Month: November 2020 (Page 1 of 2)

Thanksgiving Meal Favorites (and a few thing you would rather not see again…)

November 25, 2020 /

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Thank you to everyone who share your Thanksgiving favorites (and least favorites) with us! Here are your most and least favorite Thanksgiving dishes (keep scrolling to the end for a few shared stories as well):

 

  • Most favorite: sweet potato casserole with SO MANY MARSHMALLOWS – Least favorite: dressing!
  • Favorite Thanksgiving dish is fresh ham with pineapple – Least favorite is green bean casserole
  • Favorite: oyster dressing – Least favorite: creamed pearl onions
  • Most favorite, my wife’s home cooked stuffing. It’s delicious. – Least favorite, my fathers giblet gravy. He thinks it’s the slickest dish ever. The rest of us only eat it to make him happy. Yuck.
  • Favs: Sweet potato anything, pumpkin anything, salad with lots of veggies and pomegranate seeds, STUFFING! – Least fav: turkey…I have always disliked turkey and then I raised turkeys and now I just can’t. They stink (literally) and that’s all I can smell when it’s cooking YUCK!”
  • Favorite: pumpkin pie – Least favorite: green bean casserole
  • Cranberry sauce is favorite. – No least favorite!
  • Cranberry sauce in the can- it is only eaten by the elders, as the rest of us will not touch it šŸ˜
  • My mom used to make oyster dressing every year. I always loved the part made out of crushed saltines drenched with butter, but the actual oysters… *shudder *. So rubbery and blech.
  • Sunset magazine’s overnight soft herb rolls are my very fav dish. Boiled and mashed turnips are my most hated dish.
  • I love Thanksgiving dishes, the sweet potatoes with the just perfect marshmallows toasted on top, the cranberries, the olives, everything!
  • Iā€™m not a vegetarian but honestly the turkey is the tiniest portion on my plate and if it werenā€™t there for everyone else I would just make everything else for me!!Ā  The only Thanksgiving dish I didnā€™t like was if the green bean casserole is made from really soft green beans.Ā  Itā€™s just too mushy šŸ¤¢ But with fresh green beans not over cooked…amazing!”
  • Most favorite: Mash potatoes and gravyĀ  – Least Favorite: Oyster dressing
  • Most favorite: Cranberries – Least Favorite: Stuffing
  • Favorite, which Iā€™m notorious for in my family: Canned Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, which absolutely MUST have the lines from the can still on it. I even love that sucking sound it makes when it slides out of the can!
  • Favorite is the turkey – Least is the sweet potato dish with the little marshmallows on top.
  • Best: Cranberry salad, then Pecan pie!!
  • Most – Gravy on everything –Ā Least favorite: Tofurkey
  • Favorite: mashed potatoes with gravyĀ – Least favorite: Not a fan of stuffing.
  • Favorite: pumpkin pie! – Least favorite: tomato aspic, which is lemon Jell-o with canned tomatoes mixed in. (Yuck, right?) My dad always offered to bring it, until last year we finally had the nerve to tell him that none of us like it! Apparently, many years ago, my father-in-law complimented my dad on his tomato aspic dish, and ever since then, Dad assumed we all liked it!
  • Favorite: Turkey – Least favorite: Brussels Sprouts
  • Favorite: roasted Brussels sprouts – Least Favorite: Mashed Potatoes
  • Least favorite – sweet potatoes with marshmallows, also green beans with those weird canned fried onions on top. Why spoil two great vegetables so much?
  • Pumpkin pie and whipped cream for sureā¤ļø And the joy of family around the tableā¤ļø
