Sable Lit Reviews: Spirit of Thanksgiving Book Giveaway
Posted by LMReviewsNov 10
Welcome back!
Today, November 10th, kicks off Sable Lit Review’s tribute to the spirit of Thanksgiving!
Sable Lit Reviews in collaboration with Hachette Book Group USA is hosting a book giveaway contest to honor the holiday that focuses on family and tradition.
What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
Sable Lit Reviews wants to share in your Thanksgiving traditions. How does the rest of the country do Thanksgiving?
In a contest event that takes place from November 10th to November 30th, sponsored by Hatchette Book Group, Sable Lit Reviews will be holding a drawing for 5 free books representing the best in holiday entertainment.
Up to five winners will be selected to receive a print copy of all five books after the contest concludes on November 30th. The books up for grabs are:
- The Flavor Bible By Karen Page, Andrew Dornenburg ISBN: 0316118400 $35.00
- Karen Brown Celebrates By Karen Brown ISBN: 9780316118187 $30.00
- I Like You By Amy Sedaris ISBN 9780446696777 $15.99
- Festivus By Allen Salkan ISBN: 0446540668 $9.99
- Holidays on Ice By David Sedaris ISBN: 0316035904 $16.99
How to Enter:
To enter post a reply to this post featuring your favorite Thanksgiving family tradition, memory or recipe. All those who post a tradition, memory or recipe will be entered into a drawing. Up to five names will be drawn after 11:59 PM PST on Novemeber 30th and contacted to make delivery arrangements.
Contest Rules:
Only the name of the poster and his/her memory, recipe or tradition will be qualify for the drawing. Visitors are free to post comments about memory, recipe or tradition posted but will not be entered in the drawing unless they post their own memory recipe or tradition.
A maximum of five winners from the US and Canada will be selected. Unfortunately, this contest is not open to International participants. In the event that more than five contestants are eligible to win, then the five winners will be selected at random from the pool of eligible contestants. Winners will be notified between December 1 and December 5th. Winners will be required to provide their mailing address (no P.O. Boxes will be accepted) by December 10th at the latest.
So tempt us with your favorite Thanksgiving recipes, let us share in the emotion of your favorite Thanksgiving memory or broaden our sense of culture with your favorite Thanksgiving tradition in order to claim your chance to add these great books to your personal library.
Thank you for supporting the tradition of Thanksgiving, Sable Lit Reviews and Hachette Book Group USA.
My sausage stuffing.
My favorite family tradition is the whole family spending the holiday together. We have lost a few of our family members, so those memories are particularly heartwarming.
my favorite tradition growing up was thanksgiving at my family’s house. I loved talking to my mom and pouring over cookbooks trying to decide what to make to impress everybody with
i look foward to watching the peanuts cartoons on t.v. and just sitting on my couch with my family and not being able to move, cause i stuffed my mug with oh so yummy turnkey and stuffing!!! *drooling here* lol thank you
Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade
When I was a freshman in college, I spent thanksgiving with my roommate and his family. They were all vegeterian, so in place of turkey, their tradition was to make homemade pizzas. They were delicious.
Cheers!
Every Thanksgiving I do my olive jokes. Put four olives on your fingers, wiggle them, then ask – “what is The Olives” hit song? “Olive you ya, ya, ya, Olive you ya, ya ya.
nice!
thanks for the contest I love going around the table with each member of the family praying
My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is getting to spend time with family. Well, than and my mom’s incredible ambrosia. I can’t wait until Thanksgiving this year!
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is that the men do all the cleaning up.
Just seeing my extended family is nice.
we don’t have any real traditions that i can think of. I just love getting together and seeing everyone
My favorite Christmas memory is when my son was very small. He wanted to be a Dog Santa for the dogs in the neighborhood so we would buy treats and make up little bags and he would put on his little Santa hat and put them on the neighbor’s steps for their dogs on Christmas Eve. He did it for a few years and then we would buy the treats and take them to the Humane Society instead. I love this memory and wish I could relive it one more time. Thank you for contest that reminded me.
My parents and my aunt/uncle always switch holidays between Christmas and Thanksgiving. One of the things my family ALWAYS has at both of those holidays is deviled eggs (doesn’t everyone?) and every time my mother hosts a holiday, my aunt and uncle always have a small argument at the table because he eats a bunch of my mom’s deviled eggs, but he never eats any of his wife’s deviled eggs. I don’t know what my mom does that is special, but they are really good and my aunt’s deviled eggs usually are just barely edible. This argument has been happening once a year for the last 15 or so years now so it has become a bit of a holiday “tradition”.
