PREPARING FOR THANKSGIVING

The leaves are falling, the temperature is changing albeit ever so slightly, but it is a little bit cooler.  Could it be the start of Fall?  Do we native South Floridians even know what Fall is?  Regardless, Thanksgiving Day is just a week away – and it’s time for us to start thinking about the preparation.  Usually by this time, someone has volunteered their home, others have donated their specialty dishes and those that are cooking- challenged have offered to bring the drinks and the paper supplies.  Our family’s table will have a few more seats this year.  We have invited a few elderly out-of-town relatives who have become recently widowed and would otherwise be all alone.  We thought no one should be alone during the holidays!!

We will have the traditional turkey, sweet potato pie, green beans and ham, and all the fixins.  And we are also serving, lechon, moros and arroz con gandules.  Everyone will eat too much and drink too much, and be uncomfortably full, but we will do it together!    We all have a role to make our holiday come together.  Uncle Ray and his boys will get the tables and chairs and lots and lots of ice, Auntie Linda will prepare her dips and Uncle Raul his always bring a special, surprise dish, which we will all be waiting for.  Tio will prepare the Cuban foods, Titi Ily prepares the Puerto Rican side dishes and Grandma makes real mashed potatoes and some apple pies while Uncle Pete provides the liquor!   Gramps, from the mid-west will spend his first Thanksgiving in Miami with us and bring his special touch to the table as well.  Uncle Tom has been experimenting with his culinary skills on desserts, and his pumpkin pie is out of this world! He does not know it yet, but he’s been nominated/volunteered to bake our desserts this year!  Check out Martha Stewart’s site, she has lots of great tips including what to do with your leftovers.  Pinterest has also given me some great ideas on decorating, and some very easy to make recipes – check it out! 

Titi Ily will lead us in prayer, giving thanks for all that we have and the health that we enjoy.  We will each offer our thoughts on what we consider our blessings.  The younger kids will always come up with something that they are thankful for, and it is not something we usually expect!  The day will end with some going to Mass, others straight to bed and still others straight to the living room to watch the game, any game, just as long as it’s a game!  A few hours later they will all be conked out on the sofa.

Then the dreaded clean-up will start but the reward… deciding where to begin our Black Friday shopping.  The newspapers will be out and the specials piling in, our email box will be jammed with offers and each store will compete to be the first to open and the one with the best deals.  We all agree to stick together, but that never happens.   We all have special deals from each store and we all have our Tropical Financial Visa credit card, and our Visa ATM/Debit cards which offers Purchase Rewards, so we will look for the deals and we will charge ahead!  Note:  Hang on to those advertisements, many merchants will MATCH any advertised price; you just need to show it to them!

Our Thanksgiving celebration involves creating memories, gathering together, inviting a few loved ones with no place to go. I am thankful for my family and friends, our health, Tropical’s members and my coworkers past and present including the wonderful retired TFCU ladies (and Bob, too…he’s our TFCU retired man).

I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I hope you eat a lot, talk a lot and have a lot of fun.  Be safe and be happy! 

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

^ Kat