  • Mashed potatoes and stuffing are probably my favorite foods. ā€œYucky yamsā€ is the food that I will NOT eat. You know, the sweet potato casserole made with canned yams, brown sugar and butter with marshmallows on top. Yuck! šŸ¤£ the latter is probably Jonā€™s favorite, though we donā€™t make it anymore.
  • It’s stuffing…no funny story, I just don’t like it.
  • Favorite: stuffing – Least – boiled onions
  • Most: apple cranberry pie – Least: dressing with oysters
  • I never liked the squash my mother served, but I loved her curried fruit!
  • Canned squash made me gag.
  • Most: homemade apple pie with whipped cream – Least: When I was a kid, green bean casserole with crunchy onions on top. I donā€™t eat or make it as an adult.
  • Favorite sweet potatoes – Least gizzards n things
  • Jell-O salad with canned fruit.
  • I love gravy fortified with moleā€™.
  • Turkey is my favorite & I don’t have a least favorite traditional dish.šŸ¦ƒ
  • So many people ruin good sweet potatoes with syrupy whatever and top it with toasted marshmallows! Yuck!
  • Boiled brussel sprouts
  • My least favorite Thanksgiving dish is actually turkey.Ā  I just never got excited about the taste of turkey.Ā  Growing up, my extended family would all gather at an aunts house.Ā  We had both a mid-day meal, the turkey, and later the evening meal, ham.Ā  I loved the ham!!Ā  My favorite!
  • Least favorite – canned yams with marshmallows melted on top – yuck!Ā  I love candied yams, but not those fake interlopers!
  • Favorite – Gramma’s pumpkin pie recipe – sooo yummy!
  • Iā€™m fond of stuffing. Thumbs down to sweet potatoes with marshmallows.
  • Favorite: pumpkin pie! – Least favorite: tomato aspic, which is lemon Jell-o with canned tomatoes mixed in. (Yuck, right?) My dad always offered to bring it, until last year we finally had the nerve to tell him that none of us like it! Apparently, many years ago, my father-in-law complimented my dad on his tomato aspic dish, and ever since then, Dad assumed we all liked it!
  • Favorite: mole (over gravy) covered turkey – Least favorite: cranberry sauce
  • Best: Green bean casserole w/xtra crispy onions and cranberry sauce OUT OF A CAN!!!” – Least: Any kind of dark meat turkey especially the legs and yams
  • Most favorite: stuffing with gravy – Least favorite: pumpkin pie
  • Favorite…cornbread stuffing – Least…cranberries
  • Favorite is stuffing – Least favorite: corn, dumped from a can.Ā  Seriously!
  • I live the baked cranberries served with cream cheese that are a tradition in my family.Ā  My kids call every year to review how to make themšŸ˜Š. And I HATE candied yams. Yuck.
  • Favorite: sweet potatoes with apricots and pecans – Least favorite: deviled eggs
  • Mashed potatoes
  • I never liked the squash my mother served, but I loved her curried fruit!
  • Once a friend who was an experienced cook volunteered to do the turkey and only after several hours realized he had never taken the oven off of the ā€œPreheatā€ setting producing a turkey that was nearly raw on one side and scorched on the other.
  • I live the baked cranberries served with cream cheese that are a tradition in my family.Ā  My kids call every year to review how to make themšŸ˜Š. And I HATE candied yams. Yuck.
  • My mom used to make oyster dressing every year. I always loved the part made out of crushed saltines drenched with butter, but the actual oysters… *shudder *. So rubbery and blech.
  • Favorite is squash casserole – I really don’t have any least favorite dishes
  • Favorite dish..stuffing with sausage, apples, celery, onions, seasonings..yum –Ā Least favorite.whole cranberry sauce
  • I never liked the squash my mother served, but I loved her curried fruit!
  • Pumpkin pie and whipped cream for sureā¤ļø And the joy of family around the tableā¤ļø
  • Spinach Dip with clams. Whole cranberries. – Not really fond of the Three Bean Casserole.

