HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!

It’s Turkey day !!!! I hope by now the Turkey has been consumed, the dressing is safely in your belly, the pie and cakes have been sliced and the drunksgiving antics are fully underway wherever you are as you read this. We had over 10 at our table this year and all the food was delicious. We had turkey (cooked by my nephew on his new big green egg), dressing (made by me using this recipe), green bean casserole, candied sweet potatoes, creamed corn (all made by mom), lima beans, deviled eggs (made by my niece), and broccoli salad (made by my SIL). It was Andrew's first time manning the turkey and he did a great job with it. 

                                                     

I am very thankful for my family, even if I did fall asleep on the couch after lunch and missed the hanging out and catching up time with them today. I don’t snore! Ok I might. Look I live alone a little snoring has never bothered me. I am lucky to be surrounded by my parents who are still together (53 years strong), my older by 4 years brother and his wife live nearby, their boys still want to come over and spend time with the family. My oldest nephew who just turned 24 got married this past year and his wife (my new niece), also 24 is a fantastic addition to our family. They are still learning to navigate the pitfalls of married life but they are a great duo and are finding their way. They are so far navigating the my family or your family aspect of life and holidays. My other nephew is a sophomore in college and has the most adorable girlfriend who joined us today for the holiday. She and he will be having Thanksgiving dinner with her family tonight. 

As I waited on my family to arrive today I thought about the athletes, coaches, support staff and their own families sacrificing time to play the sport they love from the collegiate level to the pro level to play the sport they love. It must be a pretty lonely thing when you are the one who can't fill that chair at your families table. I bet their families miss them very much. 

I remember holidays spent in cars driving from one hose to another and spending a few hours at each and eating and playing and wishing it were time to go back home. I slept in this morning, helped prepare our house for the onslaught of people, ate dinner and never left the house once. It’s a nice way to spend the holiday.

I haven’t been very active this year on this blog but I’ve been having some computer issues. I have just gotten it back from the shop so hopefully I can be more active as we start up another year ahead. Golden is getting ready to have another set of eye surgeries …… she’s going to be fine … but she’s going to have some downtime over the next few weeks. Maybe I can talk her into another blog, you know once her eyesight returns. She has decorated her the holiday in anticipation of not wanting to do it after her surgery. She spent the morning watching the Parade and her family will be getting together tomorrow for their celebration. 

I have once again been neglecting my PTO and will either lose some or take some over the next month …… which is nuts cause I have taken more time off this year more than others but I guess I’m still ahead from 2020 the year that no one did anything and taking time off seemed silly if I were just going to be at the house anyway. I passed a pretty big milestone recently of 20 years at my job it's been quite a ride. 

My Christmas TV calendar should be out any day now so be on the look out for that.

 Have a wonderful thanksgiving holiday, be safe during your black Friday shopping and WAR EAGLE!

Marcy

Thankfulness Challenge – Happy Thanksgiving

Wherever you are, whomever you are with, and whatever you are eating may you have a great day, may the dressing be delicious, and may your credit card not get cut up after Black Friday. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving from SayWhatMG AKA Marcy and Golden!

Now get off your various devices and try to enjoy your family and friends if at all possible! 

Thankfulness Challenge – Thanksgiving Talking Points

So tomorrow is Turkey Day! This means people will get getting together with friends, or family or both to enjoy a meal, watch some football, play some football, and well…talk about football.  We are going to my brother’s house, his wife and two sons will be there as well as his wife’s mother. Then add myself, my mom, and my dad and that makes for a very full house without the college admission scandal (too soon?!). 

So I thought I’d give some “safe talking points” for today’s post. Feel free to modify these for your particular area or situation. I’m thinking your friends and family might not care as much about say… my nephew’s grades … for instance. 

• Wow this food is delicious, who brought the Ham? It’s fantastic! 
• Hey {fill in blank} how’s the new job going?  -- this assumes that there will be someone at your table with a new job. 
• How awesome is A Million Little Things!? 
• Anyone want to go outside and throw the football around? 
• Did everyone get my Christmas TV Calendar? I e-mailed it Tuesday night. 
• How happy are you guys when Say What MG posts?! It’s awesome right?! 
• Please pass the dressing? No .. no I mean dressing it’s not stuffing, you know what never mind I’ll get it!
• Anyone want to go outside and play basketball? 
• Name your favorite Christmas song. 
• What is everyone Thankful for this year let’s go around the table. {fill in blank} you start! – granted this one is like last ditch effort but it’s always a good one to keep in the back pocket. 
• So, boys …. How’s school going?  -- I have nephews … you may need to change this to “So ladies…. How’s school going? – This one can also be a time bomb waiting to go off so be careful and read the room correctly. 
• What does everyone want for Christmas? 
• How about those Auburn Tigers!? Football…Basketball….Volleyball…. doesn’t really matter the sport. 
• Name your favorite Christmas movie (you know research for next year’s calendar – which might not be your intent)

Most important ……. Remember this one …….. 

