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The pumpkins have lost their toothy grins and scary faces. It’s time to get on to the next holiday—Thanksgiving. But do you know how the holiday came to be? I doubt few people do. So here’s some Facts: Although President George Washington set a day aside to give thanks and prayers, it wasn’t made official and the leaders who came after him nixed the idea due to their interpretation of the separation of church and state. In 1846, Sarah Hale who was the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, began a letter-writing campaign in favor of making the last Thursday in November National Thanksgiving Day. The idea gained favor and President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation making it happen. However, following presidents changed the day to various ones they favored. Can you imagine the confusion that led to? It was pretty bad. It wasn’t until 1941 that legislation was introduced in Congress to firmly establish the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day and it ...

Happy Thanksgiving, Readers!  While you wait for your pies to cook and the house is filled with delicious smells of cinnamon and pumpkin, sit back and enjoy tales of our best or worst Thanksgivings. Share your own memories in the comments section.  As always, readers, we are thankful for you! My favorite Thanksgiving story is when my son went back home to have Thanksgiving with his friends, but my mom, daughter and I had the most fun. We had the traditional lovely turkey dinner and it went downhill after that, although in a totally funny, wild, crazy, and memorable way. Kind of like the way I write. Anyway, I’d had roof damage in storms a couple of weeks earlier, and I didn’t realize it, but the roofers had covered the chimney with roofing paper because I’d lost my chimney cap. So here I’m trying to start a fire in the fireplace with one of those 6? hour burning logs and lo and behold, the smoke begins pouring into the living room. At the same time, my...

Remember that movie, Homeward Bound, when the two dogs and the cat make their way back home and the younger dog runs in the house saying, "turkey, turkey, turkey"? That's the feeling that we get around our house as Thanksgiving approaches. It's the holiday when all our kids, their friends, their in-laws or whoever they can get in the van, the truck or in the car to bring with them come home for Thanksgiving. And just like Chance, the dog in the middle in the picture, I can just hear them saying, "Turkey, turkey, turkey" as they park those vehicles and come running toward the house. Dinner, served buffet style, goes on the bar, the fold out table, the dry sinks in the dining room and the stove. Feasting begins at noon as soon as the blessing is said. Sometimes Mr. B says grace but he has been known to call upon the youngest child in the house to say the prayer before "turkey, turkey, turkey" begins. It's our holiday to the kids so they do...

Let me preface this rant by saying that I love the winter holidays as much as the next girl. (Personally, I do a mini Winter Solstice celebration and then a big fat Christmas with the fam.) But I've got a big bone to pick with all you anxiety-inducing reindeer-whipping present-wrapping carol-singing freaks at this time of the year. BACK THE HECK OFF MY THANKSGIVING!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of them all. Yes, it even edges out the big traditional Christmas by just a touch. It's totally food based, which is so my wheelhouse. It's about being together, and cooking, and eating, and I'm sure you're supposed to be thankful at the same time, which is sort of hard to do at about 2pm on Thanksgiving day when you're snoring like a freight train in front of the football game while some unlucky family member is STILL washing dishes. But seriously. Thanksgiving is the best holiday, and Christmas needs to stop glomming all over it.  By Jamain (Own work)...

posted by Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy Fifteen months ago, the DH and I went on one of our most memorable travel adventures. We took a thirteen day guided tour of Turkey. We had been lucky enough to spend a few days on our own in Turkey about a dozen years ago and saw just enough of the wonderful sights to know that we wanted to see more! One of the places I looked forward to seeing most was the Cappadocia region. This area is a wide expanse between two now extinct volcanoes with highly unusual rock formations called "fairy chimneys." These were created by a hard layer of rock which did not erode at the same rate as the softer layer of rock (called tufa) underneath. I knew that the inhabitants of this region carved caves out of the soft tufa stone and sometimes lived in them. What I didn't know until I got there, was that entire cities (the largest with an estimated population of 16,000) were carved underground! Some of the cities date back to prehistoric times, and so...