My favorite Thanksgiving memories will always be dinner at my grandparents house. All the relatives who we hadn’t seen all year would convene for an amazing meal. After dinner the kids would play games while the grown-ups talked politics. Not much family left now, unfortunately, but I will always treasure those memories.
Favorite memory – joining family friends at a restaurant for Thanksgiving. It was owned by one of the friends, so the kids got unlimited access to the on tap soda. We were on such sugar highs…
eating dinner then watch a football game and take a nap
corn chowder
My favorite Thanksgiving memory was the year I was in Europe. It was a normal day there, but spending an afternoon in Sweden, then going to Tivoli Amusement Park in Denmark and eating a Thanksgiving dinner of a burger at The Hard Rock Cafe in Copenhagen isn’t a Thanksgiving I’ll soon forget!
we akwats naje tgus wibderfyk crab casserole and fried oysters and maryland stuffed ham along with the usual turkey.
Being with the entire extended family
my favorite tradition is going to visit my favorite uncle!
My grandmothers dutch apple pie – everyone inhales it and there is never enough to go around. It’s my favorite
My favorite memories are yet to come of this I am sure. I did love thou at thanksgiving going to the beach with my mom and walking in the sand holding hands. I hope to do this with my daughter next year when we move back to the east coast.
In Canada our thanksgiving falls in October when the leaves are changing. One of my favourite traditions and memories is taking a walk among the colourful leaves after dinner.
My favorite memory are all the old pictures! Hope I win!
Roast Turkey with gravy. It’s my favorite part of the meal. We make turkey other days too, but still I like it on Thanksgiving.
My father died at the beginning of Nov. and the family got together to have a special Thanksgiving with my Mom. This was my favorite memory of Thanksgiving.
I completely understand. Almost 10 yrs ago now my father passed away just before Halloween, it made for a bitter sweet Thanksgiving but I think it made the season much more meaningful.
I loved our Thanksgiving a few years ago: We all gathered at my sister’s house in the country and I actually cried on the way home because it had been so joyful and “real.” One nephew was home from Iraq, and we acknowledged his experiences while simultaneously shielding the youngest boys from what it means to be a soldier. Word spread that one niece, a recent college grad, was pregnant and not marrying the father and not pursuing her long-held dream of working in television — I was privy to the reactions of my 12 and 13 year old nieces as they grappled with understanding the complexities of their cousin’s situation. My five year old nephew asked “Is that a REAL turkey?” and was satisfied with the answer: No. It’s the kind you buy in the supermarket. It was just one of those times when our family came together and appreciated and supported one another and it was wonderful. Thanks for hosting this contest! My drumsticks are crossed for luck!
geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com
our family tradition on thanksgiving-after we eat, we all state something we are thankful for or that we are blessed with
LOL, I bet you had a hard time living that one down!
Every Thanksgiving we travel to Missouri to visit my sister and her family. They are 6 hours away but worth every mile just to see my niece and nephew.
Dessert is the best part of the dinner —sweet potato pie and ice cream –calories galore but worth it.
Turkey, the works and of course, pumpkin pie! Thanks for the contest.
[...] Spirit of Thanksgiving Book Giveaway [...]
when my kids were little i used to chase them around with the uncooked bird making turkey sounds..they would screaaaaaaaaaaaam..lol i know im bad but it was tradition
Pineapple casserole and pumpkin pie!
we have a tradition of going around the room and saying what we are grateful for and we all meet at our sisters for desert and go over the black friday adds and get ready for the big day
The best thing is just having all the family together.
My favorite memory is when my mom’s side of the family was over (always Friday; Dad’s side comes over on Thursday), going through the buffet-style feast, and my vegetarian (19-year-old) cousin loaded up her mashed potatoes with gravy. My mom said, “Whose plate is that?” She answered that it was her own. Mom said, “With all that gravy? Yeah, okay.” Meanwhile, behind my cousin, my aunt (her mom) was behind her, asking my mom to be quiet with gestures. My cousin looked at the gravy on her plate, then at my mom, then at her mom, and demanded, “What’s in gravy?” then, “Mom, what’s in gravy?!”
