What Does Your Thanksgiving Meal Say About You?

Posted on November 29, 2008 by Barbara Harper

What Your Thanksgiving Meal Says About You

When it comes to the holidays, you follow and love the big traditions. You look forward to them every year.

You see the holidays as a time to think about what’s important to you. It’s a good time to reflect and regroup.

You like the aspects of the holiday that remind you of your childhood – opening presents, treats, and old favorite foods.

During the holidays, you are likely to feel comforted. At your worst, you feel a bit over-indulgent.

You consider yourself to be a bit of a purist, and you’re proud of it.

You tend to spend you holidays taking care of others. Holidays are one of the times you like to give.

What Does Your Thanksgiving Meal Say About You?

All pretty true, I think.

I am thankful for…

Posted on November 27, 2008 by Barbara Harper

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

God. I don’t mean to sound trite or flippant by including God on a list. Without Him nothing else would be possible. I am thankful for Who He is and for all He has done, for the attributes of His character: justice, grace, mercy, longsuffering, kindness, righteousness, and so much more.

Family. Though we’re not perfect, I am glad God gave us to each other, and I dearly love each one.

Church. What a privilege to be able to meet freely and fellowship with a body of believers who love and support each other.

The Bible: What a wonderful book! Multitudes of times God has given me exactly what I needed at just the right time through it, encouragement, instruction, rebuke, inspiration. A true treasure trove.

Creation. Though marred by the fall, this world still has a lot of beauty in which we see the Creator’s hand.

Music. It speaks to my heart like nothing else.

Technology. I am very glad to love in the age we do.

Thanksgiving. Though we should be thankful every day, I am glad for this special emphasis and reminder to stop and count our blessings.

“Online friends.” What a blessing you have been to me since I started blogging!

Multitudes of little things — it really is hard to stop counting your blessings once you start!

I enjoyed going over again a Thanksgiving Bible Study I did last year, especially “reasons to thank the Lord” and “results of thanking the Lord.” I actually had forgotten I had done it and almost did it again this year, which would have been fine, too.

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving Day!

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most high: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. Psalm 92:1-2.

(Graphic courtesy of Christian Clip Art)

More Thanksgiving poems

Posted on November 20, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Thanksgiving
The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go.
The harvest all is gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.
Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway~
Thanksgiving comes again!
~Old Rhyme

Our National Thanksgiving

All the blessings of the fields,
All the stores the garden yields,
All the plenty summer pours,
Autumn’s rich, o’erflowing stores,
Peace, prosperity and health,
Private bliss and public wealth,
Knowledge with its gladdening streams,
Pure religion’s holier beams —
Lord, for these our souls shall raise
Grateful vows and solemn praise.”

~ Author unknown

Thankfulness

We’re thankful for Thy blessings, Lord,
Thy watchful eye above,
For freedom’s bell that rolls for all
In this dear land we love.
We’re thankful, Lord, for useful work,
For measure of good health,
For family ties and friendship dear,
More precious this than wealth.
For all Thy tender mercies, Lord,
For sunshine and for rain,
For golden harvest richly blessed
In yield of fruit and grain.
On this Thanksgiving Day, dear Lord,
We bow in humble prayer.
We’re thankful for Thy blessings, Lord;
Thy gifts are everywhere.

~ Kay Hoffman ~

Thanksgiving …

So many years have passed away
Since Pilgrims on Thanksgiving Day
At Plymouth met with fervent prayer
Their gratitude and food to share.
This is our land-the plains and hills,
The valleys where the sunshine spills
An amber light on beans and corn
Each time a golden day is born.
Today we think of pioneers
Who braved all dangers, met all fears,
Who planted in fertile loam,
Who tamed frontiers to make a home.
For forest-store, for waterways,
For cotton fields, for mountain ore,
For mighty spires we sing our praise.
For scholars with intelligence
Who attained wisdom of the sage,
Who left their heritage to us
And flag of freedom to this age.
We thank Thee, God, for rain and sun,
For peace at frosty winter’s edge,
For harvests and for vintage bells,
For faith and joy in work well done.
The flag we love now flies above;
May faith and virtue keep us strong
As we together sing this song:
“God Bless Thanksgiving Day!”

— An 1840’s Thanksgiving prayer by Stella Craft Tremble

Poetry Friday is at Holly Cupala‘s Friday.

