Thankfulness Days 20-21

Day 20
Today I was going through all of my recipes looking for things to make for Thanksgiving Dinner and making my shopping lists. Looking at all of those old family recipes brought back a lot of memories. I am so thankful for the fact that I have the most amazing grandmothers, great grandmothers and mom in the world. So many women my age do not know how to really cook. Taking something out of a box or bag and warming it up does not mean that you are cooking! Some of my favorite memories of my family holidays revolve around being with the women of my family in the kitchen. I started helping when I was so small that I had to sit on the counter in order to be tall enough to reach. And for me, who has always been really tall, that is saying a lot! I cherish the memories of hanging out in the kitchen and learning to cook. My Grandma is straight full blood Italian. I absolutely love knowing how to make and feed my husband authentic Italian food. He has become a bit of a snob when it comes to Italian food. He will take a bite and then say, This isn't as good as you or your grandma's. His palette has grown quite a bit because at first he wanted to put ranch on lasagna! YUCK! My granny is a different kind of a cook. She is definitely Southern. She is a ranchers wife and cooks like it! The best thing that I learned from her in the kitchen is the importance of your ingredients. Granny has always had this HUGE garden where she harvests most of her veggies. There is nothing better than going out to the garden and picking the veggies that you are going to be eating for dinner that night! Home grown veggies that you know are clean and organically grown are the best. TJ and I have a garden as well but it is not nearly as large as Granny's!
Both of my grandmothers equate food with love. The first thing that they ask to you as you walk through their doors is if you are hungry. Holidays are full of such good food. This is the first year that I am doing Thanksgiving at my house. TJ's family is coming over. I know that there is no way that my food will turn out half as good as the spread at my grandmothers' houses but hopefully it will be good! I am a pretty good cook so we will see!


Day 21
As TJ and I came home from church, I was thinking about the fact that Sunday is supposed to be the day of rest. With our busy lives, this is not always our reality as it should be. There are often times that is the only day that we can really get things done. We always go to church, but we often mow the grass or clean or do any number of other things. This week we did not do that. It was great! We took advantage of the day of rest and didn't really do anything other than cook dinner. I read a book, TJ watched football and we were just together. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I do not sit still and do nothing well so this is usually really tough for me. I hate to be idle. But spending this quiet day with just TJ and Capone was awesome. I felt refreshed and recharged as well as feeling like we were doing what God had intended for Sundays. We decided to really try and make that a priority in our weekly lives. I am thankful for quiet days of reflection to spend with my family and with my God!