Thanksgiving

What a wonderful week!  I love Thanksgiving.  No presents!  Just giving thanks, good food, fun times, parades on TV, family, rest, decorating for Christmas, shopping, and the fun list goes on and on.  Hopefully during turkey day, we think extra hard about how thankful we are for all our blessings!

Thanksgiving should not be practiced one day a year, but every single day of our lives.  We can find at least one thing to thank the Lord for everyday.  It is nice to have a special day set aside to dwell on our thankfulness and teach our kids an extra lesson on the importance of being thankful.

It was awesome how God had me read 2 Corinthians chapter 9 yesterday, the first day of Thanksgiving week.  This chapter is most popular for verse 9 where we read the importance of being a cheerful giver.  Down further in the chapter we read, "Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving unto God;  For the administration of this service not only suplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God."  verses 11-12.

My prayer is to make sure my family shows "many thanksgivings unto God" this holiday week and the season ahead.  2012 has had many trials in our little family, as I am sure every family has faced trials, but we still have tons to be thankful for no matter what storms may be raging in our lives!  We could fill pages upon pages of blessings starting with the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus' life for the payment of our sins.  Let's make sure God knows just how truly thankful we are for His gift of salvation and the many blessings He has given us.

Today's Verse
"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."  2 Corinthians 9:15



I will be taking the rest of the week off to focus on time with family and extra time in the kitchen.  I wanted to share some fun thanksgiving ideas.  Some I am sure you have seen before, others may be new, so I hope your family enjoys!

Pilgrim Hat cookies

I have seen these many ways, but I used chocolate dipped marshmallows, fudge dipped Oreo's, and yellow decorating icing!  Simply dip your marshmallows and place on top of cookies.  Place in fridge to allow the chocolate to set.  Use yellow icing to make belt and buckle around cookie.  Yummy treat and perfect for school Thanksgiving functions!

Turkey Cookies

Again, I have seen these lots.  I simply use a boxed sugar cookie mix.  Bake as directed.  Use decorating icing to attach the candy corn.  Then use the yellow icing for eyes, beak, and feet.  Make sure you add a little red icing for the gobbler.  So cute!

Famous Pumpkin Roll - I have already made this twice this pumpkin season and will make another this week!  Yummy and so fancy looking, but yet easy!

cake 

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup canned pumpkin

1 tsp lemon juice

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

filling

8 oz room temp cream cheese

4 Tbsp room temp butter

1/2 tsp vanilla ext

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Grease 15x8 pan and preheat oven to 350.  Beat eggs for 2 min then add sugar slowly.  Continue to beat for 3 1/2 minutes.  Fold in pumpkin and lemon.  Mix together flour and spices.  Fold into batter.  Batter will not be thick!  Spread in pan and bake for 12-16 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool to touch.  Immediately place on cotton towel and roll up.  Allow to completely cool.  While cooling make the filling by beating the 4 ingredients until icing like consistency.  Spread in cooled, unrolled cake.  Roll back up and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Store in refrigerator.  

Pumpkin Turkeys

We had so many mini pumpkins in our house this year it was unbelievable.  Instead of throwing them all away, we used them to make turkeys.  It would also be fun to write your blessings on the feathers as a family.  Simply cut out feathers, beak, gobbler, and feet from construction paper.  Paint on eyes, or you could purchase the craft googly eyes.  Cute turkey centerpieces for Thanksgiving!

Turkey Relay

We came up with this fun game to do at my daughter's school.  The kids had a blast.  I am sure any family would enjoy participating during turkey day.  Simply find two paper turkeys, two cups with rocks in the bottom to help from tipping, and craft feathers.  Split up into two equal teams.  Have the children run to the cups with the feathers inside while carrying the turkey.  Stick a feather in the turkey and run it back to the next player.  If the feather falls out, they must pick up the feather and replace it before moving on.  First team to have all the feathers in wins!  Nothing like a good competition at the family get together!