Dear Sunday Letter friends,
Happy December!
Ready or not, here we go headfirst into the holidays. December is busy for my family not only because of Christmas, but also because we have lots of family birthdays this month. Really, the whole month is a celebration.
Fun! Fun!
I’ve missed a few Sunday Letters lately. Last weekend, we were in Denver for a quick visit with our kids. (I’ve gotten pretty good at leaving my computer at home when I travel. Yay me.) This Sunday Letter almost didn’t happen because I watched so much football yesterday, I had a hard time taking a break to write.
Speaking of football—did you see the Alabama | Auburn game? Oh my gracious! I bet Nick Saban blew a neck vein afterward…
New Traditions
I’m living in a time of new traditions. Maybe you are too?
With my grown children living in Austin and Denver—one married, the other in a relationship—holidays have begun to look wildly different. I never imagined not watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade together, not sitting down to eat the Thanksgiving feast with Kelsey and Tate at the table, not seeing my kids on Thanksgiving at all. But that’s where we live now.
I’m not sure I’ll see them at Christmas. Ugh!!!!
I tell myself that change is healthy and exciting. And for the most part, I believe it. After all, everyone is happy and thriving. Their lives have expanded to include in-laws and other family, friendsgivings, and work responsibilities. And that’s a great thing. It’s what we hope for them, right?
The realization is that we, as parents, are no longer in charge. Maybe we never were.
Even though Kelsey and Tate weren’t home for Thanksgiving, some things stayed the same.
We enjoyed a big meal with my sister and her kids, and Momma and my sister-in-law (who took this pic while John was busy carving the turkey).
We all ate too much.
Everyone left needing a nap.
Some even took one.
Broccoli Cauliflower Gratin
In the spirit of new traditions, we switched up our broccoli casserole this year upgrading our normal Cheese Whiz version to the Pioneer Woman’s Broccoli-Cauliflower Casserole.
Delicious!!!
I failed to take a picture of the final version, but in true Pioneer Woman fashion, she provides us with a gazillion photos on her website if you like a step-by-step visual. I will admit, our final version didn’t look as pretty as her final version, maybe because we substituted parmesan cheese for Monterey Jack. Or maybe because she’s The Pioneer Woman and we are, well, just us. Who knows?
But again, It.Was.Muy.Delicious.
And it still is.
Leftovers…ahhh… Who loves Thanksgiving leftovers?
I do! (But I’m ready for Mexican food.)
Greenish Black Friday
My plan was to ignore Black Friday and celebrate Green Friday instead. Have you heard of Green Friday? Started last year by REI, the company has begun closing on Black Friday in an effort to encourage people to #OptOutside and enjoy nature. (And by the way, REI still pays its employees that day.)
I love everything about this.
John and I participated in Green Friday by walking 2.5 miles in the cold drizzle. We didn’t go on an official hike because => cold drizzle. Instead, we walked along Dickson Street and around the Fayetteville Square while taking in the Christmas decorations.
Several stores were open early for Black Friday, but we stayed outside.
We bought nothing.
Just walked.
The old courthouse is decked out with holiday greenery.
You don’t have to be strolling along Fifth Avenue to enjoy beautiful Christmas window displays. Each year since moving to Fayetteville, I look forward to the holiday window at French Metro Antiques.
Window shopping is a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.
I must confess I wasn’t 100% successful in my effort to avoid Black Friday. Later, when my niece and sister invited me to go along with them to a couple of stores (which included Barnes & Noble), I said yes! Since there was no mall involved, it was a fun, quick outing. And, I knocked a few small things off my list.
Really, it’s hard to do anything cold turkey.
Turkey Pot Pie
In the world of leftovers, my favorite way to use Thanksgiving leftovers is to make turkey pot pies and freeze them for later. Saturday after Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year, because that’s when I make my pot pies while watching football. For whatever reason, the entire day always feels like an easy breezy freebie to me.
We couldn’t have had better weather yesterday! Sunshine. Warmish temps. A little breezy, but we opened the back door and it felt spring-like. (Today is quite the opposite.)
I do believe it was perfect pot pie-making weather.
Later this winter on a cold, snowy day, I’ll bake it, and we’ll be thankful again for our Thanksgiving turkey of 2019.
If you missed my pot pie recipe and would like it, click HERE.
Things Momma Says
I know what it feels like to have a wooden leg.
***
Sunday Letter readers—
1. What was your favorite part of this year’s Thanksgiving?
2. What’s your favorite way to use leftovers?
3. Do you have any tips for getting through the holidays when you can’t be with your children? I think I may need them.
Later friends,
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
We have spent the last 37 years in Kansas City for Thanksgiving. It is the annual Voight family holiday.
A fun fact is that for 30 years, my siblings and their families would have Thanksgiving at our house in Tulsa with my dad. I always wondered what I missed!
The pot pie look delicious. We never do leftovers in Kansas City but when I was young, I adored leftover dressing and gravy that my mom cooked.
Happy December.
So your siblings had Thanksgiving at your house while you went to KC? Interesting! We have so much leftover dressing I’m thinking about making hushpuppies with it…
I can’t wait to make cauliflower gratin. I had a sample of that at Trader Joe’s yesterday while waiting for Lowest Greenville’s Tree Lighting. Didn’t get to stay for the whole thing, but it was great to see people out and about on Small Business Saturday. Ended up finding a great Nativity scene at Oak and Swiss, then to Highland Park following the carriage rides. The horses were beautiful as well as the decorations. One I hadn’t seen before was a reindeer carousel. Inspired me to get my Christmas tree up today. I love your Sunday Letters.
Thank you Carol. I miss Dallas at Christmastime and especially East Dallas! That reindeer carousel is so special. Thanks for sharing the picture.
