Thanksgiving Lemons

Lemonade out of Thanksgiving Lemons

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with my mother this year. It is the first year that we haven’t had Thanksgiving in our home with a bunch of guests. I love cooking for the Thanksgiving meal, but this year we decided not to cook at all and just enjoy fellowship together before mom and Deanna left for their “Exodus” trip.

Mom ordered Thanksgiving dinner from Wal-Mart. It was advertised as an “Oven-Roasted Turkey Dinner”. Sounded delicious. She would pick it up Wednesday at about 11 a.m. for dinner at 1 p.m. We had to have our dinner a day early because mom and Deanna were leaving for Cairo on Thanksgiving Day at about 9:45 a.m.

We drove to El Paso on Monday morning. I’d scheduled Dentist appointments for all of us that afternoon so that we could kill 2 birds with one stone. What a miserable day! We were crowded driving down because the truck (unlike our huge van we used to have) really seated only 6 and we were 7. Adrian drove so that he could get some practice in and when we got to El Paso, I was so stressed out with him at the wheel that Ralph and Terence both had to tell me to “chill”.

We spent 5 hours at the Dentist’s office getting our teeth cleaned and checked. It went fairly well. Adrian had 1 cavity, Terence had 3, Deanna (for the first time ever) had none, Leilani had 4 and I needed to schedule a root canal. Just what I needed!!! A root canal!! I guess we would be back in about two weeks anyway to pick up Deanna, so I scheduled our mouth work then.

Ralph and Adrian drove back home and the rest of us stayed at Mom’s house. Ralph had to be at work on Tuesday and Wednesday because it was going to be some of the busiest days for the store. Adrian volunteered to take care of the dogs while we were gone and try to keep them in the yard. They would be back late Wednesday night so that they could see Deanna off at the airport.

Tuesday Mom (Grandma) put us to work around her house. She remodeled her bedroom and had a new roof put on. We packed up several boxes of books, dusted shelves, moved some furniture, etc. She also had 15 tons of rock and dirt delivered. It was going to be the foundation for a new shed she would put up after she got home. Our job was to move it and spread it evenly over the area where the shed would sit. I think we got 5 tons moved before we gave up, exhausted. I suggested that she rent a bobcat to move the rest.

Wednesday morning we helped Mom put all of the furniture back into her bedroom and hang up the curtains. The room looked 100% better than I’ve ever seen it.

At 11 a.m. we went to Wal-Mart to pick up the dinner we had ordered. The deli associate took our name and went into the back to get the stuff. He brought out a box. Our mouths were watering in anticipation of a fully prepared, ready-to-eat dinner. Imagine our surprise when we opened the box he brought to us and saw a FROZEN turkey and side dishes! Totally not what we expected! We didn’t have time to thaw and heat the turkey before nightfall. None of the advertisements on the counter specified that it would b frozen and not ready-to-eat. We decided not to take the dinner. Our complaint tot the manager got us a gift card, but not more time to prepare a meal.

We did the best we could with an alternative: rotisserie chicken from the deli, boxed stuffing, boxed potatoes, canned cranberry sauce, deli broccoli salad and a homemade cherry pie (that I would make). We bought the items we needed, checked out and when back to the house to prepare the same.

The stuffing turned out great; the kids like the boxed potatoes, rotisserie chicken was not turkey, but alright; broccoli salad was not popular, but I thought it was delicious; and overall the dinner was pretty good.

I set about making the cherry pie. We had frozen cherries left over from our cherry picking trip to Cloudcroft. They were just right so I didn’t add too much sugar. I cooked them over microwave heat (my mom never used the stovetop except for a catchall) and then added some cornstarch to thicken the juices and heated it again. I poured it into the prepared pie crust and put it into the oven to cook for about 20 minutes.

When the timer went off, we could tell that the pie was ready because of the wonderful smell. I reached into the oven with my oven-mitted hands and pulled out the pie plate. It tilted a little and the pie started to slide…I grabbed for it and the pie plate slipped…AHHHHH! The pie slid out of the plate and the plate slid out of my hands. There it went – upside down onto the dirty kitchen floor.

I just looked at it. It would have been a perfect pie!! We’d gotten ice cream to go with it and everything! I looked up at my mom. She started laughing…and laughing… and laughing. Tears started running down her face! There was no help for it. I started laughing, too. The only ones that were going to get a taste of this pie were Ginger and Berkley (the dogs) who were eagerly waiting for it to cool enough to eat up off of the floor.

When everything was cleaned up, we served the ice cream; pie a la mode without the pie. We enjoyed every mouthful, punctuated by the occasional burst of laughter when any of us thought about the pie. At least we could say that it was a perfect pie and that it would have been delicious. You know, like “the fish that got away”. (I began to wonder if God knew it wasn’t going to be so good and had saved us the trouble of trying to pretend. Maybe I should be thankful that we didn’t have to eat it.)

When Ralph arrived later that night, at about 11 p.m. and hungry as a horse, I told him about the “pie incident.” This time the tears couldn’t be stopped. I really was disappointed about the “pie that got away” and the Thanksgiving dinner that wasn’t really (in my mind) a real Thanksgiving dinner. I was thinking about past Thanksgivings with our decorated table, fine china, cooking with other family or friends all day, a big table with every place filled, several deserts and appetizers, a gourmet meal, etc.

In spite of all this, we had a lot for which to be thankful. We were all together as a family. We had all really enjoyed each other’s company. We had made some really hard-to-forget memories. We had all be able to hug and kiss Deanna good-bye before her trip and my Mom had received the help around the house that she had needed. I am thankful for these blessings.

I suppose that after all had been said and done, it had been what God had wanted it to be: a sacrifice. I had wanted Thanksgiving to be what I had imagined it to be – what would make me feel good. He had wanted it to be an act of giving. He had wanted me to give up my expectations and my ideas of the perfect Thanksgiving and make is something that would be a blessing – not to myself but to my mother and Deanna. I guess that’s what makes Him God: He sees beyond our plan and beyond our needs and orchestrates something for Himself.

Can I be okay with that? Can I be thankful for the blessings that He gave even if they weren’t what I wanted or expected? Can I be satisfied that I was a part of His blessing and not the center of it? Yes. I guess I’m okay with that.

Rom 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Psa 10:5 His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them.

Psa 50:23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!"

Phi 4:6 - 7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

May we all remember that God must be glorified. May we be okay with His plans in our lives. May God continue to bless us by including us in His plans even if they aren’t what we expected.

Reflections from The Little House in the Tumbleweeds.