• Thank you so much {fill-in-blank} for hosting all of us this year

Anyway, no matter what you do enjoy the moment, take care of yourself, talk a walk outside when you need to and remember you get great food and maybe a slice of pie, at least that’s my hope for you.

Thanks for reading, 
Marcy

Thankfulness Challenge – Potluck Meals

Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving lunch at work, it’s Potluck. I’m bringing my mom’s Cornbread dressing… and yes it’s dressing not stuffing. There is a difference. Notice I said I’m bringing not that I’m cooking ….. tho I guess technically due to the crockpot I am. See we’ll mix up all the stuff tonight, put it in a huge bowl that will go in our fridge then tomorrow morning I’ll drag it and the crockpot up to our office and it will cook in my office. My office will smell amazing all day long. Sometime around 10 a few friends will stop by with a cup in hand and we’ll sample the goods. I mean you don’t want to serve something to a group of people that doesn’t taste very good so you have to taste it ahead of time. One year we sampled a little too much and the crockpot never made it to the office table. I regret nothing. Guys it is that good ….. it is literally to die for. If I’m ever on death row and they come around asking about my last meal I want my momma’s crockpot dressing. 

It’s really simple to put together but it does take some planning and time.

Here’s the recipe …. Incase you are interested …

Crock Pot Dressing

·       1 Pan Cornbread (I use a 10 inch cast iron)  use 5-6 large eggs

·       1 10oz. can of cream of chicken soup

·       1 10oz. can of cream of celery soup

·       1 to 3 10oz. cans swanson Chicken Broth

·       1 stick butter (can use margarine, but butter makes it richer)

·       1/2 onion, chopped (I love Onion so often use the whole onion. I also like to use a sweet Onion like from GA or TX)

·       3 pieces of sandwich bread crumbled (left out overnight so it's kind of dry) 

·       salt and pepper to taste

Mix up and cook your cornbread as usual only be sure to add your eggs in your cornbread about 5 large, it needs to be a little more dense than a typical cornbread. Once the cornbread is done put it into a LARGE mixing bowl and crush it all up into breadcrumbs. Mom jokes I crush it up to much to where you can’t tell what it is but the more you crush it up the yummier it taste. Then crumble up three pieces of plain white bread in the same fashion adding them to your mixing bowl. Then dump in the cream of chicken soup, the cream of celery soup, the butter, and the onions into the same mixing bowl as the cornbread and carefully stir to combine. This is the moment where if you aren’t careful most of it ends up on the table. Avoid that at all cost. Then once everything is incorporated add the Chicken Broth a little at a time. You want it to be really wet cause it will continue to absorb throughout the night. We actually add a little more the next morning (sometimes) depending on how dry it is. AT this point taste it. Then add Salt and Pepper to taste. Often we don’t need Salt (the soups and chicken broth take care of it) but we always add pepper. Make sure everything is very well mixed in the bowl. Then let it hang out in the fridge over night (or if you want go directly to the crockpot but if you can let it sit and meld the flavors together your time is well spent). The next morning move from Mixing Bowl to the Crockpot and cook on high for an hour or two stirring occasionally to keep from burning. Then turn it down to low to cook until ready to serve. Typically you would like for it to cook about 4 hours total. We like ours a little moist so we keep the lid on until time to serve but if you like it to be dryer and more dense then take the lid off towards the end of cooking letting some of the moisture out of the crockpot.

It’s not at all figure friendly but it’s amazing and your friend and family will love you for it. I am forever grateful to the lady who gave this recipe to my aunt who then gave it to my mom who is giving it to me. It’s my favorite thing about the holidays and once I’ve had a spoonful I’m ready to put up the tree! Well after I eat some pie and have an adult beverage or two during Drunksgiving.

Happy eating !

Marcy

@beaslma

2015 Christmas TV Specials Calendar

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!! Merry Christmas!!!! Happy Freaking Holidays!!!!

