Gratitude Story

One of my favorite pioneer stories is a story I heard in Martin's Cove several years ago. It is the story of the Mellor family, who crossed the Plains with the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company.
Sixteen-year-old Louisa Mellor Clark, oldest child of the family, recorded this incident in her journal: 


“The first snowstorm left about two feet of snow on the ground, and we began to feel very nervous. We had to wade through more streams, and sometimes up to our waists, and when we got through our clothes would freeze on us until a great many gave up and many died, mostly old people. At last the snow got to be four and five feet deep and often we had to shovel a road before we could move. Thus our traveling was very slow and our provisions nearly gave out.

“My mother, still being weak, finally gave up and said she could go no further. The company could not wait for her, so she bade my father goodbye and kissed each one of the children Godspeed. Then my mother sat down on a boulder and wept. I told my sister, Elizabeth, to take good care of the twins and the rest of the family, and that I would stay with mother. I went a few yards away and prayed with faith that God would help us, that He would protect us from wolves, and that He would let us reach camp. As I was going back to where my mother was sitting I found a pie in the road. I picked it up and gave it to mother to eat. After resting awhile we started on our journey, thanking God for the blessings. A few miles before we reached camp we met my father coming out to meet us. We arrived in camp at 10:00 p.m.

“Many times after that mother felt like giving up and quitting, but then she would remember how wonderful the Lord had been to spare her so many times, and offered a prayer of gratitude instead. So she went on her way rejoicing while walking the blood-stained path of snow.”

There are two things I love about this story: 1. The wonderful, kind way Heavenly Father answer the sincere prayer of a worried daughter and  2. The deep gratitude for blessings expressed by the family in the most difficult of times. 
 
May your heart be full of gladness for your blessings this Thanksgiving season!

Brining Turkey

I've heard a lot about brining turkeys and decided to try it this year. Brining makes poultry moister and more flavorful. It takes a little more time, but it's worth it. If you want to know why brining improves quality, read Here.

Although turkey is a little more expense this year, it's still an economical meat, and great for leftovers.

Start with a completely thawed turkey. If your turkey is frozen, you need to let it defrost in your fridge for 3-5 days, depending on the size of your turkey. Leave it in the original package to defrost. When your turkey is completely thawed, remove giblets.

Prepare your brine. I'm cooking a large (22 lb) turkey, so I needed a total of 2 gallons of brine. Brine is salt water, usually with some sweetener and some seasonings added.

The basic recipe is one gallon of water or broth (I used broth) and one cup of coarse or Kosher salt.  You can look up many good brining recipes online. A good brining recipe usually includes 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar and a few tablespoons of whole spices. Bring the water, salt, and sugar to boil in a large pot on the stove, then add whole spices as desired. I used 1 tablespoon whole allspice and 1 tablespoon whole black pepper. Boil for a minute or two, or until salt and sugar are completely dissolved.. Add one gallon of ice water with lots of ice to cool water.

The hardest part of brining is finding a container big enough to immerse a turkey in. I own a extra large stockpot, but you could also use a bucket or watertight cooler. It needs to be something that fits into your fridge. If the weather is right you could also use your back porch or garage. Just be sure to monitor the temperature carefully to avoid freezing or over-warming the brining turkey.  Your turkey needs to be completely immersed--you may need to weigh down the turkey to keep it under water.  Put the whole thing into your fridge for 8-10 hours.  

Do not leave your turkey in brine longer than 10 hours, as quality begins to decline after too long in brine water.

 After 8 to 10 hours, remove turkey from brine, rinse very well, and brush with canola oil or melted butter. Fill turkey cavity with diced onions, carrots, celery, spices, oranges, apples, or leave empty.

Cook on the bottom rack of your oven for time and temperature appropriate to turkey size. I cooked my 22 lb turkey for 3 1/2 hours at 325 as my turkey packaging suggested.  I like to cook with a foil tent for the first 2 hours, then remove the last hour or more to brown.

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Use a meat thermometer in the deepest part of the turkey to reach the perfect doneness--around 165 degrees.

The brined turkey was noticeably moister--a little more effort and a little more time was well worth the effort!

Cultivating Gratitude

November is the time we naturally think and talk about our blessings. Vaughn E. Worthen said:

"Gratitude is a positive experience that comes from recognizing gifts or blessings and feeling thankful. It is also an attitude, a way of perceiving life, in which individuals are willing to acknowledge and receive the beneficial actions of others on their behalf. Gratitude is also a habit that can be cultivated, causing one to focus on the blessings of life."