 

Stories you shared with us:

 

“Once a friend who was an experienced cook volunteered to do the turkey and only after several hours realized he had never taken the oven off of the ā€œPreheatā€ setting producing a turkey that was nearly raw on one side and scorched on the other.”

 

“I got very creative, as a child, at hiding the food that revolted me but I was expected to eat. I would line my pockets with napkins so that I could slip slimy vegetables into them without telltale stains. I would take my shoes off at the table and drop disgusting-to-me food into them as well, then nonchalantly carry them away after the meal was over. I would drop things into the nearest potted plants in the room, mostly the overcooked vegetables because they were less likely to be discovered later. Excusing myself to go to the bathroom with a carefully disguised mouthful of unchewed food was another ploy. One time I slipped some mushy broccoli under the tablecloth and the table pad and forgot about it. Months later my mom went to remove the table pad and found the moldy broccoli, adhered to the wood of the table, ruining the finish. I secretly considered it karmic justice. Needless to say, learning how to cook and enjoy eating vegetables has been a life’s journey for me.”

 

“Once a friend who was an experienced cook volunteered to do the turkey and only after several hours realized he had never taken the oven off of the ā€œPreheatā€ setting producing a turkey that was nearly raw on one side and scorched on the other.”

 

“My motherā€™s folks would make pies, mincemeat and pumpkin.Ā  I always loved the pumpkin pies, probably because I would watch my big, strong, grandfather in the carpenters apron he wore in the kitchen, fork in the pocket designed for a pencil, making the dough for the crusts and then the pies themselves.Ā  I learned early that men can cook too!Ā  (All British style cooking, boil everything to death, salt and pepper the only seasonings.Ā  But, men can cook!)”

 

“In taking turkey out of oven getting ready to carve, fork got stabbed into turkey,Ā  lifted up to go onto tray, but instead, slid off fork sliding gracefully across my kitchen floor…”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Whatever you’re feeling, it’s okay.

November 25, 2020 /

Dear Friends,

I know, it’s not exactly news that Larimer County’s infection rates have been rising exponentially, or that we were headed for an increased degree of shutting down. Actually, many of us have been hoping for this sort of action for a while.  

And STILL, there was something about the reality of it all today, as the emergency alert was sounded, and as we head towards an official “red” designation this week….it feels like a blow. Especially since this is the week of Thanksgiving, a week so many of us associate with large gatherings of family, sharing food and laughter, hugs and stories.

What I want to say is,Ā it’s ok if it feels harder than you thought it would. It’s ok if you’re struggling. It’s ok if you’re scared.Ā Just because it’s not new or news doesn’t make the trauma any less real.Ā 

We’ve been in this a long time now, and we’ve lived with so many disappointments, so many small and big losses among us. We have had to make so many impossible decisions without enough information. Many of us are facing financial challenges, and no relief bill is yet in sight.Ā 

And, the rising numbers are just another way to say – the virus has come in closer. Most of us now know at least one person in our friendship or family circle that has been sick with COVID (or we have had it ourselves). Some of these have gotten very sick. Some have died.Ā 

This IS a collective trauma we are experiencing. And what we know about trauma is you will feel it in your body. It’s normal to feel tired or wired, zoned out or super tuned in, nauseousĀ or without an appetite. It’s normal to seek comfort in the most basic ways.

Wherever you are, however you are responding, whatever is happening in your body, and in your heart, it’s ok, it’s right, and it’s enough.Ā 

On Sunday, we practiced a meditation for self-compassion. I encourage you to take five minutes AT LEAST once a day in the coming days to ground yourself with this meditation. Be gentle with yourself.Ā  Give yourself a blessing.Ā Ā 

Know that even now, even here – especially now, especially here, you are held in a greater love, a thread of love that connects you to everything and everyone else across all of time and space.Ā Ā Even here – especially here, you are not alone.Ā Ā 

For a listening ear and a friendly voice, reach out to caring@foothillsuu.org to connect with our caring team.

Or, text to Rev. Elaine’s text-a-blessing hotline at 970-568-5580 and she will send you a blessing.

And if you are feeling a more urgent struggle,Ā connect with the Community Crisis center line by calling 1 (844) 493-TALK (8255) or text TALK to 38255.Ā 

Even if you don’t think of yourself as someone who “needs help” (PS, we all need help!) or haven’t ever reached out in this way before, remember that these are unusual times. And so having an unusual response is completely normal, and even healthy. Ā 

In this week of Thanksgiving, let’s turn to that practice we end all our services with – gratefulness. We practice it so often because we want it to feel like second nature, so that when the struggle comes, gratefulness will be there, in your bones, ready to meet you in the hardest moments.Ā So now’s the time to lean on our practice.