Her mom’s reply: “I’m sorry–I just wanted to make sure you were getting some protein!”
What a great giveaway. Thanks. I will always remember Thanksgiving because my grandmother whose culinary abilities were exceptional. I was allowed to assist and this was a great honor for me. She wore her special apron and the meal was a feast. Very nostalgic time.
My favorite tradition is fixing the meal with all family members and everyone stating what they are thankful for this year. I am so thankful for my family and I thank God for all of his blessings.
One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is me and my kids getting up on Thanksgiving morning and make omelets and cinnamon buns! It’s just something we do! This started by helping the kids have a full tummy until it was Turkey time! We love preparing this together and getting all the omelet fixings sorted out! It’s so much fun and so sweet.
Please enter me in the contest.
We always had watermelon rind pickles on the thanksgiving table–Christmas, too! As an adult I have looked for them every holiday for about 25 years, but I guess my mom bought the last jar in the seventies!
My family really likes this.
mittens0831 AT aol.com
Banana Split Cake
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained
6 medium bananas, divided
2 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) Jell-o vanilla instant pudding
2 cups thawed Cool Whip, divided
1 cup chopped pecans
marachino cherries
MIX crumbs, 1/4 cup of the sugar and the butter; press firmly onto bottom of 13×9-inch pan. Freeze 10 min.
BEAT cream cheese and remaining 3/4 cup sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Spread carefully over crust; top with pineapple. Slice 4 of the bananas; arrange over pineapple.
POUR milk into medium bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in 1 cup of the whipped topping; spread over banana layer in pan. Top with remaining 1 cup Cool Whip; sprinkle with pecans.
Refrigerate 5 hours. Slice remaining 2 bananas just before serving;
arrange over dessert. Garnish with marachino cherries.
Store leftover dessert in refrigerator.
yield: 24 servings
My Thanksgiving memory is from when I was younger.
I’m Cuban so my family usually has somewhat non-traditional Thanksgiving traditions, like lechon (roast pork) instead of turkey. The spirit of togetherness is what counts, anyway. =)
Our family makes Rice Krispy Turkeys and a Thanksgiving Tree- with thankful messages hanging from the branches.
Dressing! and it has to be my Aunt Flora’s cornbread dressing. Its so moist and good. Here is her recipe:
Aunt Flora’s Cornbread Dressing
Recipe By : Flora Lyle – Aunt – Austell, GA
Serving Size : 8
Categories : Casseroles
Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
Cornbread:
2 cups self-rising white cornmeal
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 2/3 cups milk
1 egg — beaten
2 tablespoons shortening — melted
Dressing:
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
5 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, or to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Turkey or chicken broth
For cornbread, combine cornmeal, flour and sugar in a bowl. Melt shortening in a 9-inch square or round pan (I use a small iron skillet) in preheated oven, 425 F.
Add milk and egg to dry ingredients, stirring to combine. Add melted shortening from pan to batter; mix well. Pour batter into very hot pan. Bake at 425 F. for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool.
For dressing, crumble up cooled cornbread; mash and add the onion, celery, sage, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, eggs and enough broth to make dressing kind of soupy.
Put in greased 9×13-inch pan and bake at 350 F. for 1-1/2 hours. (Or can be put into turkey or chicken and baked.)
Serves 8
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –
NOTES : This is the most delicious dressing…..a taste of the South! And brings back fond memories of our trips to GA. She is now deceased, but her dressing recipe is a gift to her family.
My favorite tradition is every Thanksgiving we put up the tree after we have Thanksgiving dinner and the following weekend we start baking food taking it to friends. I would love to be entered in your contest.
photoquest(at)bellsouth(dot )net
My favorite tradition was breaking the wishbone with my mother. Now it’s watching the parades with my kids.
Our fave tradition is watching football after we eat. We usually try at least one new recipe each year.
My birthday is near Thanksgiving, so they often overlap. My favorite memory is when my birthday was on Thanksgiving Day, and my mom, wanting to keep it “my special day”, made me a birthday cake in the shape of a turkey – it was really neat. Of course, when I was older, she tried to make me choose between birthday cake and pumpkin pie. Needless to say, she was voted down by the whole family. We had the cake for lunch and pie for dinner.
