For Sunday, November 26th, 2017

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

The moments of our lives may be bright with possibility, dark with fear or sadness, or even plain everyday gray, but God's glory never fades.  May God's glory shine into the exciting lights, upsetting darks, and boring grays of your every day.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26TH, 2017

25 DAYS UNTIL WINTER 

Sunrise: 7:29 am

 Sunset: 5:01 pm

Life is a Special Occasion!

Hallmark

Today is Shopping Reminder Day which is a holiday to remind you to shop.  Its  just about a month before Christmas and the perfect time to go ahead and get started on your holiday shopping.

If you start now, you will beat the last minute rush and save yourself severe amounts of stress. If you would rather not go through the physical activity of traveling from store to store to find all your loved ones’ presents, remember the wonderful world of online retail exists to quell some of your shopping woes. Just be sure to order your gifts early to allow enough time for them to be shipped to you.

If you can't see the Bright Side, polish the dull side

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.

Author Unknown

I really don’t do a lot of Christmas shopping.  With the large family I have I try to make all the gifts I give.  I truly couldn’t afford a nice gift for all of them, so for now I make something homemade to give.   So today I’m reminded that it’s only about a month now until Christmas.

The best Christmas gift I could ever get would be to have my family all together for a day, but that rarely happens.  However near or far they may be, I hold them close in my heart always.

I’m sharing more snowmen pictures today as I have a lot of them and each one is so cute I had to show you.

They say we’re to be on the chilly side here today.  The temps will be ion the low 40's and it’ll be partly sunny.  This coming Monday and Tuesday however are to be in the 50’s  so no doubt that will give me another chance to get outside and mulch more leaves.   Ha !

Today is my day of rest.  I’ll be off to church and then home  to put my feet up and relax.  There is definitely plenty of leftovers in the fridge so there will be no need to cook!  

DS#5 and his wife deserve a big Thank You as they did an excellent job of hosting our family Thanksgiving yesterday.  There was more than enough food to go around and a great time was had by all.   I’ll be sharing pictures in the days to come.

I hope you all have a RELAXING Sunday!

WHAT’S NEW IN THE KITCHEN

There is a food holiday to celebrate every day of the year!

It’s National Cake Day! 

On this day, we celebrate one of the world’s favorite desserts—cake. The cake we know and love today evolved from early leavened breads, which were sweetened with honey, fruit, and nuts.

Cake is seen as a symbol of celebration. Most special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and weddings prominently feature cakes.

It always seems like this time of year we have more pies than cakes, especially pumpkin pie so I thought it might be nice to check out recipes for pumpkin cake and this is what I found 

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Slush Cake

For the crust:
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans, divided

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. confectioner’s sugar

Cream Cheese Layer

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

16 oz. whipped topping such as Cool Whip

Pumpkin Layer

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 small 3 oz pkgs. instant vanilla pudding

1 3/4 teasp. pumpkin pie spice

1 pinch cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Still 1 cup  pecans, flour butter, sugar and 1 tbsp. confectioners sugar together until crumbly.  Press pecan mixture into bottom of a 9 by 13 baking pan.  Bake pecan curst in preheated oven until golden, about 20 minutes.  Cool completely

Beat cream cheese and 3/4 cup confectioners sugar in a bowl with electric mixer until fluffy.  Fold 1 1/2 cups whipped topping into cream cheese mixture.  Spread cream cheese mixture of cooled pecan crust.

Beat pumpkin, milk, brown sure, vanilla pudding mix, and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl with mixer until it thickens.  About 2 to 3 minutes.  Gently fold in 4 oz. whipped topping.  Spread pumpkin mixture over the cream cheese mixture.

Spread the remaining whipped tipping over the pumpkin layer.  Spring cinnamon and remaining 1/4 pecans over the top.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Note:  you can substitute walnuts, finely chopped almonds, crushed graham crackers, finely chopped pretzels or Oreo cookies for the pecans.

COUNTING MY GIFTS

The holiday season is a perfect time to reflect on our blessings and seek out ways to make life better for those around us.

Teri Marshall

Counting at least 3 things every day that I'm thankful for.  There is truly is always something to be thankful for.

5473. for homemade gifts and not much shopping to do

5474. for leftovers, always good

5475. for some much needed rest

Enter into His courts with thanksgiving — and in His presence is fullness of Joy!

PRAYER FOR OUR TROOPS

  

Please pray for God's protection of

our troops and HIS wisdom for their

commanders.

Almighty and eternal God,

Protect our military

as they discharge their duties

with the shield of your strength,

may the power of your love

enable them to return home in safety

that with all who love them

they may ever praise you for your loving care.

AND bless our Police Officers, Firefighters

and Paramedics and EMT’s

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen

GOD BLESS YOU!

ADVICE FOR TODAY

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping

Author Unknown

A little smile, a word of cheer, 

A bit of love from someone dear…

Love,

ma