Remember that alongside all the struggle, there is also always beauty, and joy, and love. Keep looking for the small and big gifts that are present here, and set aside time to say thank you, and to breathe it into your body, to let it meet the pain your body is holding.

It’s been a long road here, and we have still a ways to go.Ā  But it’s not forever. The vaccine news is so good.Ā  And our resilience remains so strong.Ā  We are still so good at laughing, and dancing, and offering kindness in so many creative ways (yes that’s aĀ kindemic.orgĀ plug!) to each other. Ā 

We can get through this time, together, and we can take care of each other.Ā  Even from a distance. Ā 

With gratitude for all of you,

Gretchen

The Building Bulletin: November 2020 | Congregational Meeting Update

November 24, 2020 /

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We called the campaign ā€œBuilding for Courageous Loveā€, amazingly, we raised pledges of $6M, and in March 2020 we decided as a congregation to proceed to build a beautiful new sanctuary. A few weeks later, a pandemic struck, altered our world, and we took a deep breath and paused.

Today, I am here to tell you where we are now.

The two teams (just described) started meeting and working again in August ā€“ Sept. 2020.

A short history of the project: Ā After several years of work defining our needs, choosing an architect and eliciting lots of congregational input,Ā  Ewers Architecture presented a conceptual design in early 2019 for a new 400 seat main-floor sanctuary with a basement to provide space for a chapel, RE expansion, and other gathering/ meeting needs, and plans for remodeling all existing spaces for doubled facility size. We loved the aesthetics of the design and the flow of the spaces.Ā  Total cost of the entire project was estimated at $12-13 million.

BET and staff agreed that a new sanctuary was the highest priority.Ā  BET proposed a phased construction plan to build the sanctuary over a full basement as Phase I, leaving most of the remodeling for later phases.Ā  The cost of that revised plan for Phase I was estimated at $8.6M and the congregation approved the expenditure of $8.2M, March 1, 2020.Ā  At that time the Capital campaign pledges of $6M were to be augmented by loans of about $1.2M, leaving a $1M gap for additional fund-raising.

Back to NOW ā€“ mid-pandemic, we are still excited about Building for Courageous Love, but we are re-evaluating the budget and prioritizing needs.

BET-F has worked diligently to verify that we still expect about $6M in donations, to check on sources of loans and evaluate the potential for loan repayment in a post-pandemic world.Ā  Erik has built a model to predict cash flow for the next twenty years and this team is moving toward recommending a total budget of $7.3M to cover construction and associated costs (fees, permits, etc).Ā  Of course, new or extended pledges to cover the $1M gap would change the picture.

At the same time, BET has been working hard to assess priorities and see what we can build within the budgetary constraints.Ā  We are working with the architect and construction firm to include recommended post-pandemic features.Ā  Our attempts to continue the process of eliminating lower priority features to reduce construction cost to the current lower budget figure has hit a wall.Ā  That means that we are now looking for design revisions that might lower the cost.Ā  We will continue to work with the architect and builder on this goal.

We remain committed to our vision of a beautiful campus that meets the needs of the congregation, not just today but into our post-pandemic future and we are excited about our progress.Ā  We hope to reactivate the architectā€™s design process in early 2021 for a building to be completed by late fall 2022.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/SC4a4Mj05TA” title=”Building Expansion Update with Peg MacMorris | Congregational Meeting | 11.15.20″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Here are some of the jokes you shared with us…

November 19, 2020 /

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Here is a cross section of the jokes that you submitted this past week. Apologies if yours does not appear; we erred on the side of caution in not offending anyone.

 

Children in heaven are in a line. Big, glorious, jucy apples await them. They are told that they may take ONE apple before entering the gates and that God is watching to make sure only one has been taken. After they have passed they see St. Peter with a whole tray of doughnuts, and he is saying “take how many you want ” A child approches and says “but we were told only one” St Peter laughs and says “Don’t worry God is too busy counting the apples”šŸ¤—

 
Do you know what you get when you play a country tune backward?

