We Gather Together

We Gather Together...  Years and years ago we used to sing this song at Thanksgiving time at church.  I thought about this song today and it kept running through my mind as we gathered together with my son and family to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It brought back good memories of Thanksgiving in past years way back to my childhood.  In fact, I can never remember a bad Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving represented different things as I have gathered with different people but every gathering was filled with gaiety and a feast of food!  I was reading about the first Thanksgiving meal and it was so different than what we consider for our Thanksgiving meal today.  The one thing we did have in common was the gratefulness and camaraderie! 

We Gather Together
 We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to his name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
Amen

~~Traditional Thanksgiving Hymn

(A translation by Theodore Baker - 1851-1934)



Tommy carving the turkey

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It truly is a day to remember what we are thankful for.  Last week I went over to church to fill boxes full of food to be given to needy families for their Thanksgiving meal.  Our church is small -- only 261+ members -- but, oh how generous they were.  The boxes were overflowing with food plus each had a turkey!  With our economy the way it is right now it is important to remember to give when someone you know needs a hand!

Today, Michael and I were privileged to be invited to the home of my son and family along with another delightful couple.  What a feast we had beginning with prayer and each of us sharing what we were thankful for this year.  It was hard to limit my blessings to just one because God has been so good to me in so many ways!



Nicholas, Brittany, Ryan, Zachary

My oldest granddaughter has a birthday on November 30 so I thought an early gift would be appropriate today since I probably won't see her on her special day.  She is my God-given granddaughter and the oldest of my grandchildren.  As we walked in the door today, Zachary and Nicholas met us with hugs, kisses and  such joyfulness!  Grandchildren are so special and make every get-together fun!  Zachary is in to video games so I watched him play a game and Nicholas is into football.  At 4, he's got quite an arm!!  Brittany is recovering from major surgery and is still a little sore.  Her partner, Ryan, takes good care of her.  I like that!  The only thing that could have made the day better was if my daughter and her family in Florida could have been present.  Bummers!  Maybe next year.



Put another log on the fire...

Put another log on the fire!  We are getting the first real freeze of the season and cold weather coming in from the North.  It was nice to have a fire going today as we came together to celebrate our blessings.  I've been using the paper logs but after experiencing the "real deal" today, I think I am going to scout out some places that have seasoned wood.  The crackle and smell was so inviting.  Ever since I came to Texas in 1970, I've had a fireplace and I love to curl up in my favorite chair with a good book and enjoy the flames.  Today, Nicholas, called it a volcano when flames shot up in the air.  Nicholas had a wonderful imagination!

Christmas is just around the corner

Christmas is just around the corner!  Down here people live for "Black Friday".  Some stores are opening at midnight and others at 3 or 4am for blow out low prices.  As for me, my bed is much too comfy to crawl out to shop with a bunch of people rushing around to find that special bargain.  We stopped at Walmart on our way home tonight and they had a multitude of stacks in the aisles with tags on them stating that they were Black Friday bargains.  I'm more looking forward to A Dickens Christmas which starts tomorrow evening at 6:15pm with the tree lighting.  It's a wonderful experience...the stores decorate their store fronts, carolers roam the streets, and their are carriage rides, the Christmas train, food vendors...and, of course, the town resembles an English village filled with Christmas tidings!!  From the sound of things, we'll need to bundle  up ... thanks OK, that's what makes it fun!



A thank you to the cooks - the host & hostess!

My thanks to Tommy and Angie, the host and hostess of today's Thanksgiving.  I would give my daughter in law an A+ for the meal she prepared and my son always makes everyone feel right at home.  Thanksgiving 2010 was a winner!  I left their home feeling blessed for my family and for the opportunity to meet Fred and his wife.  For years, I spent days getting ready for Thanksgiving and now, it is time to pass the baton.  Actually, it was nice to get up this morning, and not fretting about the house or if the turkey was done enough or too done!  It was nice to sit back and just enjoy the festivities!

It is my hope that you, too, had a wonderful day with family and friends.  I've kept a gratitude journal for years and it helps me to focus on the bright side of life.  When my son was small and he had a bad day, I would tell him that we were going to take five minutes and kick, yell and scream then it would be time to stop and enjoy the rest of the day.  Actually, by the time the five minutes was up, we were laughing to hard at each other, it was difficult to remember what the "bad part" of the day was.

So, my friends, I wish you blessings...I wish you love...I wish you wholeness and recovery no matter what difficulties you are experiencing.  Chat with you tomorrow ... one of these days, I'll have some snow to report ... snow in Texas is a BIG DEAL!!

Take care and God bless...

Happy Thanksgiving 2010