Happy Turkey Day!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone... especially my family back home and all my American friends. Wow, it seems crazy that it's already Thanksgiving. This year has flown by and now the holiday season is upon us and Christmas will be here in no time. If you'll notice the pic, it has two little Indians standing behind the corn stalks. The significance of this is that when the pilgrims landed in America and started living there, it is said that they wanted to show their gratitude to the Indians for all that they had done for them, so they prepared a huge meal for everyone to give thanks. This is where Thanksgiving came from. Sad that the peace couldn't last w/ the Indians!

I've always really liked Thanksgiving. It's a time when you get together with family and friends for large celebrations with lots of food. My mom is such a good cook... I miss her cooking. She makes some of the best food for Thanksgiving. Some of my favorites are homemade cranberry sauce, her cornbread stuffing... ummm, I can imagine it as I sit here... it's just so good, she makes fantastic and interesting salads, the best macaroni casserole w/ lots of cheese and crackers on the top, green beans, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, choc. pie, pumpkin pie.... and don't forget the deviled eggs, altho my younger sister is the best at making these. I think I could sit and eat 4 or 5 of these at one time... they are that good. :) Ooooh... and she makes the best baked beans.. but now that I think about it, she makes those for Christmas dinner.

And let's not forget the turkey. My mom has always prided herself on her turkeys. They are always cooked to perfection. Nice and tender on the inside while being brown and toasty on the out. To smell one of these cooking in the oven on Thanksgiving is so wonderful... it brings back so many memories of spending time w/ my mom when I was a young girl. My sister has it so lucky in that my mom is there w/ her... I'm sure they'll have a big Thanksgiving dinner... and I'll call and get homesick, feel sad... and probably cry from a longing to be there.

I'm at work today. It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving, that's for sure. I think if I were home and cooking, I'd feel more festive. But... I plan to cook tomorrow. We'll run to the store today to get all the things to make for a late lunch.. including the turkey. I found out yesterday that I have gestational diabetes, so I won't be making the pumpkin and apple pies that I had planned for... or if I do, I won't be able to partake... which makes me mad coz I was really looking forward to it. I haven't had pumpkin pie in at least 4 years.... and isn't it my luck that now I can't have it!!! And... I'll have to be careful of the carbs I eat since they break down into sugar once they're consumed.... fun fun fun.

After lunch tomorrow, I want to bring out our Christmas tree and put it up. I'm also gonna go ahead and decorate the house. I can hardly wait. The hubby brought me back a set of 10 CDs from Dubai of old Christmas songs. The ones from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole... all the good ones... so can't wait to listen to those. I'll have to dig around and find my Elvis CDs... he does some of the best Christmas music. I also have another good CD from the Carpenters... it's really good. I grew up listening to the old Christmas songs like I'll Be Home for Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus, White Christmas, The First Noel... all the old songs. I've never been a fan of the newer stuff.... I guess it depends on what you grew up on.

I'm gonna look thru Amazon today because I wanna order all the old Christmas movies/cartoons that I used to watch on TV. There's nothing like that here, and I just have to have them. I'm not even sure that they have this stuff available, but I hope. I think that it's really great for kids, and since we'll have a little baby of our own soon and also since I'm a kid at heart... well... we have to get them. Some of my favs are Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The Night Before Christmas, and we can't forget Cristmas Carol w/ Scrooge. Have any of you seen the one w/ Harry Winkler? Aaaah, that is one of the best ones. I loved it. There's also another one that is really old... it's also one of my favorites, but I couldn't tell ya who the actor is that plays in it. He was really old in it, so I'm not even sure that he's still alive.

Anyway... I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Spending time w/ family for the holidays can also be rough on some, and I've had my fair share of times like that as well... and for others, the holidays bring on depression... which I've also experienced. I just hope that all of you have a good few days off work.... and get to rest, relax and enjoy the fall weather back in the States, and if you don't cook at home, then I hope you can go out and have someone cook for you! I guess what I'm saying is... I hope you have peace in your life and find happiness this holiday.... and may you have a good hearty meal that fills your belly. :)