Set an extra chair.

Here we are - the night before my favorite holiday. I'm writing this as I wait for the last items to finish baking in the oven, my to-do list nearly complete and ready to take to our lovely neighbor's house for Thanksgiving dinner. As I was making the pumpkin pie and listening to Christmas music, I started to daydream about why I love this holiday so much. Of course, you might assume that my love for Thanksgiving centers around all of the delicious food and it's preparation. Don't get me wrong - over the years that has been a huge part of my love for this holiday. However, when I truly stop and think about it, I would have to say it's that sense of comfort and safety that comes with sitting at a table and looking around at the people you hold dear to your heart. Those same individuals who did not pick up the dirty clothes. The same ones that wanted to see how high the dog could jump on the trampoline. The same ones that snuck in during the wee hours of the morning. The ones you argued with yesterday and will laugh with tomorrow. The ones who made you angry and the ones who made you smile. The ones you are still not quite sure of and the ones who are so predictable. Each and every one, whether blood-related or heart-related, all sitting there ready to give thanks for yet another year of God's rich blessing's. Yes, that is what it means to me.

As far back as I can remember, I had the blessing of setting the table. I took pride in every detail even when I was only 8 years old. I remember my Mom always telling me to "set an extra place setting". I always did this with a willing heart because it never failed that every year, at the last minute, a special guest would arrive and take up that vacancy. My Mom was notorious for inviting both strangers as well as friends with no family or place to go to our Thanksgiving table. Gets me teary eyed just thinking about how she and my Daddy would go out of their way to make them feel like they were a part of our "family". Our immediate family was never really large but our extended family of Love grew bigger and bigger every year. Sometimes those special guests would come back and then sometimes we would never see them again, but one thing I am sure of is that they were blessed and felt a sense of safety around that table.

God is good and he continues to bless us. Even in these times of economic fear, he still gives us comfort. This year, I may not have the job of setting the table, but I will be quietly thanking my parents for instilling the value of "family" and why it's so important to "set an extra chair" because you never know who may show up. I'm jus' sayin'!

Blog Block!

Here it is only four days in to this lovely endeavor and already, I can't seem to reach into my creative side to pull a witty blog out of my hat for nothing. While I was waking up at 5am, I had several moments of creativity - or should I say my cloudy dreams wrestling with reality. If it were not for that single, solitary bean and the prospects of a morning conversation with Juan Valdez, I would perhaps still be laying there. But alas, here I am, babbling on with nothing but mere useless words with no intent to inspire even the lowliest creatures.

Lists! Lists! Lists! Is that not what one does when they are in this state of utter confusion? So my morning routine is: roll out of bed, get my daughters lunch ready, press the ever loving button of joy that sits on my counter and exudes liquid caffeine and hit all my vast forms of electronic communication. Between e-mail, twitter, facebook and now this blog, I think I have reached a new level of "time-sucked-away-by-the-computer"! So, Juan, what do you say we get this ball rolling and put together what it is we should to do today? First off on that list, the morning walk. I must say, I thought it was going to be super-hard getting back into the swing of things, but walking with my husband and the dog has proved to make those walks far more enjoyable. Yesterday, I did accomplish finding clarity in my over-sized pantry, which in turn allowed me to produce - yep you got it - another list (grocery) of the things I don't have and the things that were lurking in the deep, dark, pantry abyss, all screaming to be released to the nearest trash receptacle. I labeled the shelves and organized all the oddities that most people would not find, nor wonder what to do with, nor care about in their pantry, and was still able to get most of my other chores done, bake cookies and make dinner. So in my eyes I will pat myself on the back and say "Well done my faithful blogger, well done"!

Today I will be making white chocolate bread, a yummy treat that my dear sister friend passed over and quickly found "star" status on - yep, you guessed it - the list of "will you make this". And no worries, as this WILL be going in the cookbook! You know, I find it kind of funny that one minute I am at a loss for words and then I scroll my eyes up and Bam! there you go, the block I was so worried about turned out to not be just a moment of wasted cyberspace after all.

Maybe I need to discuss my morning "lists" with Juan on a regular basis - I'm just saying...