Category: Joy

This morning I walked into the kitchen and saw my Turkey platter in the dish rack and the sun shining behind it. How beautiful. I reflected upon the lovely Thanksgiving dinner we had here yesterday. It is my favorite meal and occasion to prepare for.

Every holiday that we have turkey, I bring out this platter. I love using our special dishes and such to make the occasion even more festive and enJOYable. My sister-in-law loved this platter so much, I also found one for her 🙂 I love thrift shopping as many of you know. So much JOY!

We make so many happy memories at these get togethers and it is just so good to spend time together and to appreciate each other and to honor who we are and where we came from… that is family. Not everyone makes every holiday but that is okay, we celebrate and enJOY with whoever is able to attend. And sometimes most of us are there. I am so grateful to still have all my siblings here on earth.

As with most families we get some traditions happening. Big Audrey (because there is a little Audrey) or Baba as we call her, always carves the turkey. She is in her 80’s and still gets up there and does this. We all love it. Baba always brings me a useful gift even though I tell her she need not bring anything. One year it was an amazing turkey cutting board with spikes to hold the turkey and a little run way for the juices. Awesome. We now use it on every turkey occasion. Bubba and I both like to thrift shop hee hee. We have many happy discussions around this and often bump into each other our favorite stores. It makes me smile every time. 🙂 🙂 🙂

This year Baba brought an apron to wear and to leave for me when finished. Perfect! One can never have enough aprons, especially with many hands helping in the kitchen. 🙂

With the cooler temperature at this time of year, it makes it even cozier and warming. We even had snow on the ground yesterday. 🙂

Our meal was wonderful of course. We had many laughs, smiles and JOYS. We listened to Uncle John tell his many jokes and I could tell that each one of us appreciated them more than ever. We all know that life is a cycle and what we have now, we will not always, so everything is more enhanced and appreciated.

I am grateful that my family, like myself, gets more and more appreciative of moments like this. In fact, these moments are sacred to me (tears streaming down my face as I type this). I watch and observe that as we get older it means more and I watch and know that my daughter and the youth will one day cherish these times more than any other. These will be the memories that stand out for them.

At the end of the evening, Don, Bubba and myself chatted about how these ARE the most important things in life. There is nothing better than being together at times like this, sharing food, laughter, and memories, with people who are comfortable to share of themselves… to tease, to laugh and to most of all LOVE.

One of the reasons I blog is so that I can share my feelings but also to record these moments for future enJOYment for my offspring and for whoever happens upon them. I hope they will be inspired and will use my sharing and writing to inspire them to have more JOY in their life and to spread more JOY in the world. It always starts around your own kitchen table first. 🙂