We're Thankful for Much!

Our paper turkeys with the colored "thankful feathers" are up on the wall again, just as they've been every year since 1995. I'd say we've come a long way. In 1995, Quincey and Emma were our only kids and the feathers say "food" and "toys." One feather says "Pinochle," so that was definitely the year the Browns came over from Redlands to spend the holiday with us in Chandler, AZ. Each year the feathers become more and more crowded with writing as our family grows and matures. And all the turkeys displayed together show quite a family history. This year, everyone wrote really small. A few kids even requested more than one feather--which made our turkey quite bushy.

We've just had a year of unexpected changes and long separations. But by Thanksgiving we were all together again at last, and settled snug and warm in our new old house in Scobey, Monatana. (Jess left Moscow for Scobey in mid-August, and Quincey left Moscow for BYU-Provo a few weeks later.) Quincey was NOT going to be with us for Thanksgiving, but she and Jess and Hugh surprised us all, and it was a blessing to have her here for our first Scobey Thanksgiving. (I'll tell that story later.)

So our bushy turkey of 2010 is crowded with feathers filled with long lists in tiny script. The lists include the warm reception we've received from the people of Scobey; the busy little dental practice that Jess bought (it's in a LOG CABIN--he feels RIGHT AT HOME); and all those friends and neighbors and visiting family members who helped us back in Moscow with everything it takes to move a big family with loads of stuff. And that's just a START.

Ivy, I must mention, really has gotten into the spirit of things. Her list grows daily. "I am thankful for pie," she'll say. "Will you write that on my feather?"

Love that Lutefisk! (Well, we willingly tried it, anyway)

On Halloween day at 3 o'clock, we walked 46 steps to the Lutheran church for the annual Lutefisk dinner. Lutefisk is "lyefish" in Norwegian, and it is loved, despised, or simply tolerated by all on the vast northwestern prairie, depending on who you talk to. Back in ancient times, lye was used to preserve codfish, which is "one of Norway's oldest trading commodities. It's been a lasting Norwegian tradition in this part of the country, despite the lack of seashore and codfish!

In a great hall similar to an LDS cultural hall minus the basketball hoops, several tables were set up, and at each place at the tables was a paper place mat and napkin, each declaring: "Love that Lutefisk!" The place mats also included a brief history of Lutefisk, along with simple recipes you could try at home, provided you have some Lutefisk handy. Don't have any? Just call the Lutefisk Hot-line at 1-800-882-0212. (Now 882 is a Moscow prefix. Wouldn't it be funny is someone in Moscow ID was taking Lutefisk orders and giving lutefisk tips to all of the great Midwest?!)

The place mat history also said "Today we feel that a new meaning has been given to the word Lutefisk--one that means family, fellowship, and good times." Scobey's Lutefisk dinner is served in the Lutheran Church every year on the 4th Sunday in October.

Anyway, lucky for everyone present, Lutefisk is always served with a turkey or ham dinner. To put it simply, Lutefisk is fish jello. But we had a lovely Thanksgiving meal to go with it--even ended things nicely with a slice of pumpkin pie. The service was super--grandfatherly men in red Lutefisk aprons kept our cups full of water, and our table well stocked with potatoes and gravy, stuffing, turkey, and cranberry sauce. They were like Lutheran High Priests.

I must not forget to mention the LEFSE. Lefse looks JUST like flour tortillas, but it tastes quite different. It's main ingredient is potatoes. You spread the lefse with butter and sprinkle it with sugar, top it with Lutefisk (or not), roll it up, and eat it. So lefse is always served with Lutefisk, and it sounds like it is a staple throughout the year( lefse, not Lutefisk, unless I guess you're a hard core Norwegian).

Jesse's dental assistant spends one day a year making lefse and sends some to relatives and freezes the rest for her family to enjoy throughout the next year. Yesterday was her big lefse day, and I got to join in on the rolling and grilling. She'd been preparing the potatoes since Wednesday with her husband, peeling, boiling, and mashing 60 pounds worth. On Saturday she added the flour (butter and cream went into them when they were mashed) and with a few friends and her brother (the two had grown up making it with their mother) and me, rolled it all out and grilled/baked them on big round griddles and flipped them over with long flat sticks. We did loads and loads. And boy are they good right off the griddle. Love that LEFSE!