Thanksgiving Chatter: This End

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

If you just want the list of questions to copy and answer, they'll be quick to grab from yesterday's post.  You can answer in the comments or on your own blog and just leave your link as a comment here.

While you're waiting on the pies and such to cook today, you know. ;-)

Anyway, I'm about to hit the kitchen but thought I'd post my answers quick-like:


1) Are you going over the river and through the woods for Thanksgiving dinner,  or will you be dining in your own dining room?  Or are you one of the noble folks who will be serving meals to people who have neither a grandma's house nor a dining room?

I'm fixing dinner and the local members of the family...minus our married daughter and her hubby...will eat it.  The Princess and her Prince are eating dinner w/his folks, but will join us for pie and the annual viewing of 'Miracle on 34th Street' later in the evening.  I'm planning to put a large chunk of our 15-lb turkey straight into the freezer for turkey divan later on.

2) What is one thing that you are thankful for that the folks who will be around your table might think is silly?

We have a kitty who is not terribly generous with her affection, but I can get some cuddle time with her most days.  It probably IS silly, but I'm grateful for the purr God put in kitties, undoubtedly for its therapeutic  effect on humans.

3) Do you have a set menu every year, one that varies not, or are you someone who likes to try new dishes for the holiday?

We are very traditional; I could probably do our Thanksgiving dinner in my sleep now.  The menu varies not. Someone would be devastated if his/her particular favorite item was missing from the table...although some years (such as this one) in the interest of keeping it simple, I will substitute brown 'n' serves for my grandmother's yeast rolls and refrigerated pie crust for the floury mess of the scratch version.  Usually the only person disappointed by those alteration is me.

4) Will a parade be any part of your Thanksgiving?

Years ago I asked the kids to tear up the bread for the dressing while they watched the Macy's parade; now it's part of the tradition.  The Artist has even said that he will be here in time for breakfast (refrigerated orange rolls, another tradition) and the parade.   Gotta love anything that entices an out-of-the-nester to hang out with us.

5) A couple of years ago, I read an internet post by folks who immigrated to the US from England, who asked their neighbors what they were supposed to do on Thanksgiving.  As they told the story, everyone instructed them to 'eat turkey and watch football.'    How would you answer their question?

I would have said that Thanksgiving is a time to share with friends and/or family; a day to fix a meal of special food and enjoy it with people who are near and dear to you as you reflect on the blessings that God has so graciously given ...and then promptly invited them for dinner.

The word 'football' would not even have entered into the conversation...

6)  Will there be anything on your Thanksgiving table that would seem odd or unusual to folks who do not know your traditions?

Last year, I posted to Facebook a photo of the whole family around the table just before we said the blessing.  That photo started off a whole little discussion about how odd it was that we all had large glasses of milk evident.  Now, that is not a Thanksgiving deal at our house...we drink milk All. The. Time.  But there were folks who were amazed that we drink milk with dinner.  Apparently that is relegated to breakfast only in many houses.  So, yeah, I guess the milk in the glasses qualifies.

7) How do you prefer to express your thanksgiving?  Do you share around the table,  list it as the meal is blessed,  keep it private between you and God, or...?

This is one thing we don't do the same every year; some years we go around the table, some years we just pause as we bless the meal to be thankful; some years, I participate in the 'Thanksgiving Countdown' on Facebook...listing something I'm thankful for in my status every day.  Who knows what we'll do tomorrow?  It may depend on whether I actually get dinner on the table on time or not; some years there have been glitches that made the meal late enough that the only sound at dinner was munching...

8) Have you put up Christmas decorations yet, or do you keep Thanksgiving separate from Christmas (or Hanukkah, if that applies...)?

I like my holidays separate and distinct; no Christmas decoration or Christmas music or movies in our house before we eat turkey and express our thankfulness (however that happens that year).  Although I do try to get started on the Christmas shopping before Christmas...I'd guess I'm about half done with that for the year. I know the sales hit on Black Friday; it's worth skipping the sales to also skip the craziness...

9) What is one standout memory you have of Thanksgiving when you were a kid?

I remember several Thanksgivings, but the one that is most prominent at the moment is from when I was probably in Jr Hi...it was a Thanksgiving where we actually didn't go anywhere or have any company...it was just my parents and us 4 kids.  Mom cooked dinner and we ate it and just enjoyed staying home.  It was odd that I found it so enjoyable, as I was usually the first one to want to 'go someplace!'.  But I think that was the year I learned that I could enjoy an intimate family holiday.  Maybe that was just God's preparation for all the years we would spend as 'just us' hundreds of miles away from the rest of the family.  Thanksgiving with my hubby and kids is actually my favorite holiday; if any of the extended family can make it to us (and they have, a few times), that just makes it better, but it's not essential.