)
My favorite thanksgiving memory has to be the delicious dinners my Mother made. She was an excellent cook and thanksgiving was her crowning glory. Six children went thru a lot of food so she used to make at least 12 pies. They were gone in 2 to 3 days. I miss her so much and especially at the Holidays.
[...] Spirit of Thanksgiving Book Giveaway [...]
In Canada, our Thanksgiving is celebrated in October, and the Thanksgiving I remember the most vividly was the one that almost didn’t happen. A client, from the US, scheduled a business meeting for Thanksgiving weekend, not realizing that our Thanksgiving was in October. Our company rallied together and managed to get the client to move the meeting to another weekend so we could enjoy Thanksgiving with our families. We were truly grateful that they were willing to change arrangements for us. The meeting had over 200 attendees, so changing the date took quite an effort. It was a generous gesture.
Thank you for hosting this contest – there are several books in that group that look enticing!
And Happy Thanksgiving to our American cousins!
The night before Thanksgiving, my husband and three kids would make the stuffing for the turkey. Each one of us had to do part of the job and it was always a lot of fun.
My eldest daughter was born in 1984 and since she was just a little girl she got to choose a dessert that she wanted to have on Thanksgiving! Its not very fancy, but to this day we still make that dessert and she (and the other kids) still love it!
Basically, its Jello made according to pkg directions, half set and mixed with a container of coolwhip and left to set! My daughter always liked the lime flavour the best, so that’s the one we have every year!
Its super easy and kids love it!
My favorite Thanksgiving memory is helping my mom make homemade Pumpkin Pie when I was young.
I remember watching her cook the fresh Pumpkin.
She let me mix the ingredients together while she rolled out the pie crust.
I would love to have one of her pies today, because hers were so good.
janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com
My favorite tradition is sparkling apple cider!
I have a very fond and very old memory of Thanksgiving. My brother and I are very young but our Mother and Father and Grandparents are all there with us at the Thanksgiving table and we are all enjoying our feast and laughing and having a good time. It was the last time that we were all together.
I have been brining turkey breasts for the last 7 years and it’s become a tradition – most of my family still roasts them regularly and area always surprised by how moist mine are, but they never take my advice…so I always make a turkey for the house even if we are eating elsewhere!
My parents both came from a large families and whenever we would all get together, the turkey was always gigantic. My grandmother just loved the tail of the turkey the best, so whereever we gathered, she would always proclaim loudly “I get the part that went over the fence last!” That always produced a round of laughter to start a wonderful and happy meal.That was long ago but I think of her every year and smile.
Here is a good recipe to use for Candied Sweet Potatoes (just use a little less butter):
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Candied-Sweet-Potatoes-501/Detail.aspx
We just tried a turducken for the first time and I think it will become a new tradition. We always have pumpkin pie, apple pie and lately, pumpkin cheesecake. Yummy!
We always have a small family gathering with wine andmy dad’s signature sweet dinner rolls. MMMM
Hmm, family traditions . In my family, a Thanksgiving get together usually means: one of my sisters will drink excessively and behave like an idiot, my mother will complain about any and everything loudly in an attempt to make everyone miserable, someone’s child will spin out of control and do something horribly embarassing and then we eat.
A TRADITION OF OUR FAMILY IS TO ALL WATCH THE PARADES TOGETHER
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is just of the family getting together and enjoying the company>
Thanksgiving has always been special in our family. We all try and get together even though it has become harder to do over the years since we are spread out all over the country. If a member of the family can’t come then we make sure that we all get to talk to them on the telephone on Thanksgiving day.
My Mother is 80 years old and still makes her famous Pecan Pie and Sweet Potato Pie. Everyone looks forward to enjoying a slice of her pies. Even though I have her recipe, my pies don’t even come close to hers. It must be the love that she puts in each recipe that makes it so good.
Before dinner is served, each person gets up and tells everyone what they are thankful for that year. This has been done for years and years and it is a tradition that we will continue.
I love the traditional meal-turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings!
That we utterly ruin one dish each year–this year it was the sweet potatoes!
With two boys in sports we are never together as a family. It was nice to sit down as a family for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and we had grandparents here.
Favorite Thanksgiving memory is my daughter driving home in bad weather through mountains to be home for the holiday.
my favorite tradition is sweet potatoe and marshmallow pie!
Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday in the South. I grew up in Louisiana and currently reside in SE Texas, which has all of the culture and heritage of Louisiana. A HUGE favorite at Thanksgiving is the Sweet Potato casserole. You make it by mixing the base of Sweet Potatoes, sugar, vanilla, milk and butter. Spread that in a casserole dish. Then spread a layer of marshmallows. Bake until mm melt. Then spread on a topping of brown sugar, butter, a little flour and pecans. bake for 20 minutes. YUM-MY! Let’s just say the casserole didn’t survive past the first round of servings!
all of the family getting together
My favorite tradition is all getting together for a huge family feast- everyone makes their specialties and we just really enjoy each other with no-one overwhelmed with all of the work.
It seems like a tradition, as it happens almost every year, at my parents house and at my in-laws house — one item for dinner gets forgotten. Last year, we forgot to bake the potatoes for the in-laws dinner, and at my parents dinner she forgot the rolls in the oven (we figured it out a bit too late). This year we forgot a pie. We will be getting Brain Age to try to work on that memory issue for next year…
Candied walnuts– we snack on them while the dinner is cooking
* 1 pound walnut halves
* 1 cup white sugar
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 6 tablespoons milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread nuts in a single layer over a baking sheet. Roast for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until the nuts start to turn brown and the smell of roasting nuts fills the kitchen.
2. Stir together sugar, cinnamon, salt, and milk in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat for 8 minutes, or until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage of 236 degrees F (113 degrees C). Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla immediately. .
3. Add walnuts to sugar syrup, and stir to coat well. Spoon nuts onto waxed paper, and immediately separate nuts with a fork. Cool
One of my favorite memories was of the famous kids’ table. I was the oldest grandchild and I got to be the boss of the kids’ table for many years. Then I was also the first one to move up to the coveted “Grown-ups” table. We thought we were so cool when we got to do that! After a few years though we all discovered that the kids’ table wasn’t such a bad place to be! Now we are watching the next generation go through the same thing. I’m thinking about moving back down next year. Maybe I’ll start a new trend. Thanks so much for this contest!
My family tradition is to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and sister. We eat turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, rolls, and pumpkin pie. It’s just a fun day to spend with your loved ones and realizing all the things you’re truly thankful for.
My favorite thanksgiving tradition is that we go around the table and express what we are thankful for. Its a great time of reflection surrounded by loved ones.
brn2lisn(at)gmail(dot)com
Putting the tree up the day after Thanksgiving
We extend invitations to those who are in need of some assistance.
We don’t have a huge extended family but I remember what we did have spent Thanksgiving with us. I had both sets of grandparents and two sets of aunts and uncles and they were characters. I distinctly remember my Aunt Elma would constantly say “Land o’ living” and it became a family saying. I remember my Uncle Russell would take our hands and tumble us around in a somersault in front of him while he whistled. We thought it was the coolest thing. They all had such personalities too and it was a whirlwind of fun when they were visiting.
My favorite thanksgiving thing would be going and gathering leaves with all of my little nieces and nephews (all are special needs children) along my daughter and making a Turkey Craft to mark our places at the table. It keeps the kids busy and they are so excited that they get to help. Fingers crossed I win as I would love to be able to have a give-a-way on my blog.
My favorite thanksgiving memory is having the whole family together. So many of my family are now no longer with us but I cherish the memories.
FOOD!!!
Playing pinochle
I love how our whole family gets together every year and visits while we eat the delicious feast!
Not exactly a tradition, but I got to announce both of my pregnancies at Thanksgiving. I couldn’t have picked a better occasion – all my friends and family were so thrilled.
my favorite recipe is watergate salad!
* 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix
* 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, with juice
* 1 cup miniature marshmallows
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
* 1/2 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, mix together pudding mix, pineapple with juice, marshmallows, and nuts. Fold in whipped topping. Chill.
My mom makes the best mashed potatoes with Velvetta cheese. It’s a tradition to have it every year
Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, cornbread casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry relish–Thanksgiving is the best meal of the year!
Our tradition is to fry a turkey…without setting anything on fire. So far, so good. We did burn the wings off our first turkey, but we’ve learned from our mistake.
My favorite memory / tradition is getting together with my parents and sisters and their families for Thanksgiving.
My dad died almost 5 years ago, and our entire family misses him and the wonderful gravy that he made every Thanksgiving.