Holiday Happenings

Mmmmmmm....
The aroma of onions boiling fills the house, stinging my eyes.  Oh how hubby and I love our traditional Creamed Onions.  This scent more than any other heralds Thanksgiving morning for me.  I remember when I was little waking on Thanksgiving morning to this very same aroma, as my mother boiled onions for stuffing, not Creamed Onions.  The latter recipe is a tradition of hubby's family, and has fallen to us to make each year. 

BTW, hubby has no problem peeling all the onions.  He sheds nary a tear; where I can only peel 2 or 3 before my eyes become unbearably irritated and flooded with tears.  I attribute it to the fact that he wears contacts which protect his eyes from the "fumes;" my oldest daughter can also peel onions with ease and she wears contacts.  Has anyone else had this experience?  Hubby just says it's because he is so tough :\  Regardless, I am glad that my wimpy eyes and I get out of that job every year. 

We did our pie baking yesterday.  My favorite helpers were eager to help create luscious banana cream and raspberry ganache pies. We made two of each--one to take and one to keep:)

I heard a comment at a soccer game (indoor) last night that ummm, bothered me.  A 20-something girl (who apparently works as a teacher/student teacher/para in a Kindergarten class and had some thoughts about Kindergarten education with which I vehemently disagreed--but that is a different post) was talking to a 20-something man about today's holiday.  He arrogantly proclaimed that he doesn't celebrate this "disgusting" holiday.  He claimed it is celebrating our conquering and killing the Native Americans and he refuses to participate.  Although the young lady pointed out that this happened well-before any Indian killing happened and we were at peace with them at that First Thanksgiving, he continued to arrogantly proclaim this celebration "disgusting."  Poor, ignorant boy. 

While there are many things in our country's past that are not cause for celebration (slavery, the way we treated the Indians, even the religious intolerance practiced by the Puritans--the very people who came to this country to escape religious persecution! and errr, our current administration) we celebrate today because we are thankful that some of those Puritans survived that first horrendous winter, that our country, despite its pockmarks, has grown and flourished and is a place where personal liberty and human rights prevail.  We celebrate today to thank God for his mercy, his love and his goodness to us.  We celebrate the opportunity to live and work in this greatest country on Earth; and as we celebrate, we take this opportunity to pray for those less fortunate, who will not have turkey and stuffing or pies, who will not have a warm home or bed to sleep in, or who will spend this day alone.  We will pray and remember them, and if our faith is a living faith we will devote our time, treasure and talent to helping those less fortunate.  This is the message of Thanksgiving.  This is why we celebrate.  Today, I will pray that the poor young man at the soccer game will one day come to know this.
A Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving to all!