Dear Exceptionally Smart and Good Looking Friends,
Thank you for reading, subscribing, liking, linking, commenting, sharing, lurking, smiling, scrolling by, pondering, nibbling and noshing with us here at Alphabet Soup. I appreciate every single drool, tummy rumble and screen lick!
I’m grateful to have your continuing support, and am certain you are the best blog readers ever!
Have a GOOD GOBBLE tomorrow. EAT PIE!
HAPPY, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
LOVE ♥,
Mr. Cornelius, Hatley, the Paddingtons and Ms. Jama xxxxxxxxxoooooooooo
Fantastic Mr. Fox illustration by Donald Chaffin, 1970 (via Vintage Kids' Books)
It’s that time of year again, when people gather from near and far, sidle up to bountiful tables and give thanks for life’s abundance.
As for me, I’m already hearing that all-too-familiar gobble gobble, and my highly trained olfactories are picking up the aroma of yummy pumpkin pie baked with generous measures of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and ginger. Yes, I’m looking forward to a hearty meal with all the traditional fixin’s, but I know the real nourishment will come from sharing it with family and friends.
credit: Hungry Housewife/flickr
I’m giving myself plenty of time to reflect on what I’m thankful for this year. November, more than any other Fall month, is tinged with melancholy. Though it’s chock full of happy birthdays — friend John, brother-in-law Ron, cousin Leslie, godson Kyle, father James, husband Len, and mine (turning 29 this year ☺) — it’s also a time to celebrate the lives of those who left us in November, who won’t be at the Thanksgiving table: Aunty Ella, Aunty Ellen, and Cousin Liz. Even while you blow out the candles on your birthday cake, the deepest part of you knows that the light of remembrance is inextinguishable.
I will be offline until after Thanksgiving, when we will resume our holiday hijinx. To keep you out of trouble until I get back, enjoy these videos, Parts 4 and 5 from “The Thanksgiving Visitor,” based on a short story by Truman Capote first published in McCalls (1967). It was written 12 years after my all-time favorite short story, “A Christmas Memory,” and features Buddy and Cousin Sook. Unlike the joyous account of baking fruitcakes, “The Thanksgiving Visitor” reveals some of Capote’s childhood torment. In light of today’s widespread problem of bullying in the schools, there is an interesting “lesson” here for the victim. Unbeknownst to Buddy, Sook has invited the older boy who’s been bullying him to Thanksgiving dinner.
Here’s wishing you a joyful, delicious, heart-lifting Thanksgiving with your loved ones. Enjoy all the family chatter, the Macy’s Parade, the football games, the obligatory naps, and seconds and thirds of pecan and pumpkin pies. I am thankful for each and every one of you — my faithful, good-looking, eternally hungry blog readers!
GOBBLE GOBBLE!!
♥ Related posts:
Thanksgiving Picture Book Feast, Part 1 and Part 2.
“Every little movement has a meaning of its own.” ~ Tony Sarg
When Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet was little, her grandmother took her to New York City to see the holiday windows at Macy’s, and like millions of us, she watched the Thanksgiving parade every year on television. She could never have imagined that one day she’d be writing and illustrating a book about the man who first created the window marionettes and giant helium-filled parade balloons that have taken center stage in American holiday tradition for the last 80+ years.
If ever there was a perfect biographer for Master Puppeteer Tony Sarg, it’s Melissa Sweet. A true kindred spirit, she shares Sarg’s keen interest in toys (collecting, designing and constructing them). And like Sarg, she’s a children’s book artist who’s always enjoyed tinkering and figuring out how things work. There’s that love for full immersion in process and experimentation, fueled by a playful childlike sensibility.
In Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteerof Macy’s Parade (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), Sweet describes how Sarg’s fascination with making things move began in childhood. He was a “marionette man” by the age of six, when he designed a pulley system so he could feed the chickens early each morning without leaving his bed.
I trust you’ve had a little time to nap, watch a football game, or chat with family and friends since we last sat down for Part One of our Thanksgiving Feast.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: while turkey and all the trimmings is just fine and dandy — for me, Thanksgiving is really about the PIES. Oh, you’re not surprised? Hmmmm.
We’re having pumpkin and apple pie today, but before I devour taste those, I wanted to serve up several more delicious picture books representing some of the traditional foods enjoyed on this gastronomic holiday. We can never have too much turkey, or can we? And we musn’t leave out corn, so important when remembering the Pilgrims and Native Americans. And there’s always squash . . .
“To be a human being is an honor, and we offer thanksgiving for all the gifts of life.” ~ Chief Jake Swamp, Giving Thanks
Come, ye hungry people, come!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Lots of room at the alphabet soup table, so please take a seat and make yourself at home. Since this is a rather large feast, thought we’d serve Part One today and Part Two tomorrow.
via Betty Crocker
The bread basket is brimming with warm and flaky crescent rolls, freshly baked cranberry nut loaf, challah, and fried chapatis and pupusas. The golden brown turkey is just about ready to be carved, and all your favorite side dishes are here: fluffy mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, sausage apple stuffing, green bean casserole with fried onion topping, cranberry relish, candied sweet potatoes, creamed onions, roasted butternut squash, and glazed parsnips. And we’ll throw in some friendly cornbread in honor of the Native Americans, who taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn. Continue reading →
If ever there was a perfect biographer for Master Puppeteer Tony Sarg, it’s Melissa Sweet. A true kindred spirit, she shares Sarg’s keen interest in toys (collecting, designing and constructing them). And like Sarg, she’s a children’s book artist who’s always enjoyed tinkering and figuring out how things work. There’s that love for full immersion in process and experimentation, fueled by a playful childlike sensibility.
Jama's Alphabet Soup 