Month: November 2013

Thanksgiving Primary Singing Time

Well we just had the missionaries over for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday night. I made a ham and cheesy potatoes and some pecan tarts and raspberry jello with cranberries and crushed pineapple in it. Yummy cornbread and corn too. Now I’m going to have so much food tomorrow with our turkey and stuffing and all, that I don’t even want to think about it. I’ll be in a food coma!

 White you are planning your Sunday singing time, enjoy all of this yummy food I’ve eaten and taken pictures of this week, recovering from said food coma! This Sunday I would use turkeys and put a song on each turkey feather. That is always fun! If you haven’t done turkeys yet. If you have, then Put a curl on santa’s beard and songs on each white curled strip on his face. Use a printout of Santa or else just a cardboard cutout.

Here are some of the yummy dishes I ate this week at various harvest parties and get togethers!
These potatoes were DIVINE!

The secret ingredient in the twice baked potatoes is cream! And of course the bacon makes everything betta! 
Chinese Chicken Salad with dried cranberries and mandarin oranges. I added some slivered almonds too. Yum. 
Corn pudding. I’d never tried this before but it was good! Kind of sweet and savory at the same time. I found a recipe at Taste of Home HERE that got a 4.9 rating! It would be a fun, new recipe to try! I loved it! 

I made some cute Thanksgiving cupcakes too…Scarecrows and Turkey Cupcakes with Orange Slice Candy hats and Lemonhead heads and Candycorn feathers and beaks.

I also found these fall colored Reese’s Pieces candies that added a yummy touch to these Peanut Butter Cookies. They looked pretty on my fall brown crockery platter. 
Another one of the teachers made these delectable chocolate turkey cupcakes. Yummo! 

And these pecan tartlets were to die for. I ate two of them! They are like a tiny pecan pie! I found a similar recipe at All Recipes.com, HERE.  It’s my favorite cooking website because everything is rated by like thousands of home cooks. You KNOW it’s gonna be good.

Had to have something healthy too! Everything tasted really great. 
Another yummy thing we had was Cranberry Sprite! It’s NEW and Superbly YUMMY! Try it this holiday! 

I am planning my menu for Thanksgiving Day too. I’m going to do my favs but add some of those pecan tartlets and some Sweet Potato Casserole too.

Little Pinecone Turkey Placecards….check out my previous blog post for the tutorial Here at Weekday Chef.
Besides making some excellent memories with your kids and family this year doing some fun crafts like Gingerbread houses, Little turkeys out of pine cones (above… my granddaughter is modeling them as hair bows lol) or making sugar Christmas cookies or breads….we play Pin the Hat on the Turkey. 
 What side dishes do you plan to go along with your turkey and stuffing? 
Side dishes….besides your obligatory potatoes, gravy and stuffing, WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER FAVORITES? 
WELL….And besides all of the wonderful pies we all make….My daughter-in-law Cait made these cute mini apple pies….So cute….what else do you love on Thanksgiving Day???! 
My favorite salad is one my mom always made…..fresh cranberry….Check out the recipe HERE at Weekday Chef. The fun thing about it is my siblings all make this one too. You make family traditions with all of your side dishes, did you KNOW THAT? Yeah. It’s true! 
My son  Devin made this spinach salad….doesn’t it look yummy? So pretty too! It is seriously one of my very favorite side salads to any meal….with spinach, candied pecans, avocado, strawberries and a sweet raspberry vineagrette. 
My niece Becky made this to die for sweet potato casserole…I found a recipe for it at All Recipes.com HERE. …it is really yummy and tastes almost llike a dessert it’s so good! 
One that I have always made is the French’s Fried Onions Green Bean Casserole with Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup in it. You just Have to have some green bean casserole! The recipe is on the back of the French’s Onion Can. 

And of course you can’t forget the homemade rolls and real salted butter. I love to have some really good raspberry jam to go with it.

Here is the link at Patties Place. I have lots of Thanksgiving decor I’ve taken pics of.  It’s my other blog. Try a new side dish this Thanksgiving you haven’t tried before. And have fun at YOUR get together this fall holiday! Have a very Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours!

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November Primary Singing Time Ideas

My favorite Thanksgiving Song is “I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me” the older version. A group of my friend sang it at my baptism when I was an 18 year old new convert. I love this song in 4 part harmony the best, but it’s words make it very special to sing at Thanksgiving time….
It is the one that goes like this….

I KNOW HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES ME

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by a lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.
He gave me my eyes that I might see
The color of butterfly wings.
He gave me my ears that I might hear 
The magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart: 
I thank him reverently
For all his creations, of which I’m a part.
Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

I remember being a Sunday School Chorister in a University of Utah Institute ward and I had the back row of big burly single adults come up and hold bits of a tree branch, a velvety rose, a silk bird etc. and I pointed to each visual aide as we sang the song through. It was fun. You could simply collect the main icons of the song and do the same thing. Kids will learn it so quickly.

I’ve started decorating for FALL…..the Front entry table is ready for the big day! 

I made a fall arrangement of silks…
I’ve been collecting Thanksgiving decor for ages….It’s an illness…

I’d bring a few decorations with the theme of GIVING THANKS…..

This would also be a great song for the kids or a small ensemble to sing for Thanksgiving Sunday.

This is a great time to count our blessings. Find your favorite primary songs to sing about all that Heavenly Father has given us in this beautiful, bounteous world. In the meantime, find some things in your ward to be grateful for. Maybe somebody in the primary just had a new baby brother or sister. Or maybe you could invite the Bishop in and sing a special song “He’s Our Bishop”.

The kids LOVE that! And I think it would be nice to thank the bishop for all he does! You could also get a quartet of older kids to sing it at the microphone and the primary kids just join in the chorus.

Bring a pilgrim or a turkey or two…

I have always loved this time of year. FALL IS THE BEST SEASON OF ALL! I love the holidays, the scenery, the weather, and the traditions I keep with my family, and for all sorts of other reasons. Here are just a few of them. Here they are! My TOP 10 REASONS why the Fall Season is the BEST!

Maybe a Cornocopia or some Indian corn….

We’ve got a lotta turkeys around my house….hehe…A song on a few turkeys would be fun….

I saw this pretty wreath on pinterest. I’d love to make one of these! Check it out!
We’ve got some Indians…

We’ve got some Pilgrims

Or maybe you could just have the kids raise their hands about things they are thankful for. Then have them pick one of the Thanksgiving decorations you have brought with the name and number of the song taped to the back. I did that almost every holiday at least once. It’s so easy!

We made pine cone turkeys with colorful pipe cleaners….

Here are some cute things I found at the dollar store. They are SOLAR POWERED PILGRIMS!! SO they wiggle if placed under a light. Here is my pilgrim couple and their turkey. My grandkids will love this at their kiddie table.

Solar Dancing Pilgrims and Turkey….so fun! 

He is the funniest of the three. I got the last one! I hope they don’t fight over the turkey!

Fall Picture Wall decorations…the metal cone and rod iron are from RODWORKS in Draper….I love that place! 

Give Thanks….my cute turkey decorations

My grandkids’ table…

I would definitely use scarecrows and cornucopia this week, and maybe save the Pilgrims and Indians for next week, closer to the Thanksgiving holiday.

In the meantime, Happy Fall, Y’all!

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