More Thanksgiving -related posts on this blog:

Thanksgiving Bible Study

Thanksgiving devotionals and readings are here.

Some Thanksgiving quotes are here.

More Thanksgiving quotes are here.

Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation is here.

Thanksgiving “funnies” are here.

A “Redneck Thanksgiving” is here.

Thanksgiving poems are here.

I am linking this to Kelli’s Week of Giving Thanks at There’s No Place Like Home — a festival of Thanksgiving posts — poems, quotes, decorations, crafts, recipes, etc.

A Redneck Thanksgiving

Posted on November 20, 2008 by Barbara Harper

You Might Be a Redneck This Thanksgiving If…

… you’ve ever had Thanksgiving dinner on a ping-pong table.

… Thanksgiving dinner is squirrel and dumplings.

… you’ve ever reused a paper plate.

… if you have a complete set of salad bowls and they all say Cool Whip on the side.

… if you’ve ever used your ironing board as a buffet table.

… your turkey platter is an old hubcap.

… your best dishes have Dixie printed on them.

… your stuffing’s secret ingredient comes from the bait shop.

… your only condiment on the dining room table is ketchup.

… side dishes include beef jerky and Moon Pies.

… you have to go outside to get something out of the ‘fridge.

… the directions to your house include “turn off the paved road.”

… you consider pork and beans to be a gourmet food.

… you have an Elvis Jell-o mold.

… your secret family recipe is illegal.

… you serve Vienna sausage as an appetizer.

I am linking this to Kelli’s Week of Giving Thanks at There’s No Place Like Home — a festival of Thanksgiving posts — poems, quotes, decorations, crafts, recipes, etc….and a few silly things like this. 🙂

More Thanksgiving -related posts on this blog:

Thanksgiving Bible Study
Thanksgiving readings and devotionals are here.
Some Thanksgiving quotes are here.
More Thanksgiving quotes are here.
Thanksgiving “funnies” are here.
Thanksgiving poems are here and More Thanksgiving poems are here.

A Thanksgiving Meme

Posted on November 18, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I saw this at Smiling Sally‘s:

1. Which do you like better: cooking at your house, or going elsewhere?

I like both. We’ve cooked here for the better part of our married lives, but earlier on we got together with friends whose folks (whom we also knew) came down for Thanksgiving, and it was a fun time catching up with all of them. I imagine some time in the next few years there will be daughters-in-law who will take over the main event, and I am fine with that.

2. Do you buy a fresh or frozen bird?

Frozen, whatever’s on sale.

3. What kind of stuffing?

Cornbread.

4. Sweet potato or pumpkin pie?

I like both but my family would boycott if I had sweet potato pie instead of pumpkin.

5. Do you believe that turkey leftovers are a curse, or the point of the whole thing?

I LOVE turkey leftovers!! They’re not “the point,” necessarily, but I love turkey sandwiches, casseroles, and turkey-bone soup after Thanksgiving! But then again, that IS why we only have turkey once a year.

6. Which side dish would provoke a riot if you left it off the menu?

I don’t know. We always have stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy (Thanksgiving is one of the few times we have mashed potatoes), and some kind of vegetable casserole.

7. Do you save the carcass to make soup or stock?

YES!! One of my favorite things.

8. What do you wish you had that would make preparing Thanksgiving dinner easier?

Can’t think of anything, really, except a bigger kitchen so more than one person could work in there without it being crowded.

9. Do you get up at the crack of dawn to have dinner ready in the early afternoon, or do you eat at your normal dinner hour?

I do get up early to get the turkey in. (Preparing the turkey and baking it is the easiest part, I think, but the part I was most scared of the first time. It’s later when all the side dishes are going and I’m trying to get everything ready at the same time that is busy and hard.) I’d rather eat in early afternoon, clean the kitchen up, and then be “off” for the rest of the day while everyone makes a sandwich or heats up a plate of leftovers when they get hungry than do a big meal like that for dinner.

10. If you go to somebody else’s house, what’s your favorite dish to bring?

Whatever they ask of me.

11. What do you wish one of your guests would not bring to your house? What would you like them to bring?

I don’t really expect anyone to bring anything. Perhaps whatever soft drinks they like — there are so many varieties it’s hard to please everyone.