As I've said before my favorite thing about the holidays is sitting down to watch a good ole fashioned Christmas TV/Movie special usually with a bowl of popcorn and my mom sitting nearby. I like to make a Christmas TV/Movie Specials calendar so I don't miss a single moment of my favorites both those that I've watched a million times and those that are new favorites.

As you all know Hallmark, and ABC Family have been showing Holiday Specials since no joke JULY. That’s right people July, I mean how insane is that? I just couldn’t buy into the program tho until now. I'm ready to throw on some flannel jammies, pop some popcorn and cry my eyes out. Every year my beloved animated specials are being shown fewer times and early (The Grinch was on this past Sunday ... wait ... what?!) Thank goodness for ABC Family who is keeping the stop motion animation alive and well, they are showing some of the goodness throughout the day... every day ... literally.  

As I said ... Hallmark, Lifetime, and ABC Family have been vomiting Christmas specials since everyone was still popping fireworks so those channels didn’t get as much love as they usually do. If something had to be cut for room on that particular day those channels got cut first. If say ABC family was showing 3 great shows in a row I only listed one and figured while watching it you’d be alerted to the others, unless it was a show I wanted to see cause that’s right it’s all about me you are just invited in the car.

That said if I don’t have the channel I didn’t include it … again cause it’s about me. There are some great specials on the Hallmark Mysteries and Movie (or something like that) Channel or the Inspiration channel, and other specialty channels like that so check those out if you are lucky enough to have those channels. I don't so those channels can suck it!

This calendar comes with rules ... not quite as ridged as a Mogwai but still rules that need to be mentioned. 

First . . .  a few guidelines:

• NO messages about taking Christ out of Christmas, it’s just a really long word and using X-Mas allows for more shows on the already full calendar.

• Thanks for your understanding.
• For those that don’t understand feel free to move on and forget that this calendar exists. 

• I live in the central time zone, the times on this calendar reflect that, adjust accordingly.

• That said unless otherwise stated the times are PM

• This calendar does not focus on established show “Christmas special episodes” so watch out for those … I did however add a great episode of Psych cause my best friend loves it and she asked nicely.
• This calendar contains shows I want to see, so a mixture of adult themed shows/movies and kid themed shows/movies are represented. Some are classics and some are new, so PLEASE be mindful of what is on before you sit the kids down with popcorn to watch.

• Don’t call me cause your little one watched some holiday movie on Lifetime or and now has “questions”. . . . that’s your mess not mine.

• Please NOTE: The Disney version of a Christmas Carol (AKA the computer animated Jim Carrey version) is a little dark and can be scary (much like the original story btw), you might want to check it out before you and little man/lady plop down with popcorn and a blanket to “watch a classic.”

• Keep an eye out for additional shows/movies that pop up throughout the month as networks change their lineups.
• Feel free to add your own specials and traditions to the calendar that’s what it is there for.
• For you stay at home mom’s they run specials all day long and for the most part my calendar focuses on the after work hour times since that is when I can watch.

• That’s right it’s all about me!

A few programs of note:

• 50^th Anniversary Special about A Charlie Brown Christmas – ABC Nov. 30^th -  a special talking about the greatest Christmas special ever created followd by the actual show. A must viewing if you have little people in your life, even if they aren’t in the room. Repeats on Dec. 24^th
• I can only find A Christmas Story during the TBS Christmas Day Marathon so make sure you work it into your Christmas celebrations. Last year it was on several times ... this year it's sparse .. I hope the channels just haven't finalized their line ups yet.

• Bless you Ted Turner, you crazy old man, may this tradition live forever!!

• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, one of the best movies ever, comes on several times this year. If you don’t know the joy of Chevy Chase finally getting the lights to finally work…well I feel sorry for you and your family and the people that know you because you are missing the joy in your life. Correct that this year please!
• IT’s A Wonderful Life – Dec. 5^th on NBC Repeats on Dec. 24^th
• The “boys” in my life informed me that DIEHARD should have been on the calendar …. boys are silly … however and I couldn’t find it showing anywhere so yeah there’s that. 

