You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November, 2006.
This is not a comprehensive list; nor is it in any particular order.
1. Meg Ryan singing “horses, horses, horses” (“Jingle Bells”) in her car in “Sleepless in Seattle.”
2. Linus’ recitation of the Luke nativity account in “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
3. The Island of Misfit Toys in “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” (Who wants a squirt gun that shoots grape jelly?!)
4. Gonzo and Rizzo’s narration of “A Muppet Christmas Carol.”
5. The cat getting electrocuted in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” (usually I am a cat lover, but you have to admit it’s a hilarious sound!)
6. “A Christmas Story.” Hard to pick one moment, but I have always loved “I can’t put my arms down!!”
7. “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch” — “Your soul is an apalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable, Mangled up in tangled up knots.” — in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
8. “A toast … to my big brother, George. The richest man in town!” from “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
9. The song and dance numbers in “White Christmas.” (I used to watch this movie year-round. I was obsessed with it when I was in high school and college.)
10. The snowglobe in “While You Were Sleeping.” So romantic. More proof that the best gifts aren’t expensive, but thoughtful.
11. Joe sweet-talking the cashier at Zabar’s during the Thanksgiving rush in “You’ve Got Mail.” “It’s your turn to say ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ back.” “Happy Thanksgiving back.”
12. Harry’s New Year’s Eve declaration of love to Sally in “When Harry Met Sally.”
“I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
(For those of you who are not counting, that makes 3 Meg Ryan movies in this list…)
13. What are yours?
After we set out the nativity scene, we watched “A Charlie Brown Christmas” together.
The boys LOVE Snoopy. He doesn’t even have to do anything — he just has to be onscreen — and the kids go crazy laughing at him.
Setting up our nativity scene…
Baby Jesus will remain in an undisclosed location until Christmas Eve, when the youngest child who is able will place him in the manger.
After stopping at a few local tree farms and discovering that they were either a) closed when they were supposed to be open, or b) incredibly overpriced, we headed to Lowe’s to pick out a Christmas tree. The supply was good and fresh!
Excited!!!
Ben posing with the tree. This is actually a “foreshadowing” picture, because about halfway home, Ben fell off the backseat — still in his booster seat — and onto the tree next to him. Cameron managed to pull him and his carseat back up to safety.
Jonathan doing his best “I can’t put my arms down!” imitation.
Helping Daddy.
Here’s a funny series of pictures I took when we were preparing to get our tree on Monday night. David was rearranging the carseats, and the kids were doing their best to help.
Last Thursday was a very special celebration for us. We had actual family…David’s younger brother, Jimmy, was here from Atlanta for the weekend. And we had church family…Nathan and Joy and their four children, Martha, and Tom. Precious people, all of them.
David began the meal by reading Psalm 103, and then the kids sang their Thanksgiving song. We blessed the meal and sat to eat around 1:30 in the afternoon. After dinner, as we sat in the kitchen enjoying dessert — every good gathering begins and ends in the kitchen, in my opinion — we shared Thanksgiving praises to God. What were we thankful for? Here are some of the responses…
- God’s mercy
- God is in the business of working out sancification, not just salvation
- a new job
- friends
- healthy family members
It was wonderful to think of where we all were a year ago, and reflect on the blessings of the past year, as well as those that are consistent from year to year, age to age.
My favorite thing about the day was that people lingered…our last guest left around nine that night. And some neighbors dropped by to share some food and conversation.
David attempting to improve the television reception with a turkey leg.
I’ll post more about our day a bit later but here are some photos to whet your appetite…
Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices
Reading time
Joyful kitchen helpers
The last of the mashed potatoes
I found myself in my kitchen this morning at 6:15 a.m. mashing potatoes in my pajamas.
‘Nough said.
The two major things I am making for our Thanksgiving dinner are Roast Turkey with Maple Herb Butter and Gravy, and New England Sausage, Apple and Dried Cranberry Stuffing. I made both recipes last Thanksgiving, when David’s family shared the holiday with us, and I was very happy with the results! The gravy is a bit different — sweeter — than traditional turkey gravy, since it’s made with cider and syrup, but it was delicious.
This morning I made the maple-herb butter that accompanies the turkey. It made a wonderful aroma as it simmered on the stove. This afternoon I will most likely prepare the mashed potatoes, which will be refrigerated and cook in the slow-cooker on Thursday. I will also mix up my pie crust, which can stay in the fridge until Thursday morning when I roll it out.
Yesterday I took our lovely turkey from the freezer so she could start defrosting in the fridge. This was, of course, after madly rearranging everything in the fridge and throwing out some things that weren’t worth keeping.
I also went on a shopping trip yesterday with my friend Nicole to pick up some odds and ends for our feast. It was a comedy of errors from the beginning…I am still laughing out loud over some of the things we encountered, including a dead duck, a dead lizard, and a tree farm (which one did we encounter inside the Super Wal-Mart?! It wasn’t the tree farm!).
This morning the boys and I made napkin holders for our table that resemble turkeys…sort of….
I also went on a shopping trip yesterday with my friend Nicole to pick up some odds and ends for our feast. It was a comedy of errors from the beginning…I am still laughing out loud over some of the things we encountered, including a dead duck, a dead lizard, and a tree farm (which one did we encounter inside the Super Wal-Mart?! It wasn’t the tree farm!).
This morning the boys and I made napkin holders for our table that resemble turkeys…sort of….
