Post re-run ... Wise Words for a Peaceful Holiday

This post was originally published on November 19, 2012. The beginning of the post talks about Thanksgiving, but the wisdom is just as applicable to the coming Christmas holidays.

Enjoy ...

The girls at Thanksgiving 2010 ~ My two daughters and my brother's two daughters

Thanksgiving is just a few days away. From what I understand, it is one of the most traveled holidays of the year, if not THE most traveled holiday. That tells me that there will be a lot of people sharing space with family ~ with siblings and parents and in-laws.

Now, that can mean one of two things.

It can be a beautiful thing. A time of love and kindness and peace. A time of memory-making and joy.

Or, in many cases, I'm afraid, it can be a stressful thing. A time of dealing with family members that get under your skin. A time of biting your tongue as comments are made.

Even the most amazing and beautiful families on the block have conflict. It is a normal part of life and family culture.

But, that doesn't mean you can't have a beautiful holiday celebration with your family. The holidays can still be a time of love and peace and kindness. Memories can still be made with all of those perfect little children. Joy can still be at the center of your celebrations.

Cousins ... PURE JOY!

Here are a few thoughts to get you through the upcoming holiday season.

"Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless." ~ James 1:26

I said, “I will watch my ways
    and keep my tongue from sin;
I will put a muzzle on my mouth
    while in the presence of the wicked.”  ~ Psalm 39:1

No sinful word, nor deed of wrong,
  Nor thoughts that idly rove;
But simple truth be on our tongue,
  And in our hearts be love.  ~ St. Ambrose

Let us all resolve, - First, to attain the grace of silence; Second, to deem all FAULT-FINDING that does no good a SIN, and to resolve, when we are happy ourselves, not to poison the atmosphere for our neighbours by calling on them to remark every painful and disagreeable feature of their daily life; Third, to practise the grace and virtue of PRAISE.  ~ Harriet B. Stowe

Surrounded by those who constantly exhibit defects of character and conduct, if we yield to a complaining and impatient spirit, we shall mar our own peace without having the satisfaction of benefiting others.  ~ T.C. Upham

***

In a nutshell, the message is to keep LOVE in our hearts and on our tongues, even and especially for those who trouble us the most.

Jesus taught us to LOVE our neighbors. He taught us to "turn the other cheek". Let us apply that same philosophy to our words. If someone in your family gets under your skin this week, simply smile. Love them and pray that God will give them the peace and happiness that they deserve.

If there is someone in your family that gives you particular difficulty in this area, start praying for them now. Each and every morning in your quiet time with God, pray for the person who tests your righteous behavior the most. Pray that they are blessed. Pray for peace and happiness to find its way into his or her heart. Pray for that person to find whatever it is that they need in order to become a shining light for the glory of God.

And, then pray for your own resolve to maintain what you know to be right and good, even in the face of adversity.

These simple steps along with some great food, the laughter of children and an attitude of THANKFULNESS will get you on your way to a beautiful holiday. Remember to GIVE THANKS for all that He has blessed you with, including that amazing family that can drive you a little bonkers sometimes.

The girls GIVING THANKS

Until next time, 

~ Irie Momma

Post re-run ... So what DOES a Vegetarian family eat for Thanksgiving?

This post was originally published on November 26, 2011. I realize it is a bit late for your Thanksgiving dinner, but you can always make this stuff for Christmas.

Enjoy ...

People often wonder what in the world we eat for Thanksgiving.

It's such a silly question to me ... we eat what you eat, just not the turkey.

And, we LOVE it.

Thanksgiving is my favorite meal of the year.

D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.

What do we have?

Whole wheat crackers and gourmet cheese spreads

Cornbread Stuffing
Mashed redskin potatoes
Gravy
Green beans
Squash casserole
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Bread
Olives, sweet gerkins
Shirley Temples for the kiddos

Interested in recipes?

Mashed Potatoes
1 bag of redskin potatoes
sea salt
butter
sour cream
milk
Chop potatoes and boil until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and mash with the remaining ingredients. Keep taste-testing and adjusting seasonings until it is perfect.

Amazing Vegetarian "Turkey" Gravy

I got raves and raves on this one, especially from my meat-eating friends. They couldn't believe I made it without any drippings. :-)

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 teaspoons nutritional yeast
4 tablespoons Braggs Liquid Aminos
2 cups vegetarian vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon "chicken seasoning"
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Melt butter in a small sauce pan. Saute onion and garlic in melted butter. Add flour, nutritional yeast and Bragg's and combine with the butter. Slowly whisk in the broth, combining with the flour mixture to avoid clumps. Add seasonings and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for about 10 minutes. YUM.O.

