I have a pumpkin pie recipe on my blog over here already, and here’s a new one. It’s dairy-free and sugar-free. It’s from Jonell Francis, one of my long-time Veggie Gal girlfriends. Go here to get it and in the meantime check out all her stuff, she is an expert on leaky gut syndrome.
If you are avoiding sugar and love pumpkin desserts, here is a recipe for you: low-carb pumpkin cheesecake. I used this recipe over here from Northern Nester, and just left out the crust. This year I’m going to make it again, and maybe do the pecan crust from Northern Nester’s other recipe from here.
Yesterday almost seemed like Thanksgiving. How I loved it! It was like a Sunday at my mom’s house years ago. My siblings and their families had all come for Sunday dinner, along with Uncle Lou and Aunt Diann. Uncle Lou is the uncle I blogged about over here. As Uncle Lou saw the bustle of so many bodies moving about and smelled the aroma of home-cooked food wafting through the kitchen, he observed, “It’s like Thanksgiving here!” So I’ve become my mom, as that’s what it felt like today with 5 out of my 7 kids, my two grandsons, and my son-in-law all in the house. I am definitely loving my big family life! It has its highs and lows for sure, its challenges, its pains and sorrows, but all-in-all, I’m so grateful for my big family and my life as an ordinary housewife, mom, and grandma.
I’m so grateful for the plan of families that come from God. I love collecting families, as my son-in-law calls it. This is the process of learning to know your own family and each family on the branches of your family tree, and growing the branches, with marriages, births, and adoptions. I love getting to know my relatives, such as when I went to my uncle’s funeral in October. I got to chat with some of my cousins and some of my mom’s cousins. Last Friday, we went to a wedding reception for the daughter of my husband’s cousin. How wonderful it was to catch up with some of my husband’s cousins for 15 minutes or so. My husband talked to one cousin, my sister-in-law with another cousin, and I talked to a cousin’s wife.
Then next month another cousin’s daughter is getting married, so we’ll get to do it again. This is just the beginning, what with all the younger siblings coming of age. I love how funerals and weddings are mini-family reunions. They are a reminder to me that God wants us to feel family love and share this family love with all of His children. I realize that because of dysfunctional families, not everyone feels this family love nor wants to be with a family forever. My heart goes out to these people. If anyone reading this feels this way, I am praying for you to feel family love and do what you can to create family love.
Speaking of families, did you all see the finale of season 12 of Relative Race last night? If not, go watch it here. If it’s your first episode of the season, it’s best if you go watch the other episodes first, to give you context. Go to this page for Season 12 and watch them order, starting with Episode 1.
I almost always cry when I see these people on the show hug a long-lost relative for the first time, especially if it’s a parent or sibling. It’s just so sweet!
Here’s an organic, unofficial “Relative Race” story that involves so-called coincidences to bring about some people finding relatives. This story happens without any DNA testing, race, or TV cameras. It was all orchestrated purely by God! It is sure to warm your hearts this Thanksgiving season, especially if you love Relative Race. It involves some mixed-up mail, a common surname, long-lost twins, and reunited cousins and siblings. It all happened in November, culminating in a joyous family reunion on Thanksgiving Day! All from a catalog sent to the “wrong” address! God definitely works through mysterious ways, even with catalogs and the postal system! The story is called “A Catalog of Events”, by Janet Kruckenberg. It appeared in the June 1994 Ensign. Here’s the beginning of the story (copied from the June 1994 Ensign):
When I answered the phone, a man’s voice on the other end of the line asked my name and told me his, saying that a mail order catalog with my name on it had arrived in his mail. He asked if I had ordered the catalog or if I wanted it. I told him I didn’t and that I had no idea why my name was on it. We would have hung up then if the caller hadn’t said something else.
There’s so much more to the story! Please see the rest of the article here. I have more posts about Relative Race listed here. The awesome feels of Relative Race never have to end! I’m so grateful for the plan of salvation, centered in our Savior Jesus Christ, whose atoning sacrifice allows us to repent of our sins, so we want to, and can, live as eternal families. I wouldn’t want to live forever together if we all were stuck in our selfish stuff.
I just got the game above from my children for my birthday! I can’t wait to play it! I like regular Dixit but the cards are rather creepy. The cards in this version look so much more genteel.
I hope you already read my Party Games Part #1 post. If not, go over here. The images above and below come from the Dice Tower video over there.
