Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Thanksgiving Guest Post from Kendra Thornton



Welcome to the Thornton Thanksgiving!


At this time of year, the air is chilly, leaves are falling, and families are starting to make plans for the holidays! Although I love all the holidays, Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorites because it's all about having an attitude of gratitude! This year all of our family's relatives will be here at the Thornton household. I'm so excited!   


In order to get ready for our special dinner, I've been going on Pinterest to get great appetizer and dessert ideas so I can spend time preparing great dishes with my children. As they continue maturing, it seems like they've developed an interest in helping their Mom out when she's in the kitchen. Although I'm always grateful for their help and want to spend as much time with them as I can, I have to remember to keep their food tasks as simple as possible. If it gets complex, it gets messy. For this reason, I want to find recipes that can be made easily! And making them has to be fun, too!


In my opinion, traditional Thanksgiving meals are always amazing. Personally, there are certain foods that I always prepare such as turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and my personal favorite-mashed potatoes and gravy. Although these staples are wonderful, however, I'm going to experiment with some new dishes this year. While I was doing research online, I found an article on Gogobot featuring the dishes that various luxury hotels are going to prepare for their guests for Thanksgiving!


To keep my family's dinner fresh and alive this year, I'm going to remake some dishes. Hopefully my family will appreciate my efforts at spicing up our beloved traditions. Recently, I read an article stating that the Waldorf Astoria of Orlando will be making a great pumpkin soup with lobster as an appetizer for their Thanksgiving dinner. Since my family loves soup, I'm definitely going to give this recipe a try.  


When I reflect on all the blessings and joy that I have in my life, I am constantly reminded of the fact that I have numerous things to be grateful for. And that's why I'm excited about one of my family's most treasured traditions of going around the table and mentioning several things that we feel grateful for. My kids and I are going to create Thanksgiving thankful craft tonight that will help us get our minds thinking of what to share on Thursday!



Maybe your family can adopt this great tradition during your own Thanksgiving dinner! No matter what you do this year, I hope your holiday is filled with great food and even greater memories!    


 Kendra Thonrton can be found on Twitter at
https://twitter.com/KendraThornton or by searching for @KendraThornton