I am not a worrier.
It's just not in my genes.
Did you know that there is a specific "worry gene"? They discovered it as they broke down the human genome, the pattern that makes us specifically us. And lo and behold, if you're worried about whether or not you have the gene, well...
You probably do.
But that's okay!
Maybe you're just more sensitive. (I can be a bit of an insensitive lout at times, but I'm quite happy the way I am, so I'm not going to extremes to change it. I think my heightened awareness is quite enough, thank you very much!)
:)
With a beautiful holiday season looming and a pandemic breathing its Covid 19 germs throughout the USA, there are decisions to be made and we grown ups have to be the ones to make them. So there's that.
Do we do a normal Thanksgiving with the whole family? Do we do a scaled down version? Do we all eat separately and wave to one another via Zoom?
A conundrum. And it's a conundrum that only you can solve, based on what you're comfortable with.
And the worry, concern, stress varies from state to state, region to region and even draws a fairly definitive line by political party affiliation. There's a lot of "them" and "us" going on. But in the end, it's up to you and we have lots of advice about food prep...
Ruthy's Cranberry Orange Relish:
One bag of cranberries
One large orange
1 cup sugar
Grind cranberries and orange together with grinder or food processor. Add sugar. Chill!
Ruthy's Apple Pie (ONE OF OUR FIRST POSTS!!!!!)
And a new favorite around here, Corn Bread Spoon Pudding.... which isn't a pudding or a bread, but whatever it really is, it's delicious! Here's our Texas gal's version and it's delicious! I could easily make an entire meal on this!!!! Not kidding.
Mindy's Easy Corn Pudding Thanksgiving Side Dish
And from Missy we have Cellia's Cran-Raspberry Jello Salad! So amazingly delicious!
We're seeing it without the cream cheese/sour cream topping here... and it's also good if you use Cool Whip in place of the sour cream, or along with.... Cool Whip has never hurt anything, if you know what I mean! :)
So there are some great ideas to make the holiday easier... Or just spritzier with a pinch of this and a dash of that.
However this all happens for you this year, please know that you are in our prayers... and we'll all be glad when this winds down.
In the meantime, may God bless you in every way with happiness, home and health.
Multi-published, USA Today Bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne loves to write, she loves to cook and bake, and the thought of being thwarted by a germ of another's creation annoys her no end, but she's going to enjoy being with more of her ilk as the holidays go on. Her "You're not the boss of me" somewhat two-year-old attitude isn't a surprise to her family... but she loves and respects the worriers just as much as the non-worriers so that's kind of how it goes. Write to Ruthy at loganherne@gmail.com, friend her on Facebook and here's a link to her website to check out her over 60 published novels and novellas... ruthloganherne.com
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
We are going to KY to spend the holiday with a small group of family. I have not left the house in over a week. Pray for Jacob's sanity! Lol It's all worth it though! Just one less person to risk exposure. Some people are worth isolating for. So hard for this extrovert. This whole thing has been hard. However we are making the best of it! Now back to bringing KY up! I feel like I should request spoon bread. They rave about it and the first time having it should be from someone that makes it all the time vs from my cook book right? Since we will be traveling on Thanksgiving day for a few hours and still just the 2 of us I'm going to make a small dinner at our Airbnb. Different, but it is what we make it :)
ReplyDeleteI've been praying that all goes well on your trip! We'll miss you, but I think it's great that you'll be spending this wonderful holiday with the KY branch of the family!
DeleteKatie, how fun that will be... I hope you guys have a great time. These are weird times, but it's not like the world hasn't seen weird times or trying times or difficulty in the past. I have this rigid backbone that doesn't cotton well to government overstepping my freedoms, so while I'm being careful, and some folks around me are being very careful (absolutely their right and choice) I keep looking at figures and application of controls and realizing there's not a lot of common sense... but a lot of fear mongering and money involved.
DeleteWishing you both a blessed trip! And yes, spoon bread! IT IS SO GOOD!!!!
I worry sometimes. Right now it's the worry one of us will get sick and ruin the trip AND put Jacob out of work for a while. God has a plan. So thankful I work in a Christian ministry where we can remind each other daily of that. Kind of like the men heading into the furnace. Ready to accept whatever outcome the Lord has in place!
DeleteOh Jan we wish you all could just come along! Although if flying wasn't requiring certain things we thought about coming home. Oh how sweet that would be too.
DeleteIn WWII the Jews would tell each other "Next year in Jerusalem." It was the message of hope that all would eventually be well. That if they got through "this" they would meet again in peace.
DeleteI think that's how we need to look at all this. Folks have suffered far worse and emerged stronger.... We can, too.
Next year in Jerusalem.
I'm not a worrier, either.
ReplyDeleteMy mom was. She would come home from work, stressed to the eyeballs, reliving her day over and over...but then we'd spend time together washing the supper dishes, and she'd always say I made her feel so much better.
Is that our mission in life (those of us without the worry-gene?) To bring some joy and hope into the lives of our worrying family and friends? Maybe so!
We have scaled back Thanksgiving here. We're not going to do our usual large gathering with our church family, but we'll be seeing at least two of our children and a son-in-law and a girlfriend. Maybe, if things work out, we'll even get to see the Minnesota newlyweds! (Still a bit up in the air at this point, but isn't everything?) So, at the max, we'll have eight at our house rather than the twenty-some we're used to.
It will be a quiet - but meaningful - Thanksgiving!
And thank you for gathering all these great recipes in one place!
Jan, I think you could be right. What a blessing you were to your mother!
DeleteWe've scaled back, too.... But I am still going to my son's to make pies with my grandkids because their disappointment was real. And being a fairly firm-standing independent person, every time I hear fear mongers on the TV or in the press, I want to shake them... and then instruct people to double check numbers. All the time. Because there are so many folks who have a lot to gain through controlling others' actions.
Clearly I have the doubt their sincerity gene! :)
I definitely have the get mad when people say stupid things gene!
DeleteSo I don't watch television.
Hahahahahahaha! We have that in common. :)
DeleteOh, mylanta, we are women, hear us roar!
I think there will just be five of us (two kids plus one boyfriend), and they've all been instructed to do their own quarantines for the two weeks before the holiday. I think we may all try to get a test on Monday as well. If the weather is nice, we may be eating outdoors as well.
ReplyDeleteRuthy, thanks for sharing all these recipes! A fun collection.
By the way, as you well know, I do have the worry gene! :)
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