Thankful for Recipes

Thanksgiving was never my thing.  And then I married into a family that was all about the meal and all about the family.  Year by year, turkey breast by turkey breast, my husband changed my attitude toward Thanksgiving.

Tonight I counted the plates, made my list and surfed the web one more time to see if there was a new, exciting recipe that still may be out there after my 42,000 other rides in the cyber recipe land.

And it is here.  Another year.  Another turkey.

When I started this blog, it was really my recipe for mental peace and acceptance.  Later, it became about the recipe for my son and his recovery and his future and again about his recovery and his future and once more about his recovery and future.  This recipe was a bit harder to master.

And then it became about a recipe for life.

Last year on Thanksgiving, my "button" was supposed to be away at school.  I had no idea he had dropped out and I had no idea where he was, what he was doing or if he was even alive.  But, I had recipes.  Great recipes.  And Hope for dessert.

In a world of "smart" everything, my favorite recipes are the ones that my mom, my mamaw or my great grandma Emma have written on plain white index cards. Nothing fancy on those index cards...just plain old handwritting.  Some of them have cake batter splattered on them, things spilled on them or they are smudged.

Most of these recipes have been prepared hundreds of times for family functions for generations.  

My mom is famous for writing things like "some baking soda" or "T when it really means t".

My mamaw would write things like "make this stiff...you know...like a man's thing"....not kidding...in the middle of the recipe.  And then my great grandmother would write with loopy penmanship..."a hunk of butter".  Sometimes you would really have to examine the recipes because they would forget things, really important things, like flour, in a cake recipe.  

But these recipes were awesome, still are. 

In prepping for this Thanksgiving...my kids told me that they wanted "that rice and mushroom dish, fancy green bean casserole (similar to a classy Walmart) and the green things with the bacon.  Oh, and the pineapple stuff. Don't forget the cauliflower thing either."

I was shocked at their memories. 

And then I thought about it.  I would walk 500 miles in my bare feet for my mamaw's gingerbread, my great grandma's peanut butter fudge and my mom's strawberry jello salad and chicken salad.

I guess when you are searching for all these recipes, you are just really laying the base for memories.

Three years ago when the "hell" was in full force with "the button", I put on my big girl panties before Thanksgiving and decided to go for it and to stop being a turkey.  Thanksgiving was our first holiday with the "button" in summer camp.

I bought special Thanksgiving plates.  The kids were with me.  After you take your kids to summer camp to visit their older brother in orange, you need to cheer yourselves up.  We went to  TJ Maxx, every female's  non pharmaceutical upper.  The three of us found Thanksgiving plates marked down to three dollars, platters, pitchers, salt and pepper shakers and a matching three dollar table cloth.  Nothing says success more than a red price tag on something you love at TJ Maxx.  Talk about being grateful!  We danced out of that store singing, "three dollars, three dollars, three dollars makes you holler."  

Two years after our pay dirt at TJ Maxx....all of the plates will be set at the Thanksgiving table on the three dollar tablecloth.

This year, I know where "the button" is...living down the street in his own place, working with and for his dad and I speak to him daily.  And he is well.  Not the recipe I would have chosen for him, but he is happy with his choice.   He is walking forward.

I asked the "button" if there was anything special he wanted for Thanksgiving.  "A seat and a plate."

I don't know what I was thankful for three years ago.  I don't remember.  But I do know what I am thankful this year.

This year I am thankful...

That I have both my breasts. After years of hating them, I still have them and they are cancer free. So many of my friends do not.  

I am thankful that I have my parents. I will speak to them on Thanksgiving and hear their voices. They will know who I am.  Most of my friends have just lost a parent or both.

I am thankful that all of my three dollar plates and my three dollar table cloth will be used at my table.  It means all my family is there.

I am thankful that my husband and I will no doubt have the big holiday fight.  I have a husband that cares.

I am grateful that I haven't finished the paint job in my house. I haven't finished because my life is full and I didn't have enough time to finish.  It will not be the focus or the highlight of the day.  I am thankful that I am not stressing over it.

And I am thankful that my feet will hurt and my back will ache and the end of the day.  I am just blessed that I have two feet to stand on and a back to keep me up.

Name calling, my kids will call each other names and belch. (That infuriates me).  Name calling and belching means they are here and I have never had to bury a child.  I will take the belching.

Thanksgiving Prayers, my precious Walker will say the blessing.  I am so thankful that my children speak to God. 

And...I am thankful for recipes.  Recipes form great women who made me who I am today. And filled my heart with healthy and gooey sweetness from holidays gone by.

Thanksgiving rocks.

Whatever your favorite recipe may be...hope you get plenty.  Happy Thanksgiving.