Then watch the video below for more ideas! I hope you find some great games to create wonderful memories with your family and friends. These games make wonderful family Christmas gifts too!
One of my little pleasures in life is playing the piano. I’m no Mozart but I can read music and play most sheet music placed in front of me. I also love Thanksgiving. So, to combine my loves of Thanksgiving and piano brings me extra joy! Here’s a little-known Thanksgiving song, called “Hymn of Thanks” by Dorothy Andersen. You can find it here. It’s from the Friend magazine, a publication for children by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the November 1978 issues.
Want more Thanksgiving-themed songs? Get my Family Devotionals Ebook here. Then go to the November section. I hope you enjoy all the songs, poems, stories, and scriptures I have listed. This family devotionals ebook turns every day into a festival of worshipping God as a family.
Another picture book I love to read every year around Thanksgiving time, besides The Thanksgiving Door and Thank You, Sarah, is the book above, Balloons Over Broadway.
This book, written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, tells the story of Tony Sarg. Tony is the creator of the big balloon puppets that grace the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade ever year. This book tells a bit about Tony’s childhood, his beginnings with puppetry, and how he got involved with making the balloons for the Thanksgiving parade. It’s just a delightful book that makes me grateful for all the creative people in the world. Tony was the intellectual “father” of Bill Baird, the guy behind the Sound of Music marionettes. Bill was a mentor of Jim Henson. So that makes Tony Jim Henson’s intellectual grandfather. It’s just interesting how people find each other to get the help they want and need to create the things they want to create, and then we all get to benefit from the beauty and wonder of their creations.
If I still had little kiddos at home I would take an afternoon or two doing a unit study with this book. I’d have fun with the activities over here and here and more. So many people have taken inspiration from this book.
Here’s a video read-aloud of the book below. If you want more picture books based on Thanksgiving, go here to my new website and scroll down to the “November” heading at the bottom third of the page. I know you’ll enjoy these books! Happy Thanksgiving!
Here’s a new Thanksgiving family tradition to enjoy: watching the documentary called Monumental, produced by Kirk Cameron. It’s about the little-known monument to the pilgrims pictured above. The trailer is below.
Here’s a description of the documentary I found on YouTube:
“Monumental is the story of America’s beginnings. Presented, produced, and starring Kirk Cameron, the 90-minute true story follows this father of six across Europe and the U.S. as he seeks to discover America’s true “national treasure” – the people, places, and principles that made America the freest, most prosperous and generous nation the world has ever known. Monumental is heralded as ‘inspiring,’ ‘beautifully executed,’ ‘powerful,’ and ‘one meant to teach.’ Long regarded as ‘the land of opportunity,’ there’s no question the tiny band of religious outcasts who founded this country hit upon a formula for success that went way beyond what they could have imagined. How else can you explain the fact that they established a nation that has become the best example of civil, economic and religious liberty the world has ever known? What formula did they discover? What motivated them to come here in the first place? More importantly, how can we apply these same foundational truths today?”
Here’s a great interview Kirk did with about Monumental with the guys at Wallbuilders (I listen to the Wallbuilders podcasts at http://wallbuilderslive.com for a Christian, limited-government perspective on the news and politics). I really appreciate David Barton, the founder of Wallbuilders, although I don’t agree with everything he says. The interview with Kirk is here.
Here is the full documentary. Please watch and share. As Americans, we have all benefited from the Pilgrim’s Formula that has created the best example of “civil, economic and religious liberty the world has ever known.”
If you want more family tradition ideas for Thanksgiving, check out my family traditions website here, and scroll down to the heading of “November” to see what I have listed there.
Today is William Steig’s birthday! He was born on this day in 1907. If you bought my read-aloud calendar, you would know from looking at it that I mention his birthday on this day. Let’s celebrate Steig by reading his famous book, Shrek, or my more preferred book of his, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. I love the idea of reading this book in November because it helps me remember how thankful I am to God for my family. In this book, Syvester, a donkey, turns into a pebble and can’t communicate with his family. I know this is just a story, but every time I read it, my heart just breaks for Sylvester. Then at the end, when he is turned back into himself and gets to be with his family, I feel so joyful at their reunion. I get this palpable feeling that all material things, all hurts, and any other world issues have faded away, and all that matters is that the family is back together. It’s just so sweet! It’s not even about real people, just a donkey family, but I almost get teary-eyed every time I read it. I give it 5 out of 5 stars! I’m 99.99 percent sure your local public library has this book, because it’s such a beloved classic, after all, it’s a Caldecott medal winner, so if you haven’t read it, go check it out and find out what you are missing out on.
