Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here linking up with Joyce today for her weekly hodgepodge of questions...guess what our theme is this week? 

1. Talking turkey...are you cooking one this year? Does ham belong on your Thanksgiving menu? When it comes to gravy, do you pour it over your whole plate, skip it all together, or do you land somewhere in between? What about cranberries? Do you like fresh, out of the can, or none at all? Do you look forward to the more savory main course, the sides, or the desserts? 

I have only ever cooked a turkey breast, and it was in the year of 2020 when food was scarce in the grocery stores, and it wasn't during the holidays. I just thought I'd share that little tidbit first, because it still makes me laugh thinking about how crazy that year was. I absolutely do not think that ham belongs on the Thanksgiving menu! I love gravy, but I only pour it over the dressing. Have I mentioned that my mom's is the very best? I love cranberry sauce, but only the can for me and Noah, please! 🤣 I am most excited about the main course; I do also enjoy the desserts, though. Leftover Thanksgiving food is my favorite! My mom makes something we call lime Jell-O salad that I love and look forward to the week after while I eat my own container that she makes for me. It's lime Jell-O, lemon Jell-O, chopped pecans, cottage cheese, and pineapple chunks. It's delicious! 

2. Holiday movies...tell us your favorite and what it is about the film that makes you love it. Is it the film itself or a memory it stirs? My all time favorite will always be White Christmas, but I also love all the new Hallmark movies that come out each year. I have some old favorites, too! I always love watching classics like The Holiday, The Family Stone, the Griswold's Christmas Vacation, Elf, New Year's Eve, and maybe one or two others I'm forgetting. The thing I love about White Christmas is that I grew up watching it every single weekend with Dad. We would sing the songs together, and we can both quote just about every line. I will watch it this year and imagine him laughing along with me as I watch. 

3. A favorite way to give back and help others? I've been thinking for a while of ways that I can start serving people in some way now that I have so much free time, and I took steps toward that this week with my son Graham. I'm looking forward to doing the same thing in December and in the months to follow. 

4. Name a place or setting this month you encountered that made you feel grateful. I have to say that last Friday night with my friend Abbey, her husband Steve, and their precious kids left me feeling so very grateful to have been invited into their home and be included in the dinner and nighttime routines. I actually got really emotional over this as Steve read to them from the Bible, and I thought I was going to have to excuse myself. It was such a sweet, sweet time. 

5. Knowing what you know today, if you could redo yesterday, what would you do differently? With yesterday being more figurative, I don't know that I would do anything differently. I did everything right in my marriage; I wasn't perfect, but not one person is. He certainly wasn't perfect either, but I gave him better than he deserved, apparently, because of all the lies. I did my very best, and I will say it until the day Jesus calls me home: I have no regrets. 

6. Spill your own random thought here. I've been working on forgiveness lately, and though I'm still not all the way there, I know that I am making steps in the right direction. I mentioned here that I've heard a couple of sermons on this topic lately, and I even caught the same theme in a Christmas movie I watched last week. My sister made a profound statement to me, though, that I thought I'd share. She said that I can forgive the person without telling them, and I wholeheartedly agree with her statement. I was never asked to be forgiven, so why would I share it with them? If I was asked for forgiveness, that would be an entirely different, but that isn't the case for me. I'll forgive because the Lord has forgiven me, and His word says that as I have been forgiven, so should I forgive. 

That being said, I would love your prayers for tomorrow for my sons and me as we go through the holiday with two major losses in our lives. Thank you! 

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. I am so grateful for all of you and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Love to all! 

Jenn 🖤