Preparing My Heart and Home for Thanksgiving!!

As we prepare for Thanksgiving,  I thought it would be a good idea to prepare our hearts and our home!! I am hoping that this Thursday will be the very best Thanksgiving our family has ever had...and to do that, I must prepare my heart as well as our home. Otherwise, I will be a bit stressed and overwhelmed with all the work involved as it will take away from the joy and thanksgiving the day should bring. The memory of this special day will not be as sweet if my heart isn't abiding in the Lord as I serve my family.

For the past few weeks, I have been impressed with the idea of "Making My Home Sing Monday"  as it is the day when I have to restore the upheaval that the weekend brings to our schedules, and get the laundry and home back in order. What better time to start this than just before Thanksgiving!!

Last Friday, I finally sat down to think through what I plan to cook this year for Thanksgiving. Of course, this might change a bit as soon as one or both of my daughters  enter the kitchen with their indiviuality :-) . There were rumblings of making a totally original meal but so far I think that our day will include a rather traditional approach, at least traditional for our family. I enjoyed thinking through everything, and making sure the recipes are in the binder I have for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It sounds organized, and in a way, I guess it is, except that I am so sidetracked and discombobulated that I forget what to do, where to find it (as it leaves my brain) and having it in one place sure helps!! At least, as long as I can find that binder next year!!

Singing is an uplifting attitude to start off with on Mondays. Singing to the Lord helps us to keep everything in the right perspective and to keep our attitudes pleasing to Him.

Praise ye the LORD.

Praise the LORD,

O my soul.

While I live will I praise the LORD:

I will sing praises unto my God

While I have my being.

(Psalm 146:1 & 2)

I thought it fitting to also type out a favorite hymn that I have long associated with Thanksgiving. 

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come 

Come, ye thankful people, come, 

Raise the song of harvest home;

All is safely gathered in, 

Ere the winter storms begin; 

God, our Maker, doth provide 

For our wants to be supplied; 

Come to God's own temple, come, 

Raise the song of harvest home. 

All the blessings of the field, 

All the stores the gardens yield; 

All the fruits in full supply, 

Ripened 'neath the summer sky; 

All that spring with bounteous hand 

Scatters o'er the smiling land; 

All that liberal autumn pours 

From her rich o'er-flowing stores: 

These to thee, our God, we owe, 

Source whence all our blessings flow; 

And for these our souls shall raise 

Grateful vows and solemn praise. 

Come, then, thankful people, come, 

Raise the song of harvest-home; 

Come to God's own temple, come, 

Raise the song of harvest-home. 

Amen.

Victoria Peak Tramway, Victoria Island, Hong Kong, China

When I was a little girl, my first memories of Thanksgiving were sitting in church and hearing this cable-tram rattle and rumble past the church as it climbed the steep mountain. It was the early 1960s, and Thanksgiving was a very, very special day!! First of all because it was Thanksgiving, an American holiday. Secondly, because I had no school that day because I was an American. All the other children had to go to school because we went to a British Government School. Do you associate a song with a memory?? I cannot sing this song without thinking of those early Thanksgivings when I was little and my whole family was together. Just as the Pilgrims had a rich heritage, so each of us do also. I am thankful for growing up overseas in a Christian family who taught me the value of being grateful for what God has done for me.

Today, as I think ahead to later in the week, it is a good idea to have some songs in my heart and to be thankful to the Lord for what he is doing in my life and that of my family. If I start today with a song...I will be more likely to have a song on Thursday when we sit down to eat. For now, I will share a few of my plans for Thanksgiving as for me, it doesn't come together smoothly without some forethought.

It all started about twenty-five years or so ago when I made my first Thanksgiving dinner. Before that, we had celebrated with family. Those were fun days!! I found a magazine and searched for ideas on cooking turkey and the other fixin's...no internet then!! I saved that magazine from 1984 and now have it in a binder (the recipe section) all protected in plastic sheets. 

Last Friday, I sat down to make sure I knew what I was doing (sidetracked and scatter-brained....I needed to do this!!) and selected recipes and made a grocery list (and checked it twice!!)!!

Just a minute...I have to switch the laundry...I forgot it!! 

I'm back!! You know, we had our Thanksgiving dinner after church on Sunday, and I did so much cooking that Mount Never-Rest was higher than usual!!!!

Sunday, was good!! It was like a practice for Thanksgiving later this week. One thing I decided for sure, was to make my potato rolls on Thursday. They are so much fresher!! I have made them since we were first married, but when the children were all little, it only made sense to make them the night before. Saturday, I made them for church, and they were disappearing to happy mouths until I put a sign on the remainder of the rolls, "For Sunday!!"

This morning, I gave the house a good cleaning hoping it will last. Ha!! It is always easier to clean a relatively clean house. It makes a nice atmosphere so long as my attitude is just as squeaky clean!! That is another way of "Making My Home Sing Mondays" I have thought of that plenty, each week as I thought of something I would blog (and didn't) as I cleaned up after the weekend. Didn't you know that it is a good idea to have a good attitude as you clean your home for your family? If your children are young yet, and they are helping you, it does good like medicine to have a mom that has a good attitude while you clean together. It isn't always easy!!

Yesterday, the turkey was all oven ready so I could cook it a couple hours before church. My oldest (grown) daughter had it ready for me along with the cornbread stuffing. We took it to church and cooked it the rest of the way during church in one of those big roaster ovens. I had also made homemade cranberry sauce, Cortland Potato Rolls (that I have made since we were first married), and Turkey Cupcakes. They turned out almost as cute as the Betty Crocker picture!!

Well, tomorrow, I will share more along the lines of Thanksgiving including the recipe I made the cupcakes with...because if you know me, I enjoy cooking from scratch!!

It is time to finish up the laundry, start cooking supper, and be ready when my dear husband comes home. Writing this has been good medicine for me as much as I hope and pray that it has been good fellowship for you to be reading it. 

~Judith~

"Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; Praise him, O ye servants of the LORD." (Praise 135:1)

Making My Home Sing Monday