Squash Casserole

6 yellow squash, diced
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 onion,chopped
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 cup crushed Ritz crackers
Turn your oven to 350 degrees. Saute squash in the EVOO in a deep skillet for about 15 to 20 minutes. At the same time, melt the butter in another skillet and saute the onion in that butter. Add the onion, butter, sour cream and cheese to a big mixing bowl. When squash is finished, place a clean towel in a colander, add squash to towel and squeeze as much liquid out of the squash as you can. Add the drained squash to the mixing bowl. Mix your 3 seasonings together in a separate bowl or cup. Now, measure out 1 teaspoon of that and add it to your bowl of goodies (throw the remaining seasoning into your mashed potatoes). Combine all of the ingredients well and then add to a square baking dish. Top with crushed crackers and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. ENJOY.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

1 8 oz package of cream cheese (or Tofutti if you are vegan)
12 oz light firm tofu
1/2 cup sugar (organic evaporated cane juice, no white stuff)
2 tbsp corn starch (non GMO)
1 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (canned)
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 graham cracker crust
Turn your oven to 350 degrees. Place the first set of ingredients (six) into a food processor with the s-blade. Process until smooth, scraping the sides and processing some more. Spread 1 cup of this mixture into the bottom of the pie crust. Now, add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until smooth, scraping the sides again. Smooth the pumpkin mixture over the white layer in the crust, leaving a slight heap in the center. Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes.


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I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving with people you love, food that was delicious and more to be thankful for than you can even list.

I know I did!

Until next time,

~ Irie Momma

Thanksgiving Day 2013

How was your Thanksgiving day?

Was it filled with peace and beauty and time to enjoy the gifts God has bestowed upon you?

Was it filled with the chaos and laughter of children?

Was it filled with grace and gratitude?

I sincerely hope that your day was all of those things and more. I can honestly tell you that ours was, even though we were not able to be away with extended family this year.

I can truly say that I could not have asked for anything more other than to have cousins and grandmothers and aunts and uncles here as well.

Dare I say it was perfect?

The day began like most days. I got up before anyone else and came into the kitchen. As I was steeping my tea, I set to starting the green beans and tidying things up and lighting our holiday candles and turning on the Celtic Christmas music on Pandora.

Once everything was just so, I sat down with my Bible, my journal, and my pen. There's no better way to start Thanksgiving than to study what God's word has to say about it and write that down!

I had not gotten very far before the girls came in, excited like it was Christmas morning. They were chomping at the bit to turn the music to Christmas music with words. I started playing Celtic and Classical Christmas music a few weeks ago, but I insisted that we wait to start the songs with words.

Since we were not able to travel to see extended family this year, we decided to do something new to make the day special and help to ease the sadness of not having cousins to play with all day. We actually went to get our Christmas tree Sunday evening (We have never gotten it before Thanksgiving). Daddy strung the lights on it Wednesday night so that it would be ready to decorate on Thanksgiving day.

We also have a Christmas box with all of the Christmas books that we own and the Christmas lovies (stuffed animals). We made the girls wait on that box until Thanksgiving morning as well.

All of this caused them to view the morning with the same anticipation as Christmas morning. They couldn't wait to start that "real" music and get into their Christmas goodies!

But, being the "mean Mommy" that I am, I said we couldn't do it without Daddy.

:-)

So, they had to (nicely) wake Daddy up and wait for him. While we waited, we grabbed our gratitude journals and wrote in them. I think I filled up an entire page this time!

Short story long, we started our morning by turning on the Christmas music with words and digging into our box of Christmas books and lovies.

 

We turned on the Macy's Day Parade and watched it here and there (muting the commercials ... trying to avoid all of the disgusting Black Friday nonsense). We had read the book about Tony Sarg two times already, so the girls were excited to see the balloons. I was a little frustrated at first because we couldn't see the parade and some of the performances were a bit against what I wanted for my children on Thanksgiving morning. But, eventually they began to actually show the parade and the balloons and floats and the high school marching bands. We like that stuff better!

Around 11:30 we all gathered for a special family breakfast of biscuits and gravy, which was delicious. Then, we headed into the living room and the Hippie passed out Thanksgiving goodie bags she had made for each of us and the girls spent some time going through the Christmas goodies.

From here, the day was just a nice, relaxing pace of football in the background and putting out Christmas decorations around the house, while packing up some of the normal decor to save until January. We opened all of our ornaments and remembered who got them for who and when. We read the annual scroll from the ornament that Daddy and I got the first year we were married. We drank organic egg nog with freshly grated nutmeg. And last, but not least ... we decorated our tree.

 

Once the tree and house were beautiful, Daddy and the girls headed outside to string lights around the house and yard while Momma set to work in the kitchen, making the rest of the feast. Daddy and the girls also enjoyed a game (or two) of horse football. Gotta love a Daddy that will run around the front yard on a stick horse for his girls!

 

After a beautiful prayer by each family member, we lit the first candle on our Advent wreath, had a wonderful dinner (and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert) and then tidied up the kitchen together. Daddy and the girls headed back outside for about 30 minutes to get in just a bit more light stringing ... and football playing. Finally, everyone settled inside and we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers together.

To end a perfect day, Momma and Daddy had some hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps.

How was your day?

Until next time,

~ Irie Momma