5 Years of Thanks

This year is going to be our 5th year having a vegan Thanksgiving.  And I'm thankful for that every single day!

Turkeys are such wonderful, sweet, compassionate animals.  It's so horrible to think of the abuses they go through - not only through genetic manipulation but how they are forced to live, that they are killed early and the actual gross physical abuse they are subjected to at the facilities.

I'm so glad we have our beautiful boy Jake with us.  He is a great reason to be thankful too!

Each year about 45 MILLION turkeys will be killed for this "holiday". That's a lot of violence on a day when we are meant to be expressing peace and gratitude.

The great thing about traditions is that they are so easy to change and/or create. Do something more than once and you have a new tradition!

We've had a compassionate, no-turkeys-or-other-animals-killed meal for going on 5 years now. Our

 meal includes: stuffing, root veggie mash or mashed potatoes (or both!), asparagus, Brussels sprouts, salad, pumpkin-herb rolls, gravy, fresh orange cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie and ice cream. Our "centerpiece" food have been Field Roast's Celebration Roast and their Hazelnut Cranberry Roast En Croute. This year we are going to add stuffed, maple-glazed roasted acorn squashes.

Just sub out a few ingredients and 1 item and your celebration becomes thankful, caring and compassionate. A TRUE celebration for the season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Forgetting the Feel of the Keys

Wow.  It's been almost a week since I've written anything.  And nearly a week since I've been on the computer at all. I've almost forgotten how the keyboard feels.

A short holiday work week is a hectic one. And this past one was no exception. I was in such a rush on Tuesday that I ate something that made me terribly sick.  Even now I've eaten only bits here and there and lost about 10 pounds a these few days.  Not smart or cool.

But the time away was a good breather.  The Thanksgiving holiday can be a great break.  It's a short holiday but one that nearly everyone in my working sphere has off so you get very little outside chatter for a solid 4 - 5 days.  Miraculous.

While I worked in between being sick on Wednesday, and Thursday was crammed full of dinner and house preparations, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were long stretches of empty freedom.  We didn't feel the need to venture out or expose ourselves to the shopping mania.  There was no Black Friday in this house. Instead we loafed around with the pets.  Watched hours of Lie to Me, The Tudors and old movies.

Errands stayed undone.  The dogs got long walks in the Park.  Crisp air and sunny skies. We went to a live poetry reading and drank hot chocolate.  The days of going from full sun at 2:30 to darkness at 5:00 do little to make me want to accomplish much of anything.

The next few weeks will be a flurry of fitting in work before the end of the year holidays are here.  Parties and baking and gatherings and performances. Then time to reflect and come up with goals for the new year.

I hope you all had a happy and peaceful holiday.  I'm thankful for your interest, your comments, and to be here.