Thanks-for-giving.

Have you ever stopped to think that Jesus is thankful for you, Christian? You are a precious gift given to Him by the Father. And the Father only gives good gifts. And He doesn't change.Or take His gifts back.
Why? Because Christ's atonement is perfect and finished. And if He purchased you, He also hides you (Col.3:3).  And so, by God's grace, we live a life of thankfulness, because He loved us first.

Thank you, LORD for John 17: 6-12

For the month of November, we are making a Thankfulness Tree.

 We cut out handprints, write something we are thankful for, and tell the Father how grateful we are for it. So far, it's sweetly fruitful. And I will be sure to make this a tradition from now on.

Here's our girl, thanking God for her books.

Brining: I'm sold.

I started brining our holiday birds about seven years ago.  I went on foodnetwork.com and took copious notes. I settled on the Good Eats recipe, and meticulously duplicated it at first.

You can get the 411 on turkey brining here: Alton Brown is usually a reliable source.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKr1rByVVCI&feature=related

After a few years of tweaking different recipes here and there, I finally came up with my recipe that my family likes the best. Not only did it flavor the meat nicely, it rendered beautiful dripping which in turn, produces amazing

gravy.

I use my trusty Home Depot 5 gallon bucket

3 jugs of cran-apple juice

1/2 gal. orange juice

1 Cup of Kosher salt

2 Tbsp whole peppercorns

ice water (to cover) this will vary depending on the size of your bird.

I remove all the giblets and such and thaw right in the brine about an hour per pound.

I keep this in the basement meat fridge. Typically, I start the process 3 days ahead.

Butterball has good thawing resources:

http://www.butterball.com/tips-how-tos/how-tos/thaw#one

 Don't fret. Your bird will be pink.

I like to jam my puppy with lemons, rosemary, thyme, onion and even a few apples

to build my gravy flavors. There I go with the gravy again. It's the best part of the meal, IMHO.

Lastly, I butter her up, throw her in the oven, and throw on the Christmas music!

Well hello there, Mr. Turkey.

Don't laugh, but we really like the can-shaped cranberry sauce, and nothing else will do at
Thanksgiving. Oh- and there's a shot of the gravy that I love so much!
Gobble, Gobble!