A few programs of note that are not “Christmas” related but interesting enough to make the calendar include:

• To Kill A Mockingbird – NBC – Nov. 28^th – a must viewing at least in our house.
• The Wiz – NBC Dec. 3^rd – with the ever ahmazing Queen Latifah
• CNN Heroes: An All Star Tribute – Dec. 6^th – it’s nice seeing that in a world full of insanity there are some people out there trying to do good and are being recognized for it. NOTE: I don’t understand why they have already announced the winner, if you don’t want to know stay away from CNN.com. Either way it’s a really inspirational night so check it out.
• Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show – Dec. 8^th on CBS – a dear friend of mine loves this and insists that it go on the calendar every year, she’s the boss.

Anyway, the intention of this calendar, much like the Halloween one is to get your family to pause and spend some time together making memories. In this season where we spend so much time rushing around we forget to enjoy the down time and enjoy the family time. Great specials come and go and if we don’t watch they will go forever.

Today’s “classic Christmas special” may be next year’s no show on the calendar. That’s the other reason for this calendar, if we stop watching they will stop showing. So just because you have The Grinch (which is not on this calendar nearly enough (NOTE: I can’t tell if it’s animated or the movie anymore and I’m NOT ok with that!) on your shelf or the Charlie Brown Christmas (which comes on twice this year), take the time to watch it with your family as it airs so that it will air for years to come.  I can name a ton of specials that no longer come on cause we stopped watching ... Garfield, the Chipmunks, the Smurfs, the Flintstones, The Nutcracker, Casper, the Gift of the Magi, etc.,

So here's the 2015 calendar, you should be able to save it and zoom in and out without losing too much readability. You are best printing it 11X17 if possible.

 

So sit back, laugh, smile, and cry (some of these are sad, I mean who doesn’t cry when George Bailey is standing next to the tree with Mary and his friends are coming in to save the Bailey Savings and Loan, oh no did I give the end away ?!) and have a good Drunksgiving, a full Thanksgiving, and a safe BlackFriday, so that you can enjoy this fun and have a wonderful Christmas!

Marcy (@beaslma)

Thankfulness Challenge - Day 27

Happy Thanksgiving !!!!

Instead of posting and having you guys read it I hope you turn off your computer, put your phones down, and enjoy the day with your loved ones, be they friends, family or both. I do ask that you be mindful of the people in your life that might need a boost like a friend whose got an empty seat at their table which was filled last year; or a friend who is going through a rough time at work, school, or in life; or a friend who isn’t able to get home to be with their families and is a little home sick. Drop them a message, a text, or a tweet and let them know you are thinking of them and more important THANKFUL for them.

Anyway you guys have a fantastic day wherever you are and whatever you are doing, we are thankful for you reader for checking out our blog and reading the crazy stories we put up here!

Marcy & Golden

 

PS We made it!!!! We had a goal of 27 posts in our 27 days for our Thankfulness Challenge and we made it!!!! :D

Thankfulness Challenge - Day 26

Tonight more than any other night of the year I’m thankful for traditions. The ones that begin on a spur of the moment, as well as those that last lifetimes. Some of my favorite traditions include rolling Toomer’s corner after a win, waking up early on Christmas Day to see what Santa’s brought, not packing for a trip until the night before (a tradition I’d like to break actually), but my all-time favorite tradition is helping my mom make her Crock Pot Dressing on the eve of a holiday. Oh how Thankful I am that my mom learned this recipe, perfected it, and is teaching it to me for me to make for years to come!

This dressing is DELICIOUS ! I can’t even form the words to describe how fantastic this dressing is. It’s basically a pan of cornbread, some butter, a box of chicken stock, a can each of cream of celery soup and cream of chicken soup, then add salt and pepper to taste. Mix it all up in a HUGE bowl, then drop it in a crock pot the night before the holiday. Then the hard part …. Waiting. When you go to bed you turn the crock pot on low and let it go all night long. Your patience is rewarded however when you wake up the next morning to a house that smells fantastic and the best breakfast you have ever eaten. Before you “taste test” the batch, cause who wants to give it to people if it doesn’t taste good right, turn the crock pot on high and let it run for a few hours before you serve dinner.

If you like your dressing more runny keep the cover on until serving time, if you like it a little dryer take the top off 30 minutes or so before you eat. Here’s the true recipe from my mom’s recipe box, her name is Wilma hence the recipe card.

Happy Turkey Day unless you are a vegetarian then just Happy Day!

-Marcy

 

PS don't tell Golden but mom says next time I come up there to see her mom's gonna make her some dressing for me to take to her cause it's soooooo yummy and Golden misses is.  :D (my test to see if she reads my posts)