If you want my calendar, go here to get it before the price goes up tomorrow, from $13.95 to $17.95.
Go here to my family read-alouds and traditions website and scroll down to the bottom third of the page, under “November,” if you want lots more recommendations for reading aloud thankful-themed titles for November.
Woo-hoo! With the colder weather upon us it’s time to gather inside more often and play board games! I got to play the games above over the weekend with family and friends. We had so much fun! I’m thrilled I found the bottom game, Compatibility, at the thrift store just last week for only $3! I noticed the Dice Tower, my favorite board game YouTube Channel, has been doing a few videos on party games lately. In one of the videos, Chris Yi mentioned Compatibility, and then I found it just a week later while thrifting. Score! We played it last night with my daughter, her husband, and son and it was quite enjoyable.
If you want some ideas for party games to buy for the upcoming holiday season where families and friends tend to gather more often and often want to do something besides just sit and chat (nothing wrong with that), watch below.
The video below is the one where I heard Chris mentioned Compatibility, below, in the video of games that didn’t make the “Top Ten Party Games.” Instead, these are the rest of the Top 100, the remaining 90.
I love that these guys share games that are little-known, besides the popular party games like Codenames and Mysterium. Watch these videos so you know what games to be on the lookout when you go thrifting.
If you want ideas on how to find great games while on a budget, get my guide to building a gameschool collection on a budget here. Yes, most if not all party games, count as great gameschooling games.
If you want more ideas for what to do as a family during November and December, besides play games, check out my website here for suggestions on family read-alouds and traditions. Click on “Fall” then scroll down to see the list for November. Click on “Winter” to see the list for December.
The following is an amazing story about an atheist who turned into a believer in God in a moment of crisis. It happened in a forest when the author was hunting for mushrooms. I am so grateful that this former atheist shared her story.
I am copying and pasting this story from the October 2009 Ensign, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Grabbing the Strong Root,” by Melsida Hakobyan
“When I was a schoolgirl in Russia, I read a scary story about two boys who encountered a bear in a forest. Years later, after I had become a teacher, some friends asked me to join them on a trip to collect mushrooms. The forest still scared me, but I agreed to go with them.
“Entering the forest, I grabbed a wooden stick so I could defend myself in case I ran into a bear. My friends soon found the brown mushrooms they were looking for. I, on the other hand, was looking for mushrooms with bright red tops, so I started off in a different direction. Before I knew it, I was alone.
“While I was searching, I slipped and fell. My mushroom basket flew into the air, but I held tight to my stick. When I tried to get up, I noticed that the ground was muddy and sticky. To my horror, I realized that I had wandered into a swamp! My rubber boots quickly filled with water, and I began to sink. I tried to move my legs, but instead of freeing myself, I was pulled deeper. When the mud reached my waist, deep fear engulfed me.
“I cried out to my friends, but the only answer I heard came from buzzing dragonflies and croaking frogs. As I began to weep, I suddenly remembered my mother. Whenever she was in a bad situation, she prayed. She often invited me to pray, but I always refused, answering, “There is no God.”
“But in my watery soon-to-be grave, there was nothing else I could do but pray and call upon God for help. “If You live, please help me!” I cried.
“Almost immediately I heard a kind voice tell me, “Believe and be not afraid. Grab the strong tree root.”
“As I looked around, I saw a big tree root behind me. Using my stick, I was able to latch onto it. Something then gave me the power to pull myself out of the swamp.
“Covered with mud, I fell to the ground and thanked God for answering my prayer. I now believed that He lived. I had felt His presence and heard His voice, and He had given me power to pull myself free.
“A short time later, when the full-time missionaries taught me that the Prophet Joseph Smith had received an answer to his prayer in the Sacred Grove, I believed them. After all, God had answered my prayer in a forest. I latched onto the strong roots of the gospel, was baptized soon thereafter, and serve today in the Gyumri Branch in Armenia.
“I know Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and I’m grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’m also grateful for the many other blessings I have received from Heavenly Father, especially for His answer to an atheist’s prayer in the forest many years ago.
“When the mud reached my waist, deep fear engulfed me. I cried out to my friends, but the only answer I heard came from buzzing dragonflies and croaking frogs.”
Tree of Life Mothering 