Tis’ the Season For Giving Thanks!

This time around I wanted to do something different for my blog and take time to reflect a little on the holidays and what I usually do for Thanksgiving. I also want to make a shout out to the lovely Kendra Thornton (go say hi to her on Twitter) for collaborating with me on this post! Thank you so much!!! 🙂

My Traditions:

I love Thanksgiving! Not only its is a season to be thankful for books (the bane of my existence and this blog), but more importantly spending time with my family and yummy, delicious food is included as well (which everyone looks forward to). I’m still going to school so Thanksgiving offers me that short reprieve from classes, final projects, and getting ready to study for intense final exams.

Thanksgiving also gives me to time to be thankful and realize how blessed I am for what I have; being able to get an education, having access to variety of books, living in a warm home, having food to eat, my family, and so much more!

My Thanksgiving day starts off watching the parade (it never gets old) and then later on in the day I head over to whoever’s house (in my family) is holding the dinner. Usually a lot of family members show up and sometimes even close family friends. The best part besides the amazing food (dorm food is pretty bad folks) is getting to talk to family members, since I don’t see them often, and getting to catch up on how they’ve been. We share stories, laugh, play games, and it’s so much fun!

Book wise, I don’t get too much reading done as I’m preparing for finals, but I do start planning out what I want to read over Christmas break. My top picks are “House Rules” by Chloe Neill and to finish “City of Ashes” by Cassandra Clare. I still want to see Catching Fire at the movies. What will you be reading these holidays?

Kendra’s Traditions:

As a chill settles over the land and the trees shed their leaves, it is that wonderful time of year again to plan for the holidays! November means colder weather in many areas, but it also means Thanksgiving, which is one of my favorite holidays of all. I love family time, and I especially love the holiday spirit of giving thanks and giving back to others.Here in Chicago, the Thornton house will be especially blessed by all of our relatives traveling to visit us. I am truly looking forward to that!

I have been browsing around Pinterest to find appetizer and dessert recipes or ideas that are easy enough for the kids to help me create. With each passing year, they seem to get more of a kick out of helping me cook and doing other tasks. I try to keep the food preparation simple, however, to spare my kitchen from ending up too messy at the end. For this reason, I am going to stick with foods that are easy, fun, and quick to make!

Thanksgiving means a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and there are certain dishes I always create. These include stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy (all above my favorite), and, of course, the turkey. This year, however, I am going to enliven things by adding some new dishes to the holiday spread. With my past travel experiences in mind, I discovered this article on Gogobot that discusses the delicious fare many luxury hotels will be serving their guests around this Thanksgiving holiday.

I am going to be a little extra creative in the kitchen and, with these luxury hotel dishes as my inspiration, come up with my own versions of these delectable-sounding dishes. Apparently, in Orlando the Waldorf in Astoria is going to serve a lobster-accented pumpkin soup as a pre-dinner starter course. Soup is always perfect on a chilly day for warming both the body and soul, so I am certainly going to try my hand at making this!

Food is such an important part of Thanksgiving but not just for the obvious reasons,. Breaking bread with our loved ones is a way of connection and bonding. Throughout the holiday, I am grateful for this opportunity to share with the family. Speaking of gratitude, if you would like to start a positive family tradition this year, perhaps you would like to borrow one of ours. As we sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, we take time to celebrate the real meaning of the holiday. Every one of use gets a chance to say what we are thankful for. I wish you wonderful Thanksgiving filled with warm memories and fabulous food!

Thanks again for the collaboration Kendra, and I wish all my readers and lovely bloggers out there a very, Happy Thanksgiving! What will you be doing this holiday? Reading a good book? Cooking? Or just enjoying family and food? Let me know in the comments!