Cinnamon Roll Turkeys | Gratitude

About this time every year, my thoughts return to something adorable I saw a few years ago. It's Cinnamon Roll Turkeys from Pillsbury's kitchen! All you need to make these delightful breakfast treats are cinnamon rolls, bacon, pretzels, and assorted candies. Complete directions are on the Pillsbury website as well as other scrumptious ideas! What a fun breakfast these would make on Thanksgiving morning, or any morning!

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Years ago when I was married, raising children, and had family & friends nearby, I did big Thanksgiving dinners with homemade fare including Cornbread Dressing, veggie casseroles, Cranberry Sauce, and usually enough food to ensue we had leftovers for at least a coupe of days. With myself now widowed, both parents have passed, nearest family is 2.5 hours away, and no friends nearby, it will just be a quiet day here by myself & with my friends on the Hive–Discord continuum. And that is fine with me, as I have become a bit of a hermit in recent years and don't mind it. Crowds bother me ever since my husband passed, and I manage rather well on my own most of the time.

For me, Cornbread Dressing is a "must have" item on Thanksgiving! My mother made the most awesome cornbread dressing every year from scratch, with cornbread she had cooked two or three days previously, crumbled into a pan with sliced onions, sliced celery, chopped hard-boiled eggs, sage seasoning, chicken broth, salt, & pepper. She would bake it in a hot oven while the other food was cooking. It sounds simple, but it was so very good! After I grew up and moved out on my own, I still kept the Cornbread Dressing tradition going. However, I found an acceptable alternative in recent years to spending so much time in the kitchen making it, especially if I am going to be the only one eating it.

Savannah Classics^® is a brand of food products from Savannah, Tennessee (US). They are usually only available this time of year, in November and December. Some of the grocery stores in my area keep them "hidden" behind the counter in the Delicatessen Department (you have to ask for them), while some stores put them in the self-serve frozen-food cases. Their food is the closest thing to homemade taste that I have found in a mass-produced line of food. Besides their Cornbread Dressing, they also have Green Bean Casserole (a ubiquitous dish in the Deep South), Sweet Potato Casserole, a Rice-Broccoli-Cheese Casserole, and a couple of other items. I make my own Green Bean Casserole, but enjoy the convenience of the Cornbread Dressing every year since I learned of the Savannah Classics^® brand!

So, that is what I will have this year — Cornbread Dressing to go with the turkey slices I bought to cook. I've made my own homemade cranberry sauce many times in years past, but will just open a can of Whole Berry Sauce this year. I haven't decided yet if I will fix anything else to go along with it or not. It doesn't take much to make me happy, and I am grateful to be able to have anything to eat as so many people are scraping to get by. My heart goes out to the whole world and the difficult times that abound for the majority of the people on this planet.

After the chaotic, roller-coaster ride that 2020 has been, I think we need a reprieve to help us keep our sanity. Despite all the negativity that the world has experienced this year with COVID, lockdowns, financial troubles, the "bear market" in crypto prices, political elections, political unrest, and so many other things, I think every one of us has something for which we can be grateful.

THANKS = APPRECIATION

I believe that everyone could/should allow a glimmer of appreciation/gratitude in their hearts for the things we have. Regardless of whether one is an atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Sikh, Wiccan, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or whether they worship the Great Pumpkin — all of us have things (food, shelter, clothing, whatever) that came from 'somewhere.' Be grateful to that 'somewhere,' whether you believe those things came by chance, science, magic, or "Divine Providence."

Appreciate the things you have.
Be grateful, dammit.
Be thankful.
Give thanks.
Be happy.
No matter how bad it is, it could always be much worse.

May the 'somewhere' bless every one of you reading this, each in their own way.