Always in season

The house is still quiet. Pie no. 3 is in the oven (pecan) and I'm enjoying my coffee and letting the college girl sleep a bit longer. I've been reading other people's posts - a mix of thankful lists and menus for the day. Is it ridiculous that we are making six pies? And that I was fretting that we could only make six because we are limited by the number of pie plates in the house?

Last night, we made two pumpkin with nut topping - the all-around favorite in our family.
This morning we'll make one each of pecan, chocolate, apple and Nantucket cranberry.

Yes. We are enthusiastic enablers of dietary decadence.

This summer at our church's Vacation Bible School, the theme centered around Jewish feasts and holidays. Because I worked with older kids - upper elementary and youth - our class probably learned more about these holidays and their significance than the younger kids. My teaching partner, Beth, and I did a lot of research (much of it in a coffee shop, surfing the Web with our laptops) and really enjoyed connecting the feasts with the history of the time and the significance of the various foods and symbols and activities. Each day, we introduced the kids to exotic "Bible foods" and traditions, connecting the promises of the Old Testament to their fulfillment in the gospel. It was seriously cool.

The most important thing we learned was that feasting and celebrating and thanking God for an abundance of blessings is not restricted to one season. Of course, I knew that already ...

I plan to savor every moment of this day of thanksgiving. From the quiet times of the morning (whoa - where did the time go? how can it already be this late?) to the precious joys of baking with my daughter to the sweet chaos of our family gathering this afternoon. With each moment, I thank God for the rich and abundant blessings in my life.

The pecan pie is now cooling on the counter and I'm hearing the pitter-patter of footsteps upstairs. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!