Friendsgiving and All the Trimmings
Thankful. Grateful. Blessed. We have all seen these words on trendy t-shirts, coffee mugs, and kitchen towels for the last couple of years. Truly, these three words describe my friendships with my D/Group the best. Our D/Group started in August 2014. Just in the last six years we have added five children, seven children have made professions of faith, and I don't even want to know how many kids' meals we have purchased from Chick-Fil-A. Our fearless leader, Kerri Wardlaw, got us started. We all grabbed a notebook and our Bibles and started studying together. Who knew that these girls, Jennifer Boren, Leah Frances Eaton, Erin Hammett, and Kerri Wardlaw, would become my sisters. Together we have walked through miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, baby deliveries, postpartum anxiety, broken relationships, conflict, studying Scripture, deployment, laughter, a move to a different state, and tears. Even on days when we have conflict and tough conversations with each other, these girls bring such absolute joy into my life. They love me. They pray with me. They share Scripture with me. They challenge me. They meet me at the door when I need a hug.
I knew these girls were special, but during the season of deployment, my sisters met me at the feet of Jesus. I clearly remember sitting at the IF Gathering and a military wife shared her struggles with deployment. When I say I lost it, I LOST IT! We were nearing the end of the deployment, but I was tired, lonely, and just over the entire journey. It was there that Leah Frances and Kerri sat on either side of me and held me and just let me weep. I am talking snot-slinging, your mascara running, please excuse yourself to the bathroom kind of cry. They gently grabbed my face, pulled me in, and held me. I am so thankful that God placed these four spiritual pillars in my life. I truly couldn't do life without them.
The five of us have desired for our families to become a community, and with that, we decided we were going to have our own Friendsgiving party. It has also been a blessing to see our children grow to love our community. Elliott Eaton asked his mom just the other day, "When are we going to Aunt Kerri's for Halloween?" It blesses my soul to see our children learning how important community is among believers. We have had Friendsgiving for several years now. It is now on the calendar every year and we love it, and our children don't let us miss any details. One of my favorite traditions is that we go Duggar style with the children. We pair an older child with a younger child and the older child is responsible for getting the younger child a plate, drink, utensils, etc. Here is the best part, the children do this AFTER the adults are seated and eating their meal! Why didn't we think of this years ago? The children do great and the adults actually sit down and enjoy an entire meal together. It is glorious. We even make it a priority to sit at the dining room table. Now, we did draw the line and still use paper plates. We are tired moms with zero desire to wash dishes after feeding twenty-five people!
Last year, the Eaton family was on a mission trip to Portugal and we were all exhausted, but we still wanted to come together. So, we called it a Fiesta Thanksgiving and called in Mexican food. Sometimes you just have to realize that picking that phone up is so much easier than working in a kitchen all day. We missed the Eaton's terribly, but were able to FaceTime Leah Frances from Portugal (at 2am in Portugal).
Here are some of our favorite Friendsgiving recipes. Hope you enjoy them as much as we have with some of your favorite people.
Jennifer Boren
Note: permission was given to use this recipe!
Drive to your local grocery store.
Walk to the frozen bread section.
Select two bags of Sister Schubert rolls.
Follow package directions for best results.
Leah Frances Eaton
Cornbread Casserole
1/2 Cup Butter (Melted)
To make this super simple and mess free I always start with the butter. Once you take a stick out of the fridge, just put it into the casserole dish and stick it into the microwave. It can melt right in there in just a minute's time.
1 Box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
Again, I can't stress this enough...use Jiffy brand corn muffin mix, just the classic blue box. They also sell a vegetarian version which might be just as good, but I haven't tried it yet!
1 Can Corn (Not Drained)
Use any brand you want! I use regular (not low sodium) canned corn, and you will use the whole thing, juice and all.
1 Can Creamed Corn
Again, any brand you like, in the original variety.
1 Egg
8 oz (about 2 cups) Shredded Cheddar Cheese
I like to use sharp cheddar most, but mild or medium will work perfectly too!
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
You can use original or light sour cream.
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. In a medium-large casserole dish, add the melted butter, Jiffy mix, corn, creamed corn, egg, and half of the cheddar cheese (about 1 cup.) Mix until everything is combined. If you melt the butter right in the dish and mix all the ingredients right in, you can make this whole recipe with just a few dirty dishes, a huge help when you are cleaning up!
Erin Hammett
Sausage Dressing
1 Pound of Sausage
4 Stalks of Celery
2 Medium Onions
5 Cups of Cornbread Crumbs
2 tsp. of Rubbed Sage
¼ tsp. Pepper
2 Large Eggs (Slightly Beaten)
3 ½ Cups of Chicken Broth
Cook first 3 ingredients until sausage is fully cooked. Add the rest of the ingredients and place in a greased 13x9 baking dish. Cook on 350 ˚F for 35-40 minutes.
Erin Hammett
Sweet Potato Casserole
Filling:
3 Cups of Mashed Sweet Potatoes
¾ Cups of Sugar
1/3 Cup of Milk
½ Cup of Butter
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Butter
Topping:
½ Cup Butter
1/3 Cup of Flour
1 Cup of Brown Sugar
½ Cup of Chopped Nuts.
Boil and mash potatoes. Add other ingredients. Place in casserole dish and top with topping. Bake at 350 ˚F for 30 minutes.
Kerri Wardlaw
Honey Butter Carrots
2 Cans of LeSueur Whole Baby Carrots
Butter
Honey
Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet
This recipe requires you to judge on measurements. Start with a half a stick of butter and half cup of honey. You will always use equal parts of butter and honey. Cook your butter and honey until the butter is melted. Add your carrots to the mixture in your cast iron skillet. You will cook the carrots down for 45 minutes to an hour. This does take a while to cook, but it's totally worth your time. If your carrots start too look dry, keep adding honey and butter. Note: we don't count calories on Thanksgiving.