stuffing

noun - 1) savoury concoction of cubed day-old bread, onion, peppers, raisins, apples and seasonings and turkey juices, baked either inside or alongside the bird and served as an accompaniment, often on such a festive occasion as Thanksgiving dinner 2) fluffy substance, either natural or synthetic, used to fill pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, jackets, etc either as insulation or cushioning.

verb - 'to stuff': the act of adding more of a particular substance than that usually contained by a particular vessel.

eg.

Glenmount for Thanksgiving weekend was stuffed with 13 people, increasing to 21 at the table for dinner saturday evening. Present were Mom, Dad, Me, Jack, Carrie, Dawn & Edward, Sawyer, Collyer, Brian & Laura, Leah, and Sanjay. This was Sanjay’s inaugural visit, he is a friend from Jack’s program, (recently arrived in Canada to continue his studies), but we expect to see him here again, hopefully with his wife the next time. We were joined at various points throughout the w/e by Jim & Val, Fred, Hazel, Jordan, Kent, Carolyn, Mark & Tanya and Heidi.

All occupants were stuffed with nutritious and delicious meals including familiar favourites such as spinach salad with maple-pear dressing and toasted pecans, mushroom pie, homemade swedish rye bread (limpa), turkey, stuffing and cranberry salad with a symphony of sumptuous garden-fresh vegetables, honey pumpkin pie, dutch apple pie... We also tried out some new ones, which are destined to please our palates again in the future - these included curried pumpkin soup, figgy apples, and a pumpkin cheesecake with bourbon-laced whipping cream.

The days were packed with recreation and fellowship - hiking and picking apples (there were not many readily accessible so we used some creative harvesting tactics, and they were small - a low year for wild apple yields, it seems - good thing Carrie picked up a couple of bags from the Meaford orchards on her way home) at mountain lake (where there is no mountain and a very small, shallow lake, but lots of lovely meadowland and a riot of seasonally coloured mixed forest in which to tromp around), pressing apples into cider in the backyard (5 gallons of which poured out of the bucket onto the grass in a tragic turn of events when someone stood up suddenly and the table top shifted into its other ‘bench-like’ configuration as the weight distribution changed - that was a sad, sad state of affairs), walking down by the bay at sunrise, visiting a local potter’s shop in the successful search for a thank-you gift, running old familiar routes nearby, playing in the yard and gardens, worshiping at church, enjoying scenic backroads on the drive home, hiking and spelunking at Bruce’s Caves, taking turns to talk with Jody on the phone, reading, napping, and engaging in activities related to the preparation, sharing, and cleaning up after meals lingered over and enjoyed.

All in all, the weekend and the house and the inhabitants were all stuffed to the point of being pleasantly filled without being crammed, and I am so grateful for this time together with family, and with friends who feel like family. The abundant blessings are gracious gifts from God, meant to be enjoyed and shared, and with gratitude, we endeavour to do so day by day.