Thanksgiving is here!!!

Well not actually here, but we leave this afternoon to start our trek to Kentucky, so it might as well be. We are swinging through Charlottesville to visit my brother and then heading on to that blessed state shaped like a chicken leg. James has actually never spent a Thanksgiving in Kentucky, as the last time it was our turn to go there in our holiday rotation (that we follow RELIGIOUSLY because order is what separates us from the beasts), we stayed in DC to be able to make it up to New York for a wedding. That was the year of the infamous black sludge spewing forth from the sink… good times.

In case you are also headed out for some quality vacation time, here is some this and that to entertain you whilst you revel in pie-induced coma.

It was all fun and games until the gluten-free craze started tyrannizing the world of art.

If you are on Instagram and you aren’t following @pumpkintheraccoon, you’re doing it wrong. I have maybe spent all week trying to convince James to get me a domesticated raccoon for Christmas, and he keeps responding with stats about rabies.

If you have ever been bored to tears reading a book to a baby or toddler, you need this children’s book. Admittedly, I am biased, as my talented sister-in-law is the creator and my nephew is in the promo video, but I know this book will be quality because I have had the opening line stuck in my head all week long, rolling around in my brain in poetic perfection every time I get bundled up to go outside. Do yourself a favor, invest $15 in the Kickstarter and get a book in return to brighten your bookshelf. Go ahead and watch the movie below and just TRY resisting the promise of a fat hedgehog in pajamas.

Hip-hop founding fathers? Yes please.

I am intrigued by this kale stuffing. Usually, I would be skeptical. But I pretty much trust whatever Deb does.

On the same note, if Phyllis tells me to use olive oil instead of butter in my cookies, I may just have to do it.

This might just be the year that I cave and finally get the booties that I eye every year.

Every post on this website is beautiful, but the other day I spiraled down the archives and especially loved this one and this one.

On a more serious note, my heart has twisted over and over as I scan Facebook lately, because everyone has an opinion, delivered from their own comfortable and one-sided living room soapbox, about how to “solve” the refugee crisis, as if we can wave a magic wand and miraculously fix a terror that has driven millions of people from their homes and scattered them across the globe. I am disheartened by people acting out in — totally understandable — fear, but I am equally saddened by people belittling that same fear. The same people who weeks ago posted messages of hope like “love drives out fear” or “love will beat hate” ridicule the fears around them, somehow thinking that will help. I do not pretend to understand all the intricacies of politics and foreign policy. But I do know that we have to start with what we know. And what I know – as an American and as a Christian – is that to whom much is given, much is required. Those who live in safety and plenty are called, are commanded,  to care for those who come from danger and scarcity.

Let’s remember that this week, as we sit around full tables and cozy homes and count our many blessings.