Brother Worthen also points out that those who cultivate and practice gratitude feel less depressed or anxious, and more happiness, with a greater sense of well-being. They are also healthier, more forgiving, less envious, more generous, and more able to cope with adversity.
(Mar 2010 Ensign, "The Value of Experiencing and Expressing Gratitude")


See  here and here and here for ideas we have shared in the past for cultivating and experiencing gratitude. It doesn't take a lot of effort, your plan may include quiet reflection or some activity or daily reminder to pause and count your blessings. You and your family can do something as simple as:

 printing a page of leaves from the computer,

coloring them,

cutting them out,

and writing on the back of each leaf something you thankful for. After stringing a ribbon through each leaf,

 hang them on a "tree".

How do you cultivate gratitude in your life?

Turkey Leftovers--Turkey Soup

If your family is like mine, the turkey leftovers are the best part of the week after Thanksgiving.

I always cook an extra turkey--it's inexpensive and cooked turkey can be used in any recipe that uses cooked chicken. 

Tonight we ate this soup, a perfect end to a cold Montana day. Yum!

Mediterranean Chicken, Bean & Pasta Soup

2 tsp olive oil
1 large green onion (or a couple of smaller ones), minced
2 medium carrots, cut into thin half-circles
2 large celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 can (28 oz.) whole tomatoes, finely chopped, including juices
5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken (or turkey!)
1 can (15 oz.) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup ditalini (small, short pasta tubes)--tonight I used some leftover wild rice in place of pasta
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley--I used 2 Tablespoons dehydrated parsley
8 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced-I used a scant teaspoon dried basil
Grated Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan set over medium-high heat. Add shallot, carrots, and celery. Saute until the vegetables are beginning to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes with juices, chicken broth, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Uncover the soup, remove the bay leaves, add cooked chicken, beans, and pasta. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the pasta is al dente, about 10 minutes (I just added my pre-cooked leftover rice at this point). If you are using dried parsley and basil, add for the final 5 minutes.  If you are using fresh, add at the end.

Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese. Serve.

Serves 6 to 8.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

May we never let the things we can't have, or don't have, or shouldn't have, spoil

our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have. 
As we value our happiness let us not forget it,
for one of the greatest lessons in life is learning to be happy without the

things we cannot or should not have.
 --Richard L. Evans

Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.
 D & C 59:7

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.
~H.U. Westermayer

In nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.
 D&C 59:21

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
~William Arthur Ward

 

Live in thanksgiving daily.
Alma 34:38

Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind. It bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency. It expresses itself in ugly egotism and frequently in wanton mischief.

Where there is appreciation, there is courtesy, there is concern for the rights and property of others. Without it there is arrogance and evil.
--Gordon B. Hinckley

The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life. Pride destroys our gratitude and sets up selfishness in its place. How much happier we are in the presence of a grateful and loving soul, and how careful we should be to cultivate, through the medium of a prayerful life, a thankful attitude toward God and man.
 --Joseph F. Smith

We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us. Send that note to the friend you’ve been neglecting; give your child a hug; give your parents a hug; say “I love you” more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It’s so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they’re gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of “what if” and “if only.” Said author Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

                                                                                  --Thomas S. Monson

Thanksgiving Activities for Children From Hilltop Ward

At Hilltop's recent monthly activity,  placemats for the dinner were these cute pages of children's activities.  

Hilltop leaders suggested these coloring pages would be a great way to keep kids happy while meals were being prepared or while children were at the Thanksgiving table. 

Hilltop Ward printed them off of this website: http://www.familyfun.com/  Check out this great website for activity and coloring pages, crafts for children, fun family games, and recipes for children to make. 

There are ideas for other holidays too!

       

Thanksgiving Things to do With Kids

Do you need a project to keep your children busy while you prepare for the holidays?  Or maybe you are looking for a Thanksgiving-themed FHE treat or activity.
Last year we posted an idea for turkeys made out of candy and cookies easy enough for kids to make.  You can read complete instructions here.

Here are some more to try:
The first decoration/treat is for pilgrim hats. It's very easy--easy enough for small children.

You need fudge strip cookies, large marshmallows, dipping chocolate, orange or yellow frosting, and a few kids willing to make a big mess.

Dip the marshmallows in the chocolate.

Place the marshmallow on the fudge side of the cookie.

Let them set up for awhile and then add a orange or yellow buckle, using tube frosting from the grocery store.

You can use these as place cards at the dinner table or eat them for FHE treats.

