The Journey of Pure Love: Thanksgiving Surprise

My Thanksgiving Day...what a surprise!

I thought today would go exactly as planned.

We went to serve the homeless with Our Calling and wow, I was blessed.

As always, there is a comedy of errors involved as I prepared for the day. I counted out the plates, remember the number of plates I was to pack is what I set the table with daily... not a big deal, Right??? Well definitely not so. I miss counted and only brought 6! Really, Wendi?? So grateful for a friend that packed an extra 2 plates and it actually looked like it was planned that way! We have 2 goblets that didn't match the other 6 as well. So it all worked out. We sat and waited... next year we will definitely host a table by ourselves. We invited my best friend and her daughter at the last minute because, they were alone this Thanksgiving. Her hubby is serving in the North East accessing the damage and doing insurance claims. We were so blessed to serve a sweet single parent family with 7 kids.

When we finished, with a deep breath we headed to my grandmother's house for my family Thanksgiving! I'm standing outside of the house, waiting for my friend to catch-up when my walks out and I feel almost is if she is hurrying me inside. When I walk in, I see my Daddy, my hubby talking, my Papa and brother on the couch and then as I scan to the left, what a HUGE surprise!

My cousin, Bill and I...

Even now, I have tears in my eyes. My cousin Bill, a little piece of my Dedaw and holidays past. We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving with 20+ people at my Memaw's house. One thing I love about most of the Holiday's that we celebrate with my family is that we open our doors to our friends and neighbors who don't have a place to eat with 'family'.

Family is more than the blood that runs through your veins.

It is the love you share for a person's soul.

It isn't what they can do for you,

but it's the bond you have that will live between the two of you.

So we had a GREAT food and I even had a fabulous Dressing that soon to be sis-in-love made...

Cornbread-Sage Dressing

Serves 8 as a side dish

3 TBSP Butter

1 large onion, diced

3 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 9x13 day old GLUTEN-FREE cornbread, crumbled into small chunks (see notes below)

2 TBSP of dried sage

1 cup vegetable broth (or more for taste)

Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onions and celery, saute until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl, toss together cornbread and sage. Add the onion and celery mixture and toss until well combined. Add enough vegetable broth to moisten the cornbread, about 1 cup. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish, cover (aluminum foil if the dish doesn't have a lid), and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until heated through and top begins to brown.

Note: If you do not have time to let the cornbread sit out for a day, then crumble it up, place it on a sheet pan, and bake it at 250F for about 20-30 minutes until it dries out.

It was soooo good!!!

So we had a wonderful time catching up. We also began the Christmas Holidays by decorating the outside of Memaw's house for her... so much fun!