I am grateful for...Spinach Puff
Hello Fellow Travelers,
What are the special traditions that you hold dear this time of year?
What has meaning and value to you during this time when so many gather to celebrate the tradition of Thanksgiving Day?
What traditions have you brought forth from your life experiences that now bring you joy to re-enact or put into place?
All good questions for you to ask and answer for yourself now. It will cut through the confusion that many go through at this time. How to celebrate, which traditions to uphold, what gratitude practices to practice? To shop or not to shop, eat turkey or tofu, free range or non gmo. Watch football or feast, gather with family, friends, foe? The options are endless and the decision is yours! Always the decision is yours.
Take some time now to decide for yourself how you want to celebrate. Which traditions bring you the feelings of gratitude and thanksgiving? Which do not? Deciding for yourself may give the day and your life a newly added sense of personal power. When personal power is rooted in gratitude and thanksgiving it is truly powerful!
When deciding, remember that gratitude and thanksgiving are a spiritual practice and like any spiritual practice, simplicity and intention are often times the only allies you need.
My family and I have such a tradition. It is rooted in the intention to create something delicious and fun and it is simple.
Each Thanksgiving we make a dish called Spinach Puff. Until now, I had not realized the special meaning and significance of this tradition.
The story goes like this;
One year, about twenty five years ago, I had just moved across the country from my home in California to a new home and life in Massachusetts. I had three children and a newborn in tow. We decided to make something special that year for Thanksgiving.Not sure if I realized it but our intention was to feel better and create our own special day even if our cousins, grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles were far away. If I remember correctly, my oldest son had the idea. We wanted something different and decadent to go along with the usual fare. There was no going to the store for said ingredients because we decided this on the morning of the big feast and no store was open on Thanksgiving day back then. So my oldest son and daughter(about ages 10 and 12) looked through the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook and found the recipe for Spinach Puff. We happened to have ALL the ingredients and so they made it. It was absolutely delicious. Every year since then we have made Spinach Puff. The array of ingredients are kind of random and over the years we have changed and added some things, we've tried it with broccoli instead of spinach, (not as good) added extra spinach (better) use butter instead of margarine (hey this recipe is from 1980), forgot the lemon zest (not good at all) and so on. Each year someone different might be in charge of making it and they very well will lend their own spin on it. That is how we operate.No matter who makes it or how it is made, nothing tastes as good as Spinach Puff on the last Thursday of the month of November.
It tastes so good because it reminds us of how much we love each other! It was a spur of the moment thing for us to do at a time when we were all mourning the absence of extended family and the old traditions we had made with them. It truly was the start of all the new traditions that my children and I created over the years. It was surprisingly good and easy to make and even though every year it tastes a little different, we still love it! You might say the spinach puff has been a symbol of our family. Always there for each other, even when we are not together. Really easy going, spur of the moment and a great comfort!
The tradition of the Spinach Puff is one that I value and will keep. The simplicity and fondness for this tradition brings me much gratitude and thanksgiving for all of my life.
Make whatever traditions you decide to uphold into your own special and unique celebration of gratitude and thanksgiving. Let whatever traditions you choose to honor, be your own personal prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude not only now, but for the rest of the year too.
I am grateful for all of you too!
Have a blessed week and remember to both give thanks and receive thanks!
Mary
What are the special traditions that you hold dear this time of year?
What has meaning and value to you during this time when so many gather to celebrate the tradition of Thanksgiving Day?
What traditions have you brought forth from your life experiences that now bring you joy to re-enact or put into place?
All good questions for you to ask and answer for yourself now. It will cut through the confusion that many go through at this time. How to celebrate, which traditions to uphold, what gratitude practices to practice? To shop or not to shop, eat turkey or tofu, free range or non gmo. Watch football or feast, gather with family, friends, foe? The options are endless and the decision is yours! Always the decision is yours.
Take some time now to decide for yourself how you want to celebrate. Which traditions bring you the feelings of gratitude and thanksgiving? Which do not? Deciding for yourself may give the day and your life a newly added sense of personal power. When personal power is rooted in gratitude and thanksgiving it is truly powerful!
When deciding, remember that gratitude and thanksgiving are a spiritual practice and like any spiritual practice, simplicity and intention are often times the only allies you need.
My family and I have such a tradition. It is rooted in the intention to create something delicious and fun and it is simple.
Each Thanksgiving we make a dish called Spinach Puff. Until now, I had not realized the special meaning and significance of this tradition.
The story goes like this;
One year, about twenty five years ago, I had just moved across the country from my home in California to a new home and life in Massachusetts. I had three children and a newborn in tow. We decided to make something special that year for Thanksgiving.Not sure if I realized it but our intention was to feel better and create our own special day even if our cousins, grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles were far away. If I remember correctly, my oldest son had the idea. We wanted something different and decadent to go along with the usual fare. There was no going to the store for said ingredients because we decided this on the morning of the big feast and no store was open on Thanksgiving day back then. So my oldest son and daughter(about ages 10 and 12) looked through the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook and found the recipe for Spinach Puff. We happened to have ALL the ingredients and so they made it. It was absolutely delicious. Every year since then we have made Spinach Puff. The array of ingredients are kind of random and over the years we have changed and added some things, we've tried it with broccoli instead of spinach, (not as good) added extra spinach (better) use butter instead of margarine (hey this recipe is from 1980), forgot the lemon zest (not good at all) and so on. Each year someone different might be in charge of making it and they very well will lend their own spin on it. That is how we operate.No matter who makes it or how it is made, nothing tastes as good as Spinach Puff on the last Thursday of the month of November.
It tastes so good because it reminds us of how much we love each other! It was a spur of the moment thing for us to do at a time when we were all mourning the absence of extended family and the old traditions we had made with them. It truly was the start of all the new traditions that my children and I created over the years. It was surprisingly good and easy to make and even though every year it tastes a little different, we still love it! You might say the spinach puff has been a symbol of our family. Always there for each other, even when we are not together. Really easy going, spur of the moment and a great comfort!
The tradition of the Spinach Puff is one that I value and will keep. The simplicity and fondness for this tradition brings me much gratitude and thanksgiving for all of my life.
Make whatever traditions you decide to uphold into your own special and unique celebration of gratitude and thanksgiving. Let whatever traditions you choose to honor, be your own personal prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude not only now, but for the rest of the year too.
Have a blessed week and remember to both give thanks and receive thanks!
Mary
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