Everything is peaceful is the morning
hours. The furnace hums. The candles burn. The children sleep through the
darkness that comes along with winter mornings. It has been an exceedingly
wonderful five days for our early Thanksgiving. It really doesn’t matter which
day (or days) we celebrate; it is enough that we celebrate together. I have
loved each moment and still have a day left before they all leave to go back
home to their warmer climates and have another Thanksgiving. So shall we at
Aaron and Rachel’s new farm. It will be their first Thanksgiving in their new
house, and we are excited for that!
For the most part, everything went as
planned. That is always good, although surprises do show up in the loveliest
ways! I am always grateful that everyone arrives safely, that the beds are cozy
and warm, and that good food comes out of this old kitchen. As Holly says, “It
doesn’t matter how big the kitchen is, Nannie, it is the good food that comes
out of it.” She is right except sometimes it would be good to have two of
everything and lots of space. However, since I don’t have any of that, we make
do, and we make do very well. It definitely has been wall to wall family and
wall to wall food as well. Faith, who is now eight, has loved helping in the
kitchen this year. With an apron tied around her waist, she stuffed and basted
the turkey, and helped make the cranberry sauce along with the pies. She now
considers herself a really good cook along with her two sisters! It is so
joyous to have such lively helpers in the kitchen!
They did sleep through the early
morning as I made a pie for the WLKI pie auction on Wednesday. I bake a pie
every year and always choose an organization that really wants that pie. For
years I made the pie for the Downtown Angola Coalition and then Main Street.
One year I baked for the Pleasant Lake Lions Club. This year I am baking to
donate my pie through the Trine University Theatre. We had great fun choosing
the name! We had so many ideas, and then Lydia, my assistant director, simply
looked at me and said, “Star of the Show.” Bingo! We chose that name. Make sure
you bid and donate to the cause, “Shop with a Cop” on Wednesday. All the money
raised goes to this program. And, if you are reading this, and are runner up to
my pie, send me a note and I will make another one for you for your
Thanksgiving dinner. That is a promise. I will deliver…as long as you are
local! So bid away and show how much Steuben County gives!
Not only is the pie auction this week,
and Thanksgiving, but the toboggan slide opens at Pokagon on Friday. We all did
this as kids, and maybe some of you now take your kids and grandkids. Maybe you
just want to bundle up and go watch and listen to the joyous hollers as folks
fly down the slide. The cold wind will swoop down on us Thanksgiving so it will
be a perfect time to go out to the park. But bundle up!
It is Thanksgiving week. Gratefulness
sits front and center on my own plate this week. It springs out of family and
friends and community. I am grateful for each part of my life. I cannot imagine
living any other life in any other place. This small town has been my home for
most of my life. Every single time I come home or head down West Street or pull
into my driveway or come through my back door, I am grateful for each moment
and everyone. Let me say this also, I am grateful to you, my readers. You, and
your kind words mean everything to me when I meet up with you out and about. I
thank you.
Years ago, I met poet laureate,
Norbert Krapf, at a writer’s conference. Our tables were next to each other. We
introduced ourselves and have become friends. He always comes to my shows in
Indianapolis, and I always buy his new poetry books. As much as I love all of
his books, it is his first one that goes straight to my heart for gratefulness.
“Give thanks for the wealth
Of the ordinary rolling in
From cloudy gray across prairie green.”
Happy Thanksgiving.
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