A Time for Thanks Giving - Part Three

The Thanksgiving holiday is fast approaching.  My first Thanksgiving celebration is actually a potluck lunch tomorrow.  How crazy that we're starting the Thank-feasting a full week before the actual holiday arrives!  That just goes to show that it's never too early to give thanks.  In fact, giving thanks shouldn't be a seasonal gesture at all.

In this installment of my weekly posts of gratitude leading up to Thanksgiving I want to say just how thankful I am for my family.  In my life family means so much more than just those to whom I am related by blood.  I am blessed to have had in my life both a loving mother and a caring step-mother.  Troy has step-family as well, which means that my children are growing up with a wonderful over abundance of aunts, uncles and grandparents galore!  I have more sisters than some people have first cousins and it makes for great (though loud and sometimes rowdy) times when we all gather together.

These past few weeks have been rough with Troy working five or six nights a week.  Without the support of my family I don't know that I would be sane enough today to be writing this post.  I have the utmost respect and admiration for single parents who do this every.single.day.  You are super-heroes!

In additional to traditional familial ties I have also been blessed with a church family in which the members care for and love one another.  There have been a few storms in my life that this special family has helped me weather.  I am so thankful to have them in my life and they hold a special place in my heart.

I know without a doubt that my family isn't always sunshine and rainbows.  We have our share of drama and trials, but in the end we're always there for each other and I'm so eternally grateful for them!

For this weeks Thanksgiving craft I want to share an easy, tasty treat that my girls enjoy making at Thanksgiving.

Marshmallow Pilgrim Hats from Disney FamilyFun

Ingredients

24 chocolate-striped shortbread cookies

12-ounce package of chocolate chips

24 marshmallows

tube of yellow decorators' frosting

Instructions

Set the chocolate-striped cookies stripes down on a wax-paper-covered tray, spacing them well apart.

Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave or double boiler.

One at a time, stick a wooden toothpick into a marshmallow, dip the marshmallow into the melted chocolate, and promptly center it atop a cookie.

Using a second toothpick to lightly hold down the marshmallow, carefully pull out the first toothpick.

Chill the hats until the chocolate sets, then pipe a yellow decorators' frosting buckle on the front of each hat.

"For, after all, put it as we may to ourselves, we are all of us from birth to death guests at a table which we did not spread. The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet... Shall we think of the day as a chance to come nearer to our Host, and to find out something of Him who has fed us so long?" ~ Rebecca Harding Davis