You get your job back, your house back, your wife back, your dog back ā€¦

 
Do you know where the ghosts keep their sheets?

In the sheet house!

 
How do you keep Canadian bacon from curling in the pan?

Take away itā€™s tiny broom.

 
I had my patience tested. It was negative.

I run like the winded.

 
Knock knock.

Whoā€™s there?

Olive.

Olive who?

Olive you!!

 
What did the dog say to the flea?

You bug me!

 
What do you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest?

Stand up!

 
What is a vampire’s favorite holiday?

Fangs-giving!

 
What time was the patients dentist appointment?

Tooth-hurty!

 
Whatā€™s black and white and red all over?

A newspaper!

 
Why can’t you explain puns to kleptomaniacs?

They always take things literally!

 
Why do flowers drive so fast?

They put the petal to the metal.

 
Why do volcanoes erupt?

Because they’re bursting with laughter

 
Why donā€™t skeletons play music in church?

They donā€™t have organs!!!šŸ˜‚

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Navigating Thanksgiving

November 13, 2020 /

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA7ojDJQnFo” align=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I love Thanksgiving. And by that I mean – I donā€™t love the old stories that romanticized a relationship between settlers and indigenous peoples that resulted in their genocide! Obviously.Ā  I mean I love the gathering together with people I love and eating great food and focusing on gratitude. It is literally my favorite holiday.

We have a wonderful tradition of joining with some of both of our given and our chosen family – I look forward to it all year, and I cherish the experience of it more than I can fully express.

A month ago I actually texted our friends who usually come and told them that the only way I could see getting through 2020 was if we could still find a way for them to come and be with us over the holiday. They agreed.

But then, over these months, the numbers have been just exploding. The rates in our county and our state are higher than I ever wouldā€™ve imagined back when we were fully on lockdown – we are in exponential growth.Ā  Itā€™s scary, and thatā€™s on top of having been scared for a long time.Ā  Itā€™s exhausting to be this scared for so long. Itā€™s exhausting, and itā€™s not sustainable.Ā  You canā€™t live like this.Ā  Which is why I know weā€™ve all made some really difficult decisions in the last couple months to go out, see people, have a sense of normalcy!! We need it for our mental health.

And, also,Ā weā€™re on the verge of a crisis at this point – so something has to change.Ā  Last week I texted my friends again and this time, I said, itā€™s not happening, is it? And they agreed, itā€™s just not possible this year.Ā  We all feel really sad, and angry, and helpless.Ā But also I know – and they know – that we arenā€™t helpless.

Weā€™re making a choice thatā€™s not just good for us, itā€™s important for the common good. A greater good.

A choice that we need to all make so that these numbers can get back to something where the hospitals can manage without running out of beds, and so that we can protect the most vulnerable, including those who donā€™t even realize that they are vulnerable. This is not a virus any of us want.Ā  No matter our current health.

I know that a lot of you are out there struggling to figure out what to do about your Thanksgiving.Ā  And all the days between now and Thanksgiving, not to mention Christmas.Ā These are really hard decisions, filled with a lot of grief, and fear.

We want to support you, we want to brainstorm with you, we want to be there for you.Ā  And, we want to help you make the choice to stay in your COVID bubble for Thanksgiving – a choice that is not just about saying no to Thanksgiving, but really that is about saying yes to the values and the love thatā€™s at the heart of what we love about Thanksgiving in the first place.Ā Ā 

For all of the challenges of 2020, thereā€™s a lot this year to be grateful for. Most of all the incredible creativity, adaptability and resilience that people – you – have shown over these months.Ā  After we let go of our usual plans for Thanksgiving, we started to brainstorm other things we could do, safely.Ā  Intentional ways to play, to rest, and to cook and eat good food with those we love.

So thatā€™s our invitation and challenge for you, Foothills.Ā  To make the choice, that is based in your values, to care for those you know and those you donā€™t know, saying no to the usual ways of Thanksgiving but saying YES to all the reasons we have to give thanks.Ā Ā 

With love,
Rev. Gretchen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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