The next one is a turkey.  It takes a little more patience and coordination than the pilgrim hats and is more suited for older kids, or for a time you can spend plenty of time helping younger children.

You will need Oreos, Reece's peanut butter cups, candy corn, whoppers, and chocolate, white, and orange frosting.  Those decorating tubes of pre-made frosting in the cooking aisle at the grocery store work well for the white and orange. 

I used double stuff Oreos.  Put layer of chocolate frosting around the middle of the Oreo. 



 Stick five candy corns into the frosting.  Or use starbursts, cut into triangles.

 On a second cookie, put a dab of chocolate frosting toward back.

Set the "feathered" cookie into the dab of frosting and let set up.

Cut one side off of a peanut butter cup.

Frost top and cut edge of cup. 

Turn your turkey and place cup on top this way:

(cut side against plain cookie, top of cup against feathered cookie).

Next, put whopper on using chocolate frosting.  Add a beak--a cut candy corn--with frosting.

Using the white frosting, add two eyes.  Let your turkey set up for awhile at this point.

Now you can sit the turkey up and add a dark spot to eyes--either a dot of black frosting, a miniature chocolate chip, or a cake sprinkle.

Add legs and a waddle with orange frosting.  You can also use shoelace licorice for legs and a red hot for the waddle.

To use as a place card holder, attach a name to a toothpick and stick into the feather area.



Showing Gratitude Daily

 Recently, the stake RS presidency visited Shepherd ward.  Sister Cindy Edward gave a wonderful and timely lesson on showing gratitude.  Most of the information for today's post comes from Sister Edward's lesson.

Keep a Gratitude Journal

A gratitude journal is simply a place to record the things you are grateful for each day.  Choose a place that will work for you.  It doesn't have to be fancy.  If you live by your planner or calendar, record your thoughts there.  Or, find a notebook you like, big or little, spiral or handmade, plain or decorative-it doesn't matter!  Then, list five things each day that you are thankful for.

You can keep a personal gratitude journal, or set one out for the whole family to write in.  Family members can make a gratitude entry several times a day-whenever they recognize a blessing.

Children too young to write can contribute a picture to their own gratitude journal or glue one into the family journal.  You can write an explanation to go with the picture, if you wish. Wouldn't a family gratitude journal be a treasure to own and read as the years pass?

Read about Gratitude from the Scriptures or LDS.org

Read the story about the ten lepers healed by the Savior in Luke 17.

President Erying gave a wonderful talk about recording blessing in our life's entitled "O Remember, Remember".  You can read the entire article here.

Sister Edward gave us a list of

 things we can do today to show gratitude. 

This list is from the 2006 BYU Women's Conference.

Start a gratitude journal

Tell someone you love, how much you appreciate them

Send a thank you note to someone

Start a list of things that make you happy

Offer a prayer of thanksgiving

Sit down to dinner and share something you are grateful for today

Copy a quote about gratitude and put it on your fridge

Give something away

 Do something nice for some else

Give at least five compliments to people you see

Be more obedient to one of the Lord's commandments

Start and end your day with a grateful thought

Make a scrapbook page about something you are thankful for

Give thanks before meals.

 Make a Thanksgiving spot--a bulletin board or refrigerator are great places to let family members "post" things they are thankful for.

Gratitude FHE

November is a great time to have a Family Home Evening lesson on gratitude.  Last year we posted this FHE idea for encouraging feelings of thankfulness:

http://billingseaststakereliefsociety.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-am-thankful-for.html

This is a similar idea.  These "remembering to feel grateful" activities were something my children looked forward to every year when they were little.

First, make a turkey out of scrapbook paper or constrution paper.  My turkey has a big circle body, a little circle head, an orange beak, yellow wattle, feet and eyes.

Cut several "feathers" out of different colors of scrap paper.

Add notches, if desired.

Method 1: On the back of each feather write a family member's name or "friend" or "other".  On a FHE night, let each member draw a feather out of a pile and write what she/he is thankful for about that person.  "Other" is the wild card--they can write about anything or anybody they are thankful for and why. Make sure you have several feathers for each family member.  Do this over a couple of FHE nights.  Read them all together on a Sunday afternoon or final November FHE.

Method 2:  Each night during the month of November, everyone gets one feather to write about something that happened that day for which they are grateful.  Again, read them together as a family at FHE or on a Sunday afternoon.

Everyone can stick their feather on the turkey.

If you use blue painters tape, it's easy to remove the feathers later for reading.

You can add as many feathers as you like.

Hang your turkey somewhere in your home in a place everyone will pass by several times a day as a reminder to be grateful.