"O Lord our God and heavenly Father, which of Thy unspeakable mercy towards us, hast provided meate and drinke for the nourishment of our weake bodies. Grant us peace to use them reverently, as from Thy hands, with thankful hearts: let Thy blessing rest upon these Thy good creatures, to our comfort and sustentation: and grant we humbly beseech Thee, good Lord, that as we doe hunger and thirst for this food of our bodies, so our soules may earnestly long after the food of eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen." ~ George Webb, 'Short direction for the daily exercise of the Christian, 1625.' Courtesy of Plimoth Plantation, located in Plymouth, Mass.

Good Tuesday morning on this November 20, 2018. We have set aside later today to gather everything we need to get ready for our Thanksgiving family gathering. Our eldest son and his wife are hosting this year and we will be taking our contributions to the feasting table to their home. I always look forward to us getting together. Family and fellowship. And, lest I not be fully honest, I also look forward to enjoying foods that have been a part of my life since I was a wee little lad. Everyone has their own traditions. That's a good thing. Many will enjoy a turkey and a ham. We will too. It will be the side dishes that speak to our memory of days gone by. I am thankful for my wife and how she worked for years to replicate the special dishes that combined our history including those prepared by her mom, my Granny Mac, and my mother. The other evening we celebrated a long day working on behalf of the Santa Enterprise by eating out at a well-known steak restaurant. Everything was excellent. We enjoyed it. However, I know it may be just me but I would always and forever just as soon eat my wife's cooking, period, end of story. The older I get it's the more I feel this way. She isn't quite as fixated as I am, but, after all is said and done, most of the work in doing the meal preparation is clearly in her domain. Home cooked meals. It's a novelty for some, but, for me, it is a way of life and I thank God for His provision in this area.

My mom's parents: Granny and Paw Paw Mac

Growing up, I was always a willing test sampler of all things being prepared in the kitchen. Everyone knew to go light on breakfast on Thanksgiving Day because as we used to say, "We need to leave room for the good stuff coming soon." I can remember my grandfather and how proud he was to call us all to the feasting table. The table was covered with the foods that dreams were made of. He would look around the room to make sure we were all in our places, then, he would call on Granny Mac to word the prayer. She may not have been an eloquent person, but, she knew how to pray down a blessing from above. When the last Amen was said we kids would be reminded not to let our eyes be bigger than our stomachs. My grandparents and my mom were fanatical about not wasting food. I later came to know it had something to do with their experiences during The Great Depression and in their dealing with the food shortages during WWII. I will go ahead and admit it. That was never too much of a problem for me. I could pretty well hold my own in clearing the food on my plate. Even as a kid. I've seen those memes popping up on Facebook how that it is a good idea not to forget to set our scales back ten pounds for this week. I told someone I had quit weighing when the scale gave me this message: One at a time, please. I am sorry to go on and on about food, but, when you really think about it, in our tradition, next to being thankful it is a major part of the main agenda for this week.

Let me also make clear to everyone that preparing all of these dishes is not easy, nor is it for the fainthearted. There's a lot of pressure on those doing the signature dishes. My mom was well known for her chicken and dumplings. My boys loved this dish. She would always add just a wee bit of yellow food coloring to make her dumplings shine. On one Thanksgiving Day, she accidentally got hold of the red food coloring and ended up with rosy pink dumplings. She was devastated. She may have even cried. My boys, along with the rest of the dumpling lovers found out the color wasn't as important as the taste as they devoured her rose-colored dumplings. Thanksgiving Day was saved! The boys still talk about that day. And, they still love dumplings. Their mom will be preparing them onsite in our son's home because she wants them to be super fresh. And, I don't think she uses food coloring. I'm not sure. You see, I love nearly everything that goes on the table, however, I am not a dumpling fan. I would rather have another helping of cornbread dressing. Thank you very much. Now that we are all hungry, the experts would tell us to eat a rice cake or something. To be honest, I've never developed a taste for styrofoam. But, to each his or her own. Have a great rest of the day and may our Great God add His blessings. Amen. ....More later.