In preparation for Christmas decorating, all of the fall pumpkins, gourds, gorkins and cornstalks had to be moved off the porch. As a short cut, the guys just chucked those various squashes over the fence and into the garden plot, where they will become the seed stock for next year's gorkins. Some of the pumpkins were pretty big which made for some interesting Punkin' Chuckin'.
I've found that people either really like Pumpkin Pie, or they don't. Easy as that. Peter would not be a happy camper if there was no pumpkin pie on his Thanksgiving table. Ben hates it. So, in my search for a happy compromise, I found this recipe and gave it a try for this year's Thanksgiving. Everyone agreed that it was much better than your typical Pumpkin Pie. It still has a nice pumpkin flavor without all that...squashy-ness. Plus, it literally takes less than 5 minutes to make. You might want to give it a try!
Folding in that Cool Whip. There's just not much to this pie!
I've never been a fan of cranberry sauce. I think that had something to do with my ridged, purest tendencies when it comes to Thanksgiving food. Or food in general, right Lindsey? But a few months ago I tried some at The Garden restaurant at the JSMB. Mmmm. I've tried to re-create it here, and it's good stuff!
Everything else!
Water to cover. Question/Observation: How can you tell when the cranberries are covered if cranberries float?
Bring to a boil. You house will smell like heavenly wassail. :)
Nice and thick sauce, with an unattractive ring of crusty orange juice foam. Mmmm.
Add those oranges!
We had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday at Grandma Stratford's. Ben helped make the traditional Stratford Fruit Cocktail:
Shannon stuffed the celery:
Andrew dressed up like and Indian. I think he might have his continents mixed up:
Ken carved the turkey:
This is the "Big News" bunch. Camille, on the left, told us that she is getting her mission papers ready to send in. Awesome! Alan and Hannah, the couple in the middle, announced that they were expecting a baby, come July. Fantastic! Leah, on the right, is the Kennedy's exchange student. She will be moving on to another host family on Saturday. We will miss her!
After dinner activities included napping, going through the Black Friday ads and general catching up.
Then there was the Pile On game. Notice Ken on the right. He is actually asleep while all this is going on.
The twin entertained us with some acrobatics, which made Grandma a little nervous, I think:
And we finished the day with a rousing game of Angry Birds. It was a nice, quiet Thanksgiving Day! I hope you had a great day too!
Our big meal will be at Grandma Stratfords. We are bringing my mom's 7-Up Salad and Bruce made green bean casserole:
He made it last night, and it was quite a production.
Have a wonderful day!
Now it's very, very cold. I plan on staying inside my warm house and doing some cooking and baking for Thanksgiving. Stay warm, everyone!
Take a good look at this picture. It was drawn by a friend of my sister-in-law, and it's been hanging in my house at Thanksgiving time for at least 20 years. I've had this picture longer than my youngest child. A few years ago, my kids brought to my attention that they've never understood why it says "Thanks Me Give." "What?", I said, "It says Thanks WE Give." Nope, they didn't see it that way, and they do have a point. That fancy writing does leave a question. So, what do you see?
Baldwin Street in Dunedin- it's in the Guinness Book of Records as the steepest street in the world, at 35%:
Elder Stratford's great "mate", Elder Beckwith at the Moeraki Boulders. Elder Beckwith is from Australia, and was one of E. Stratford's companions in Christchurch. Now he is the ZL for E. Stratford's area. I'm sure E. Stratford would say that he was 'basically the man."
Every year in November, a banquet is held in Salt Lake by the Utah Hunter Jumper Association. At the banquet, Utah riders receive year-end awards from the show season that runs from April through October. Shannon and Rocko got 3 awards last night: a 4th place in the Adult Working Hunter Division, a 4th place in the Adult Equitation Medal class and a Reserve Champion in the Horse Crazy Hunter Series, which is sponsored by the Horse Crazy Store in Draper. Horse Crazy also gave her a $250.00 gift certificate and an engraved halter, which she got last night. Pretty impressive to rack up that many points without riding on Sundays! We are proud of Shannon!
No need to panic anyone- the Lil' Missionary is still promoting truth, justice and the American way!
I was thinking to make some of these:
I haven't even taken it out of the box yet.
Super easy to make and mighty tasty!
Pouring meted chocolate into a large bowl with one hand, while taking a picture with the other hand...
Mixing the whipped cream and marshmallows with the chocolate mixture...
With 3 boy's birthdays in November, we seem to do a lot of shared birthday celebrations. Last Sunday we had a little party for Ben and Brian. They shared a birthday pie:
But blowing out the candles took a few tries, considering how far they were away from the candle while blowing. 
I made a S'Mores pie for the party- recipe coming tomorrow!