10) Do you do family portraits at Thanksgiving?

 We used to do them the day after Thanksgiving...set up the tripod and do a whole roll of shots, hoping that when they were developed there'd be one good enough to use for our Christmas Epistle.  But now, in the digital age, it's not so critical that we do it that early, since we can just download 'em off the camera. 

So it's not exactly on the schedule for this Friday, but it could happen.

11) What is the Thanksgiving weather forecast for your area?  Is it typical?

Partly cloudy, temps in the 60's.  Maybe a little warmer than usual, but not remarkably so.  I'll probably have a window open to offset the heat from the oven, and we probably won't light the holiday fireplace until the evening after the sun sets and it cools off a bit.

12) White meat or dark?

Definitely dark for me! 


Whatever your Thanksgiving looks like at your house, I wish the peace of God and the blessings of a thankful heart to you and yours!

Thanksgiving Chatter

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is that it gives everyone a chance to sit down and talk with folks over a large, leisurely meal and pie and coffee.  So, I thought I'd do a little random question thing...while you're waiting on pies to bake or whatnot tomorrow, you can answer the questions in the comments or, if you want, you can post on your own site and just link up to your blog in the comments.  You can either answer here or wait and put 'em in the comments when I post my answers tomorrow.

I promise I'll come and read them if you post on your blog; I'll even leave a comment so you know I came by.   ;-)

I'm well aware that there's not a boatload of folks who read this, and I also know that some of my readers would never dream of leaving a comment.  And that's ok.  But if you're willing and able, join me in a little pre-Thanksgiving get-to-know-you...because one of the things I'm very grateful for is the people who take time to visit my little corner of the blogsphere... ;-)

1) Are you going over the river and through the woods for Thanksgiving dinner,  or will you be dining in your own dining room?  Or are you one of the noble folks who will be serving meals to people who have neither a grandma's house nor a dining room?

2) What is one thing that you are thankful for that the folks who will be around your table might think is silly?

3) Do you have a set menu every year, one that varies not, or are you someone who likes to try new dishes for the holiday?

4) Will a parade be any part of your Thanksgiving?

5) A couple of years ago, I read an internet post by folks who immigrated to the US from England, who asked their neighbors what they were supposed to do on Thanksgiving.  As they told the story, everyone instructed them to 'eat turkey and watch football.'    How would you answer their question?

6)  Will there be anything on your Thanksgiving table that would seem odd or unusual to folks who do not know your traditions?

7) How do you prefer to express your thanksgiving?  Do you share around the table,  list it as the meal is blessed,  keep it private between you and God, or...?

8) Have you put up Christmas decorations yet, or do you keep Thanksgiving separate from Christmas (or Hanukkah, if that applies...)?

9) What is one standout memory you have of Thanksgiving when you were a kid?

10) Do you do family portraits at Thanksgiving?

11) What is the Thanksgiving weather forecast for your area?  Is it typical?

12) White meat or dark?

Are You Done With That?

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I've looked through both blogs and can't really find that I've posted this before, so, after some deliberation about which blog to post it to, I decided it works better here.

I have lamented about my pitiful housekeeping skills before, but I don't really think I've gone into what I think is the fundamental root. So I'll 'splain it quick, then share an EPIPHANY I had today regarding the whole issue.

I really believe there's two kinds of housekeepers...you can call 'em Cleanies and Messies, Born Organized and Sidetracked or about anything that makes sense to you.  In an effort to avoid labels, I'll just say 'Type 1 and Type 2".  Here's how you tell 'em apart...

You give them each something to do that requires stuff...say, reconciling the checkbook (checkbook, bank statement, calculator)...and then you interrupt them with something that is urgent but does not involve blood or smoke. In other words, not an emergency.

The Type 1's will always, without even consciously thinking about it, put away the stuff they were working on and then go tend to the interruption.  The Type 2's will always, without thinking about it, hop right up and go tend to the interruption, leaving their stuff right there because, you  know, they're coming right back.

But life happens and the interruption is interrupted and then something else comes up and...

At the end of the day, the stuff is still on the table.

So, when a Type 1 cleans house, she dusts and vacuums.  When a Type 2 cleans house, she has to first go put away all the half done projects...only, they need to be done.  So instead of putting away the checkbook and bank statement, she sits back down to finish it. Then she spots the vacuum that  is still in the middle of the family room, where it was when the doorbell rang with the mail order box that had hubby's Christmas present in it, that had to be put away immediately so he couldn't find it, only...wow, is THAT where the holiday tablecloth got put year before last...and...and..and...

So, I have told myself, the secret is that I must learn to put away things when I'm done with them.

