 382 years ago by the Pilgrims--a faithful people of Christ Jesus. Theirs is a stalwart example, for even after their first meager harvest of 1621, they did not hesitate to set aside a Day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God for His life-sustaining provisions. "Therefore I will give thanks unto Thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto Thy name." II Samuel 22:5

What was to follow, though, in the second winter of this struggling infant colony of settlers, was a season of horrendous hardship, as a boatload of unexpected newcomers joined the original Separatists--without the foresight and preparedness of any life-sustaining provisions amongst their cargo--"not so much as a biscuit-cake." * Tradition has it that when provisions were depleted, a measly five kernels of corn became everyone's daily rations. In God's mercy, however, not one of them died of starvation that bleak winter of 1621-1622.

Lest they forget...even after a plentiful, surplus harvest, on their second celebrated Day of Thanksgiving in 1623, each Pilgrim was served an empty plate for their first course with only five kernels of corn. During Thanksgivings past, our family has recounted the Pilgrims' sacrifices and the LORD's blessings by beginning our first course of the feast with just five kernels of corn--lest we forget.

After you've read the Pilgrim story with your family, some time on Thanksgiving Day have everyone present share five things he or she is grateful for during the past year. We do this at our home on Thanksgiving morning. Everyone's place at the table is set with five kernels of corn and a card and a pen. The kernels of corn are a reminder to us of the meager rations the Pilgrims lived on during their second and third years in Plymouth. The corn is a visual remembrance of the sacrifice they made for us. We then pass a small basket around the table, and as everyone puts a kernel of corn in the basket, each shares one item from his or her list of Thanksgiving blessings. The basket goes around the table five times. We then hold hands and offer a prayer of gratitude to God for His abundant blessings and for the ways we have seen Him at work in our lives.'

I'll let you know how it turned out!

Turkey Napkin Holder
Supplies:
tube from paper towel roll or toilet paper roll
plastic googly eyes (you can get these in a craft store or Wal Mart)
construction paper (red, brown, green, yellow, orange)
4" x 5" cover weight paper for base
Directions:
Cut tube into 1 1/2 inch lengths. Cut brown construction paper to fit around the tube. Glue in place. For each turkey, cut one 'feather' from each color construction paper (yellow, brown, orange, red, green) and fan out and glue to back of turkey. Set aside. Cut out the shape of a head of a turkey on brown construction paper. Glue googly eyes (or draw them on). Add an orange triangular beak and a red wattle (the red thing hanging on the turkey's beak - great vocabulary word!)

Attach the head to the body with glue. Then glue the turkey to the base and write the person's name on it - and there you have a napkin holder and place setting!

Our Thanksgiving Tree
Supplies:
Leaves cut out from construction paper (brown, red, yellow, orange, green)
A brown paper bag from the supermarket
Directions:
Cut the brown paper bag so that it looks like a bare tree. Hang it on the dining room/kitchen wall where you will be gathered around the table. Give everyone 5 leaves each (this can correspond with the 5 kernels of corn above), so that everyone can write down 5 things they are thankful for. As you go around the table 5 times, each person says what they are thankful for and attaches it to the tree.

We've saved ours from year's past and it's fun to see what the kids wrote. This year we will be taking a miniature tree to accomodate my parents' condo in Florida.

Butternut Squash and Apple Casserole

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash (about 2 lbs.)
2 apples, cored, peeled, sliced (I used Granny Smiths)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel, seed, and cut squash into small pieces. Place squash and apple slices in a baking dish, about 11 x 7 inches. Blend remaining ingredients with fork or pastry cutter until crumbly. Distribute crumbs over squash and apple. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes. Enjoy!

Lemon Chess Pie (Low-fat, yet delicious!)

Ingredients:

pastry for single-crust pie, homemade or store-bought frozen pie crust
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Line bottom of pastry-lined 9-inch pie plate with a double thickness of foil. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 5 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 5 minutes more. For filling, in a bowl beat eggs lightly till combined. Stir in sugar, peel, lemon juice, cornmeal, and vanilla. Mix well. Place pastry shell on the oven rack. Pour filling into shell. Cover edge of pie with foil. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil, bake for 15-20 minutes more or till a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on rack. Cover and chill to store. Enjoy!

Thankful for Jesus,

Linda Brodsky