332/365 Grateful for My Life

"The Sweet Spot"

I did a terrible job of photographing our Thanksgiving!  I didn't even pick up my camera until almost all was said and done.  I'm not sure how that happened.  However, in many ways, this picture sums up our Thanksgiving fairly well.

Erin appointed herself the mastermind of this year's celebration.  We all gathered at the house in Denton.  This arrangement took a lot of pressure off of me - no major cleaning!  Erin assigned all of us something to bring.  Weber smoked a turkey.  Brooke made roasted brussels sprouts, pumpkin pie and, of course, bread.  I was assigned chocolate chip pie and mashed potatoes, which I actually made with cauliflower.  FYI, they were really good, at least I thought so.  Mike, Jason, Erin and Edgar banded together and made the dressing, sweet potatoes and green beans.  Needless to say, there was no shortage of food!

A tradition that has been a part of our family Thanksgiving celebration for many years is a movie, actually at the theater, after our meal is finished.  This started when the girls were younger and Mike travelled a lot.  Because they all share a similar taste in movies (one that I don't share with them) this was a time for the three of them to spend some time together and an opportunity for me to go to a movie by myself and have some alone time.  We kept up the tradition, sort of, today.

Mike and Jason were not interested in a movie.  The kids all went to see the new Hunger Games movie, one that Weber and I had absolutely no interest in seeing so we went to Philomena.

I'm not sure what the verdict was about the movie the kids saw, but Weber and I really enjoyed our movie.  After our trip to the theater, which gave our meal time to settle, we returned home for pie.  And, I remembered that I hadn't taken a single picture yet.

I caught Erin taking her first bite of the pumpkin pie that her sister made.  I'll have to wait until Christmas to get a picture of us all together.  But, since Erin did most of the real work for our day today I am OK with this picture as my photo of the day.

331/365 Grateful for Home Made

"Grateful for Bread"

Since Brooke has been home with us, and even more since the girls started their bread baking business, we never have a shortage of freshly baked bread.  For me, the carbohydrate addict, this is like heaven on earth.  I, however, do not take this abundance of bread for granted.  It is a spiritual thing to watch all of the ingredients, separate as they are, come together into these beautiful loaves.  The process is sometimes long and rather meticulous.  Temperatures and time are important.  

Bread at our house is not uncared for or unwanted.  And, it is certainly not taken for granted.  

As we approach these next days of holiday celebrations, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, let us be even more mindful of the bread that we break with our families and friends, that we acknowledge its role in nourishing our bodies and our souls.  Let us also remember those who are lonely and hungry in body and spirit.  Pray that they too will be fed.

330/365 Grateful for The Journey

"Lifelong Journey"

I can't believe that I have been teaching at Brookhaven for 20 years!  Time does fly when you are having fun.  I do have fun.  I can't think of a better place for me to be.

329/365 Grateful for Relationships

"Second Chances"

Brooke's Kitchen Aide mixer decided that it had mixed enough bread and ceased to play nicely with her.   Not to be defeated by a mixer, Brooke turned to the Internet to see if she could diagnose its exact ailment.  Based on her findings, she decided that it needed a new gear.  She found the parts and ordered them online.

They arrived yesterday and today was surgery day for "Matilda."  Brooke managed to get everything taken apart except for the final piece, a snap ring that would not budge.  She enlisted Weber's help.  Between the two of them they were able to successfully replace the ailing part.

My original intent was that today's photo would be about Brooke's relationship with her mixer.  To capture the relationship between these two is a bonus for me.  And, I suppose it also captures the intimate relationship they both were having with the innards of a Kitchen Aide mixer!

328/365 Grateful for Contentment

"Contentment"

After church this morning, we came home to a nice calm rest of the day.  With the cold temperatures it seemed a perfect day for a nap and then a big pot of chili.  Content does indeed describe how I have felt today.  Despite that, I struggled with a photo.  I'll just have to be content with what I got.

327/365 Grateful for Imperfect Moments

'It Will Take Two"

Winter has finally hit Dallas!  We spent the morning running errands.  Despite the chilly temperatures, we decided that when we got home we try to take a few pictures of us together.  This is always tricky interns of camera settings and focus, kind of like the selfies.  Today it was more than tricky; it was pretty much a disaster.

I'm not sure what my problem was, but my camera and I definitely were not one with each other.  First I had difficulty getting the correct exposure.  That shouldn't have been a problem.  The sky was gray and overcast.  What light there was was nice and even.  Once I got the exposure problem solved, then I was plagued with focus issues.  No matter what I tried,  I failed to get us both in focus.  In a word, the day's pictures were terrible.

I found this all kind of funny given today's prompt - "imperfect moments."  

Normally I would have considered this kind of day a failure and deleted all of the pictures.  Instead, I decided to see what I could salvage.  This one is the best of the bunch.  Sad, isn't it.  Oh well, tomorrow is a new day.  Maybe a little rain, sleet, snow and ice will make for better pictures.  It certainly can't make them much worse.

326/365 Grateful for Wide Open Spaces

"My Bundled Up Baby"

Texas is full of wide open spaces but I wasn't going to go in search of one of them to photograph today.  The weather here was cold and rainy and just plain yucky to be out in.  My baby did come see me tonight and I couldn't resist taking a picture of her all bundled up for our first cold snap of the year.