Thursday, November 3, 2016

Band of Bloggers: Volume 11, November 2016


Sweet, lovely November. Halloween has come and gone (hope you didn't gorge on candy!), the election is about to be over (it feels like it has been years!) and now, we're (technically) in the full swing of the holiday season! Thanksgiving will be here in just a few short weeks, and before you know it, it will be all Christmas all the time! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

The Band of Bloggers question for November is:
What does your ideal Thanksgiving day and table look like? What are you eating? Any candles or tarts burning/melting in the room? Who fills your table? Are you stressed? What does your house look like? How's the weather? Give us the deets!

Thanksgiving around my house is a week long event. Thankfully, as a teacher, my girls and I have off the whole week to prepare at our leisure and enjoy the build up. 


Scarlette is my kitchen helper. She chops pecans, veggies and anything I may need with precision and care. Various dishes are readied for the big day: homemade cranberry sauce, potatoes, salad, All Day mushrooms, casseroles, macaroni and cheese and usually a punch. Several desserts make an appearance. Adam has to have his homemade pumpkin pie, I love pecan pie and my dad loves pumpkin roll ups. Sometimes I get a request for Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. It is pretty much a free for all. Oh and homemade pralines. I am very picky about the Thanksgiving dinner being made from scratch. Call it a quirk, but it is the one time a year I will not bow out to store bought.

 The morning of Thanksgiving, Adam, the girls and I head to a park for our annual family reunion lunch. We feast on a pot luck melange of foods from fried venison to authentic egg rolls. The weather can be anything from chilly with cardigans and boots at the park or blazing hot with short sleeves and shorts with flip flops.


And yes, there are so many of us we have to wear name tags, despite the fact I have attended since birth. 

We head home and Adam lights up the propane tank and deep fries our turkey. I finish cooking random things and get ready for our family dinner which usually includes my sisters, mom, dad, stepmom and Pop-pop. We cannot eat at the table so we all gather in the small living room and eat from the couch, chair, floor, anywhere we can squeeze. Candles are lit, usually some fall scent from Bath & Body Works, and the warmer usually pumps out some cinnamon centric scent. At this point I am in either pajamas or yoga pants (no fancy dinners over here) and I am slightly tired but very content. A nice long evening of chatter ensues then cleaning closes out the night. First thing the next morning I climb the attic ladder and pull down the Christmas decorations and put away the fall. 

How do you celebrate Thanksgiving? 

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Please visit these Band of Bloggers blogs

and help support the blogger community!





Lauren, at Lolo Loves Scents.

Liz, at Furianne.

Michelle, at Waxing About.

Sunnee, at Fragrance Obsessed.



Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!

10 comments:

  1. I loved writing up my answer to this question, and I loved reading yours. My Thanksgiving excitement is here in a big way already. I used to look forward to gathering with my side of the family. We used to take turns hosting. We've all grown so far apart now that it's been years since we've gotten together. I miss those days, but on the other hand, I absolutely enjoy the peace and comfort of staying in with my own little family.

    ~Deb

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    1. I'm glad you ladies had fun with this question! Since we can't all be in the same place at the same time, it's nice to get a sense, a picture in our mind, of what we're all doing on Thanksgiving!

      J, I love what you said about going all out, not having things from the store! With the exception of cranberry sauce (only one kind, we usually have both) and stuffing (which I may try to do au natural this year), we feel the same way! Your Thanksgiving sounds really fun and warm, full of family and good food and love! <3

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    2. Thanks! I had fun with this one. Looking back over the years and traditions. Reflecting on how I felt and if what we do is working for us. It is hard when families grow apart. I have mourned the absence of my stepdad during the past few years at these times, but there is not much I can do about it.

      Yes it is Lauren! Thanks for the fantastic question! Sometimes (well, often) I feel like a snob about things. But hey. I know what I like. And I like homemade stuff. But you are right. I forgot about the cranberry jelly. We do buy a can of that. Mmm.

      I hope you two have a happy and love filled Thanksgiving this year. <3

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  2. That sounds so lovely! Despite being Canadian, I really love American Thanksgiving - you guys just know how to do it up right. Ours feels like a formality instead of a celebration - it's all very "Insert mashed potatoes and fall into a coma." American Thanksgiving is all about the good, the bad and the ugly of family and traditions like yours and it's so much cooler than ours. Also, there's 8 million movies about American Thanksgiving and none about Canada's, so who's winning there? :) I hope you have a lovely one.

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    1. LOL! Mashed potatoes and food comas are totally acceptable. I love most the time with family and getting a chance to purposefully step back and count the blessings we have. I don't do that nearly as much as I should.

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  3. Lovely traditions - thank you for sharing! Your food feast sounds delicious, too. I'd never heard of those mushrooms, but I looked them up and they sound incredible! I grew up always having holidays, including Thanksgiving, at my maternal grandparents' house - they were awesome and we were very close. My grandmother always cooked a huge meal, and no one can replicate what she made and make it taste right. Nowadays, though, since I live so far from my mother and I work right up to Thanksgiving (and my field's annual conference is always the weekend before Thanksgiving, so I'm always traveling right beforehand, which is exchausting), my Thanksgivings are a lot more low key. We usually just stay home and make some kind of nice meal and hibernate. This year, I decided to order the Martha Stewart Thanksgiving box, which is a ton of food, but it means we'll have a lot of leftovers for the whole weekend. I'm probably a little too excited about it, lol. Happy Thanksgiving!

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    1. Those mushrooms are the stuff of dreams. I kinda want to make them year 'round but I don't want them to lose their rare appeal. I get what you mean about no one's cooking being like grandma's cooking. At least you have the memories of how wonderful those meals were with her. Low key is good too though, especially since it sounds like Thanksgiving is a busy time for you. And hey. That Martha Stewart box sounds incredible. Anything that lady touches is gold. Looking forward to hearing about it! Be excited!!! I am excited for you!! Happy Thanksgiving to you too sweet friend <3 I need to start menu planning!

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  4. Holy moley scapoly! I've never heard of a Thanksgiving so large name tags were required. Sounds like a great way to get together, now's my chance to be jealous of a Thanksgiving feast outdoors in nice weather. Sadly, my family's gathering has dwindled to about 9. My husband's fam puts on a good show of 25 or so depending on extended relatives visiting, who's dating someone knew, got married, etc.
    One question, do your sisters and parents also attend the large reunion lunch and come over later for dinner? Ok, two questions, how do you fit in all of the delicious food in one day?

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    1. LOL! It is my mom's side of the family who does this Thanksgiving lunch reunion each year. So my mom's parents, their siblings and kids and their parents and so on and so forth. The family name it is under is Conrad. We gather in a circle and count off and announce births and deaths and big news then say the pledge and a prayer. Some years it si as high as 220 and some it is as low as 100. But we go. My mom goes. My two sisters who we share the same mom go. And we eat like the dickens then rest. I cook more then eat more. The secret... I store it all in my butt cheeks.

      Nine to 25 is a great number for a gathering. Enough for lots of chatter and laughter but not so much you can't really visit everyone.

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    2. I think I've got it, ( ! )Lol!!!

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