Happy Thanksgiving!

While there is lots to love about this holiday (good food, no gifts, family gatherings and a needed reminder to be thankful), it has been a mostly untraditional one for us. And I'm not referring to the fact that we're vegetarians! With no in-state family, holiday airfare at a premium, and emergency duty interfering some years, we rarely get to celebrate Thanksgiving with relatives. Instead, we have often celebrated with members of our church family. The last few years, though, the families we used to gather with have moved away or are no longer involved in our church, so we have been pretty much on our own. A quiet day at home is fine with me, but my husband feels deprived without the big gathering and loaded table. This week I suggested we volunteer at a shelter or soup kitchen and think more about others for a change. But when I called around, places had all the volunteers they needed. So it was back to spending a quiet day at home. Figured I'd at least better work on the "loaded table" part of it, so started preparations last night. I made our favorite cranberry dish (strawberry gelatin, whole-berry cranberry sauce, non-fat sour cream or yogurt, walnuts), and mixed up a batch of delicious refrigerator bran crescent rolls, with plans to roll out and bake them just in time to serve warm from the oven - mmm! Then, on last night's news after showing the special treats zookeepers serve up to the animals, the anchor mentioned that the Oregon Zoo is open and FREE today! So, it is off to the zoo for us (you KNOW photos will follow!), and I'll whip of the rest of our Thanksgiving dinner when we get home.

Hope your Thanksgiving is warm and sincere, however and with whomever you spend it!

That's it for now from . . .