But today I realized that is NOT the secret.

The secret is to realize WHEN I'm done...not necessarily done for good, but definitely done for today.

As I mulled over this realization I was walking up the stairs to get the next load of laundry,  and I saw a box of miscellaneous stuff sitting at the top of the stairs, and I realized 'Am I done with this?' applies to a lot more than just what I'm working on at the moment.

If I'm done with it, I'm done with it.  Am I done with this catalog?  Am I done with this pattern...these fabric scraps...this too-small blouse...those scratchy sheets...I've found myself asking this question over and over today.  And when the answer is 'yes', then what I need to do becomes obvious.

You know, though, that can apply to much more than just the stuff that is cluttering my house...it could apply to the stuff that is cluttering my life.  Am I done with this program, with that responsibility?  With that relationship?  Has that season passed?  Am I still trying to plant when I should be harvesting?  Am I done with that?

It means I have to be honest with myself.  It also means I can't pull a Scarlett O'Hara and 'think about it tomorrow.'  I have to answer the question...am I done with that?

Once the question is answered, then I can take care of the ...clutter.

But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on ... (Phil 3:13a -14b, NIV 2011)

An Unmarked Bible

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

In a rather unusual sequence of events, I have become the owner of 3 new Bibles in about the last 6 weeks.

One was given to me, one was purchased on something of a lark (it was $5), and one was a replacement for the old warhorse Bible in the upper right that has been my go-to study companion for the past 27 1/2 years but has, due to ignorance on my part for the first ten years or so, deteriorated to the point that I needed to retire it with honors.

I may talk later about my thoughts on the translations, as they are all different (the study Bibles are 1984 NIVs, the very small Bible is a 2011 NIV and the one in the lower right is a 2001 ESV), but for now I thought I'd just talk a bit about having three unmarked texts before me.

A Bible, for me, isn't just a nice read on a rainy day; it is a feast to consume and digest.  I've written before about the marking system I use to highlight and emphasize as I read and study; it is one revelation after another preserved for future reference.  All four Bibles are open to my favorite verse - Romans 12:2 - and you can see how the years of study have transformed my old Bible, while the new ones are, by and large, waiting for the notation of whatever new - or renewed - revelation comes as I study them (I noticed that I have already  marked Romans 12:2 in the little Bible).

I am carrying the new study Bible to teach from; it is awkward as I'm not yet familiar with its quirks and text patterns, and the notches on the sides of the pages are something I'm going to have to get used to handling, and it's NOT marked so I have to rely on my memory of text references instead of cheating by  looking for the passage by its marking, but it is the text that our lesson material is based on so it is the better choice for the classroom.

And it is such a quality volume; leather cover, fine paper...and, believe it or not, it smells fabulous.  I even passed it around in class tonight so my junior high girls could experience the fragrance.

But  it is the unmarked path through the Word that is intriguing;  I have learned from past study that a slight difference in wording may open up a new aspect of a passage that I had not seen before.  Or simply because I have not marked the verse in one way, I may see it slightly differently.  Either way, I am anticipating some rich study time as I blaze the trails ahead.

Humble Pie...again

Those folks who have been around BLR for a while know that I try very hard to maintain a politics-free zone on my blogs.  I'm not about to change that, but I do have a story to relate that I will try very hard to do from a neutral position...

Monday, one of my Facebook friends posted a little friendly reminder to folks not to wear any politically-themed attire to the polls, as we are not allowed in the polling places visibly supporting any one candidate or issue.

I had a sudden idea of a way to beat that, taken from the ties the candidates wore at the last debate, and just decided I would dress for the day in the color associated with my choice.  Subtle support.

I thought it was funny and sharp, and I did point out to two or three friends how sly I was in expressing my preference.  There my have been just a touch of pride involved in my outwitting of the rules.

Then the election coverage started; I wasn't home to watch it but my elder son The Artist, who was one of the folks I'd told of my sly cleverness, was.  I got a text from him. "Mom...that color thing.  You're wearing the wrong color."

I was sure I was not.  Did they switch??

Nope.  Turns out I had totally mixed it up and was absolutely, positively backwards.

That's a big dose of humble pie right there, let me tell you.

And a pretty big reminder that whenever I set out to prove my personal wit and superior thinking, God always manages to remind me that without Him involved I will ALWAYS mess it up.  Even on something as simple as picking a color. 

Repeat...because I did good the first time...

I don' t often repeat a post, but it has been a  bit over 4 years since I started Beer Lahai Roi, and I have been at the week-before-the-election  before.

And I really can't improve on what I said the last time.  Regardless of my political leanings, it's still true.

So, if you've a mind to, check it out.

Know Your Enemy - 10/29/08