Thankful and Grateful 2024

December 1st. A day that starts a month full of special moments, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and more. I woke this morning to a sunrise that promised a month to meet some goals, all the while reminding me that life is short, and change is always occurring. 

Recently having going thru some hard changes in my business life, I've had to keep focused on the base of the work that I do, and try not to let the emotions that try to overwhelm me derail from my own personal mission. I'm not the boss at my regular job, and sometimes decisions that are made are ones I would never have agreed to - but ultimately those decisions are out of my control. I am the boss of my life though, and while I need time to process these changes, I refuse to let my emotions and feelings steer me to take actions I would regret later. 

Sounds pretty mature, right? It took some tears, some hollering, a glass of iced coffee, and some yardwork to work thru my thoughts so I could say all of that. That just reminds me of what I actually can control. I can control my response to support my team and focus on doing what my team does best - whatever we need to do to get our job done. That's not to say that I didn't go looking thru some remote job websites to see what my options were if I ever felt that my current job wasn't on keeping me on my chosen path in life. 

So you can imagine that when it came to Thanksgiving this year, I had some moments when I thought about what we do have - a warm home, a solid roof, enough food for sharing, kindness, laughter, and the ability to look thru the darkness to see the light of possibilities. Life is pretty short if you compare with the age of trees and rocks. We may be here on this earth for less then a century, and some aren't given the chance to live out a long and full life. I keep those we've lost along the way in my heart and try to honor them whenever I can. 

This last week I lost a co-worker, someone who had such a bright light, who hid the end stages of her cancer from the majority of us, and ultimately lost her battle with lung cancer on Thanksgiving. If you've read this blog for long, you know what that means to me, as my own father lost his lung cancer battle after a hard fought 3 month battle. I wanted to dedicate our "Smokesgiving" dinner to those that are no longer with us, friends, family, loved ones. 

In honor of my grandmother, we follow these few basic principles:

*Everyone is welcome

*There is always enough for one more.

*Somedays you kill it, somedays you just choke (Sturgill Simpson)

We may have done a small traditional Thanksgiving on Thursday, but Saturday was all about the Smoker.

Traditional Thanksgiving: Turkey, Stuffing, Gravy, Mashed yukon potatoes, cranberries, rolls, ambrosia, shrimp cocktail(not pictured), and a green bean side. 

Smokesgiving 2024 Menu 

Smoked Pork Ribs 

Smoked Macaroni and cheese 

Smoked Deviled Eggs 

Smoked Cornbread with Jalapeño and cheese 

Cheesy baked Corn 

Carmel Apple Mini Cheesecake 

^ Did you read all that? Are you drooling? Well, here's some imagery for you to enjoy.

Before smoking, basic rub with Salt, Pepper, minced garlic, onion powder, cumin, mustard seed, paprika. 

After Smoking, slathered with some Sweet Baby Ray BBQ sauce.   Soooooo Good!

Beer goes great with smokesgiving menu! 

The Smokehouse Smoker.

With food like this, it's hard to not feel joy. B enjoys creating fantastic dishes using his home built smoker, and I enjoy not having to cook all day long in the kitchen. I'll work on the recipes one of these days. 

Until then, I'm going to go enjoy some homemade turkey pot pie and think of what to make next week.