12. Does your usual mix of guests result in drama, or is it a group you’re happy to see?

It’s usually just immediate family and we’re glad for the chance to stop all the other crazy schedules and just relax for the day. That’s one reason we don’t usually have other guests (other than girlfriends now), though I wouldn’t be opposed to it.

13. Is your cranberry sauce fresh or canned? Whole or jellied?

NO cranberry sauce! Bleah!

14. What’s your absolute favorite thing on the menu?

That’s hard to say — I like it all!

15. Share one family tradition.

Nothing really out of the ordinary. Sometimes we do go around the table and share what we’re thankful for. We’re not football fans, so the afternoon or evening might be spent watching a video or playing a game. We also usually get in some long distance phone calls to far away family some time during the day.

Let me know if you do this as well and I’ll come by!

I am linking this to Kelli’s Week of Giving Thanks at There’s No Place Like Home — a festival of Thanksgiving posts — poems, quotes, decorations, crafts, recipes, etc. You can have fun there perusing lots of Thanksgiving inspiration.

Veteran’s Day Parade

Posted on November 11, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I’m afraid I wasn’t really thinking about veterans as I made my way to the parade that year.

My husband’s friend was our city councilman, and he asked my husband if he could drive him in our oldest son’s convertible for the Veteran’s Day parade. As I drove the kids downtown to “see Daddy” and “see Jeremy’s car,” I was thinking of finding a parking place where there wasn’t too much traffic and where there was a restroom nearby in case any of us needed one, wondering whether I should get out the folding chairs from the back of the van and whether we’d need sweaters. I found a suitable place near the end of the parade route, and we scrambled out of the van to line up on the sidewalk.

As we listened to the marching bands and saw the waving city officials, I noticed a man in a wheelchair next to us with a woman I assume was his daughter. He was a veteran, as evidenced by his uniform jacket and VFW hat. I noticed other old men scattered here and there throughout the few attendees with at least a VFW or uniform hat, some with full uniform on, some in wheelchairs or with canes.

I knew, of course, that Veteran’s Day is observed to honor those who have fought to defend our country. But seeing those uniforms up and down the street really brought it home. They weren’t just out to spend a few minutes of time on a day off. They were out to honor and support each other and their country as they always had.

I felt like I should turn to the man in the wheelchair next to me and say, “Thank you.” I didn’t, but I wish I had.

I do now. I appreciate and thank the veterans and those currently serving as well as the families they leave behind in order to protect and defend the rest of us. They continue serving even after they come home: seven veterans who did not know my father or the rest of our family honored him as a brother with a 21-gun salute at his funeral. One of the most poignant images at my father-in-law’s funeral was the salute from his fellow veterans.

Thank you. It doesn’t seem enough just to say it, but it is heartfelt. Thank you.

Poetry Friday: Dirge for Two Veterans

Posted on November 7, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I don’t remember now how I discovered “Dirge for Two Veterans” by Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass, but when I did a few weeks ago I knew I wanted to save it for the Poetry Friday before Veteran’s Day. Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Check It Out.

The last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finish’d Sabbath,
On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the east the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,
Immense and silent moon.

I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key’d bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they’re flooding,
As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring,
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,
(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
Two veterans son and father dropt together,
And the double grave awaits them.)

Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o’er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin’d,
(‘Tis some mother’s large transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.)

O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.

Catching up

Posted on November 1, 2008 by Barbara Harper

My word, you all are prolific! I had to discipline myself not to even open Google Reader yesterday til I finished my task. After dinner I finally got to “play” a while — and there were over 120 posts! I read some last night and some this morning. Saturdays are typically slow in Blogland, so it is a good day to catch up.

I also missed out on Friday’s Fave Five, Show and Tell Friday, Saturday Photo Hunt, but it is my own fault.

The last week of the month finds me working on a newsletter/booklet for our ladies’ group at church. I never know quite what to call it. It started out as about eight pages with news of our group, our missionaries, and other little bits of interest to women, based on a similar booklet my mother-in-law’s church published. I took some of those to my pastor and asked if we could do the same, and he said, “Go for it!” This month marks my eighth year of doing it, and it has grown to 16 pages and includes a section on devotions, a book summary of a missionary book or biography or an anecdote from a missionary’s life, an “around the house” section of tips or encouragement for homemakers, a “Christian womanhood” section where I rotate topics related to different to women in different situations — single, married, mom, older, widowed, etc. Some of it I write myself, some of it I compile from other sources. It is a blessing to me — sometimes I would love to lay aside other ministry tasks and just do this.