Loved your pics!
This was our first Thanksgiving without Mom. I’m sure she had a wonderful meal with Dad. We opted to eat dinner Wed night at Wilson Cafe which is never a bad idea. Alex left Thur to hunt. Trevor, Whitney, & Miller stayed until Sat. I did cook ham, dressing, and pies Thur. Never a dull moment with Miller around. We went to Starry Nights at Shelby Farms.
Stacy cooked a pot of beans with leftover hambone and we always have cornbread.
Whitney and I shopped local on Friday.
It was a great Thanksgiving after all.
Yes! Wilson Cafe is always a great idea. I bet it was sad without your mom, but like you said Pervis and Mildred were chowing down together:)) I have my hambone in the freezer for New Year’s black eyed peas, but I doubt it lasts that long. Beans and cornbread sounds so good.
Great letter! It’s fine to skip a Sunday letter occasionally but I do miss them when you do. Family is definitely the best part of Thanksgiving or any day for that matter. I can only take one day of leftovers after the feast, however your pies look delicious! I’m sure you will do fine getting through Christmas without children. You make up for it throughout the year! As our babies grow up, move away, and expand we have to adjust, like it or not! I remember one Thanksgiving years ago when our girls were small and we were invited to our friends home in another city and we broke tradition from going to my in-laws. My father-in-law was very put out and said, “That’s just not right! Thanksgiving is a time to be with family!” He was right of course! Never again! Haha
Thanks Colene. I’ve very much enjoyed seeing all your family Thanksgiving pictures. I know you are always busy when you come to Fayetteville, but maybe in the new year we can plan in advance and get together!
The empty nest is brutal…& my kids live within 5 miles of me. Boy it is so hard to share them sometimes, especially when there are grandchildren.
For me I’ve had to harden my heart a bit & just buck up. I don’t want to be the mother-in-law who pressures her kids on holidays. I want my son to have a good happy marriage & form traditions with his family. And I want him to see what it means to age well. That means learning to let go a little more each holiday & choosing to fill my time with good things. So, as my husband says….we are the grace givers….we give extra grace on holidays & verbally take the pressure off our kids. I’ve found that by doing that they actually want to come be with us without us saying anything at all.
We’ve told our daughter-in-law that because her grandparents are still living, she needs to give the day to them. So Thanksgiving & Christmas Eve they are always with her grandparents. I will say it does get easier, at least it has for me. We just plan special times away from holidays instead.
No Thanksgiving dinner for us this year (we were alone anyway). We’re remodeling bathrooms! I may not even decorate for Christmas…who knows.
We did not go Black Friday shopping but we did go into Lowes for a grab bar for the new tub & into Walmart because we really needed butter & eggs to get us through the weekend.
Thank you so much for this. I love the idea of being the grace givers. I think I’ve already started trying to do this without realizing it. My now married daughter and new son-in-law have four sets of parents and four grandmothers still living, so yes, they are pulled in lots of directions. I’m actually getting excited about Christmas in Fayetteville. (For the past 5 years, we been traveling back to Dallas during the holidays and that’s not ideal either.)
My eyes welled up with tears just as I was clicking the play button. Didn’t even have to wait for the words. Love Merle Haggard.
Me too!!! Thanks for listening and commenting. Sometimes I wonder if anyone bothers with my musical pairings…
No leftovers for us. We went to daughter and SIL’s house. His parents joined us this year and it was a great day. I cooked our Thanksgiving turkey today and it was wonderful, so our leftover turkey saga begins tomorrow. My favorite part of the holiday feast is the leftovers. Recipes are different for each family, so I will enjoy MY sandwiches tomorrow., my own way. We must go out tomorrow for supplies to build a new stable for our Creche. My hubby’s father built a stable from old wine boxes back in the dark ages and they bought most of their figures at the dime store. Back in 1951, they went to a village craft show and bought some nice home crafted chalkware figures. Sadly, time took it’s toll on those figures. Shepherds were broken, one Wise Man lost his arm, etc. A couple of years ago we bought a whole new set up and retired the old. Chalkware becomes quite fragile as it ages and many of the figures were damaged by small hands. Now we have to replace the stable as it fell apart when my hubby tried to store it last year.
Wow. I would love to see a picture of your Creche. And by the way, I have a headless Wise Man I’m trying to repair…
Sounds like a plan!
We too are now separated by half the country from our sons…so the traditions have evolved. I haven’t yet had a Thanksgiving or Christmas without seeing at least one of our sons but definitely the look of the holidays has changed and I too love the concept of being “grace givers”. So, when each son hosted us on the Thanksgiving holiday in the past two years and didn’t put any of the traditional foods on the menu, I found it didn’t matter at all. They shared that they really didn’t like turkey all that much! This year we didn’t gather on the actual Thursday and that was fine. Son’s girlfriend brought pies from a Perkins and you know what….they were better than mine, and far prettier! However, I do miss making and eating turkey carcass soup from the leftovers!
My husband and I were contemplating Christmas without our kids this year, figuring out new ideas but then one son who is a teacher is now flying here. But we have evolved into far less emphasis on gift giving on Christmas so that too has a new look and meaning. And as my husband passed down the 12 storage boxes of Christmas decorations to me from the rickety attic stairs….the decorating scheme will too evolve to a newer, more minimalized look someday.
But here’s one new tradition that also has evolved since reading your Sunday letters. I do a “Wednesday letter” via email each week of little everyday things. A wonderful way to keep in touch!
You know what we discovered last year? We can roast a turkey any time of the year, not just at Thanksgiving – LOL! So go ahead and make a small turkey so you can have that turkey carcass soup. I love your Wednesday letter!