Hurkle - durkle

 It's Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.  For those of you who have your Christmas shopping done or who would rather not brave the shopping frensy of the day, this is my advice:

                        Hurkle - durkle

Now thinking that perhaps this term is new to some as it was to me...

"Hurkle-durkle is a 200 year-old Scottish term meaning to lounge in bed long after it is time to get up.  Happiness is hurkle-durkling."

Source you ask?  This info came from a meme of im not right in the head.com sent to me by a dear friend whose name will remain a secret as she said she learned it from her crazy cousin.  She knows I love new words and she likes anonymity in general and probably especially in his case since she called her cousin crazy.

Anyway -- I think that after days of preparation for a feast, hurkle-durkling is just what the doctor ordered. I wrote this two days before Thanksgiving, so that I could hurkle-durkle properly on this the day after.   

Gobble... Gobble....

With some modifications, this is my Thanksgiving To-Do list from last year.  Some things are helpful to repeat, and ... it's a busy week. 

Happy Thanksgiving!  So much for which to be thankful.  

                    Feast Preparation To Do List

All pans and casserole dishes at the ready   ✔

Large Platter, good cutting board and carving set located ✔

Great Grandma’s little side fruit bowls washed and dried ✔

All ingredients for everything on the counters ✔

Turkey ready to go into the oven ✔

Peanut Butter ice cream pie made and tightly covered in the freezer ✔

Stuffing ready put together and into muffin pans for “stuffin' muffins" ✔

Green bean casserole all set ✔

Grandma Betty’s fruit salad just needs whipped cream ✔

Cheesy potato/bacon casserole ready to pop into oven ✔

Mashed potatoes set to microwave ✔

Table set ✔

Note written to remember the cranberry sauce this year ✔

House about to smell wonderful ✔

Local family about to arrive ✔

Smile on my face – again -- so much for which to be thankful ✔

Best Gift Ever

The Holidays are almost upon us.  Time to get into gear folks.  Let the fun begin.  Halloween, thankfully, is over.  Next -- Thanksgiving... my favorite holiday of the year. I think the aroma of all the favorite foods gives this holiday the edge. Then the Christmas season slams in during which the spirit of giving prevails. I love the gentleness and good will of the Christmas season. I ignore all the stressful parts of both holidays as much as possible. I am pretty good at doing that...lots of practice at my age.

Now some are not excited about the holiday season and I do feel bad for them. They grumble-grumble and snarl about commercialization, decorating too early, etc.  I'm okay; you're okay.  I just do not let the negative ooze its way onto my turf. I think it is all about attitude and making a decision to let some things slide, put other things on the shelf to be considered later, and just get into the holiday mode... sometimes maybe easier said than done, but important nevertheless. Holiday seasons are like vacations from the bad stuff... or they should be.

Don't think I am crazy ... I love preparation for Thanksgiving.  I spread it out over several days.  There is the list making, the inventory of the pantry, the laying out of pans and in time -- a home that smells so wonderful for a few days in a row that the atmosphere is simply beyond welcoming.  Then there is the gathering itself.   Blessings abound.  I love it all. So much for which to be thankful.

Then before you can turn around twice, there is the Christmas holiday for which I have been mentally preparing since the last one.  Personally I start decorating for Christmas when the dishwasher is running at the end of day on Thanksgiving and ... I start using the special Christmas dishes the day after. (They get put away on New Year's day.)  I like to think of Christmas as a time of giving... a time when maybe people are a little kinder, gentler, etc.  Please don't burst my bubble.  The only glitch is that I have trouble thinking of what to give and no one seems to want to help me decide, and I love to give gifts.  I figure if that is my only problem, I am fortunate indeed.  As for me and gift ideas --there is this "thing" that cleans shower walls and a superb kite that I have been looking at ... but really...  I just want time with my wonderful family... always the best gift ever.  Whenever we can get together, no matter what the exact day -- huge gift. Yep -- best gift ever.

What's on your mind?

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I am thinking that many of us have spent more than a little bit of time in gratitude for important aspects of our lives -- family and friends in particular. It's a nice time of year in many ways.  This year has been especially pleasant in that the weather has cooperated around here in lovely fashion.  Of course many of those native to NW Pennsylvania are totally convinced that because we have enjoyed a beautiful Autumn so far, we will have to pay by having snow into May or June.  We will see....  

Black Friday is over as is Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.  I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to just easing into the next Holiday Season now. I want to "feel" the spirit of Christmas -- sort of like a winter version of ..."stopping to smell the roses". I have the feeling that several of you might agree. Am I correct in this? What's on your mind?

And so it is that I wish you a Happy First Thursday of December.  You have three full weeks until December 25th. My hope for you is that you enjoy every single minute.  

More Thoughts on Thanksgiving...

I had been thinking about topics for this week's blog for several days when it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps I should consider writing about Thanksgiving. After all -- this post will go live on Thanksgiving Day or shortly thereafter.  Now -- here is the dilemma... what could I possibly say that has not already been said and well said about Thanksgiving?  Certainly there are many wonderful stories written about childhood memories and about time spent with relatives and friends here and no longer here. Thanksgiving tales abound. Wonderful tales. Hallmark movies have been made. There are enumerable things about which to be thankful, and I agree that it is important to stop and think once in a while about how truly blessed we are. Seriously....  Yet...

Not wanting to go over topics already so thoroughly explored -- I decided that I just simply have to tell you that in many ways Thanksgiving is my favorite of all holidays.  I love the gathering of the clan and sometimes friends too; I love the relaxed, no presents day.  I even like to glance at the big parade from time to time throughout the morning.  But -- second only to having time with my family --  I think I like the aromas of preparation.  The feast is yummy, of course, but the smells of early morning Monkey bread, followed by the aromas of stuffing preparation and then roasting turkey -- there are no adequate adjectives to describe the mouth-watering, yet welcoming, homey feeling of that particular meal. My kids always comment on that feeling when they arrive for the day.  I like that -- it is what I was going for all along...that welcoming, homey feeling.  ... Yep -- so much for which to be thankful... and let's not forget to include the leftovers in that....   
                                                                                                                          Happy Thanksgiving everyone.