Oh, there is also a “funny pages” section at the back. That is probably what I get the most comments on. 🙂

It seems that most bloggers love to write to some degree — you might ask your pastor about a similar ministry, and he just might say, “Go for it!”

Some months I know what I am going to put in the booklet, and it is just a matter of getting it down. Other times I am not so sure until I get started. This month was about half and half. I usually work on it the last week of the month to have out the first Sunday of the next month. I keep telling myself I should work on it earlier then let it “sit” and incubate for a while and edit it the last week — I would probably catch more mistakes that way and find better ways to word things. But I somehow end up not doing that. This particular week I ended up not getting the bulk of it done until the last two days!

I don’t work best under pressure — but I do get more done under pressure.

But my point in saying all of this is to testify that God is faithful to guide and direct and give ideas even to such small endeavors as this. There was one section I was drawing a blank on until He reminded me of an idea I considered last month, but then went another direction. I hadn’t made note of it and had forgotten it. Sometimes putting the clip art in can be the most time-consuming part of it, but He reminded me of a file I had downloaded some type back under an obscure title. Time after time I see Him faithfully helping things to come together, giving me ideas, etc. And I have seen that in other areas of ministry as well. So I just wanted to encourage you not to refrain from certain types of ministry because you don’t think you’d know what to do. If it is something the Lord wants you to do, He will work through you and help you to do it.

“In other news”… last night was Halloween, and somehow our neighborhood gets flooded with many more people than I ever see on the streets here at any other time. I think people from other neighborhoods, or maybe a nearby apartment complex, bring their kids here. I even saw one truck that hauled a lot of people around. We always get some kids’ tracts printed up for just such a purpose (our local Christian bookstore has them but they can also be ordered at Good News Publishing) to give out with the candy. I bought 114 tracts — about all our bookstore had that I liked — and those were gone within about 45 minutes. I scrambled around between my purse and desk and a cabinet and found maybe 40 or so more. Then we just gave out handfuls of candy but got tired after a while and went ahead and closed the door and shut off the lights. We have much more candy left over than any of us needs — I may send some to the dorms with Jason’s girlfriend.

I used to be very anti-Halloween, and I still think there is a darker side to it. I feel almost oppressed sometimes at the types of things in the stores and on TV — I don’t watch horror movies, but I do see them listed and advertised a lot this time of year. And I think a lot of the really gruesome costumes and decorations go too far. But I can see how it can also be an innocent, fun time of dressing up and having fun.

When my older boys were little, a friend used to host a fall party on a week apart from Halloween. Each year it was a different theme: one year it was clowns, one it was fairy-tale characters, one it was what you want to be when you grow up. The kids just loved that, and I loved the creativity of getting a costume together to fit the theme. If I had time today I’d scan in some of their costumes, but I don’t — and this post is too long already. My friend also had games and goodies, and those parties were some of my favorite memories from my kids’ childhood.

Speaking of going on too long, I need to get going, but I wanted to share one last thing. A few days ago I mentioned I was chuckling over a mom in a store calling to her little son, “Walker, don’t run!” Well, this morning there was a related headline in the paper that made me chuckle again:

Have a good weekend!

Happy Independence Day!

Posted on July 4, 2008 by Barbara Harper

From a letter John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776, sharing his thoughts about celebrating Independence Day, with the original spelling:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

(Graphic courtesy of Snapshots of Joy)

Thursday Thirteen: Dad’s Famous Sayings

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Barbara Harper

In honor of Father’s Day this Sunday, I thought I’d salute dads and post lines that seem common to dads everywhere. Did your dad say these? Can you think of any others?

1. Do you think I am made of money? (or Do you think money grows on trees?)

2. This is going to hurt me a lot worse than it will hurt you.

3. You’re not leaving my house dressed like that!

4. Close the door. Were you born in a barn?

5. As long as you live under my roof, you will live by my rules.

6. Don’t make me stop this car!

7. “Hey” is for horses.

8. When I was your age , I….

9. You didn’t beat me. I let you win.

10. Who said life was supposed to be fair? Life is not fair.

11. I’ll tell you why. Because I said so. That’s why.

12. What are your intentions with my daughter?