TODAY, I AM GRATEFUL for internet, social media, and Mondays – my 52 chances a year to share Memories of My Mom with you. I hope this brings you a happy Monday.
November is National Gratitude Month, Family Stories Month, National Inspirational Role Models Month, and National Life Writing Month. Gratitude is one of those things that should be practiced daily. Today, I’m also grateful for November’s “gratitude attitude”.
Gratitude intentionally concentrates on the positive parts of our lives, focusing on what we have, rather than on what we lack. The benefits of daily gratitude are backed by science. It’s known to alter our brain chemistry by releasing dopamine and serotonin, creating happiness and enhancing our mood.
Being thankful also reduces anxiety and stress, while diminishing depression and other toxic emotions like envy, resentment, and regrets. Incidentally, Wednesday is National Stress Awareness Day. Likewise, gratitude improves our emotional resilience – seeing hardships as temporary life lessons, rather than undefeatable roadblocks.
There are five basic aspects of gratitude that ground us in life, including health, relationships, necessities, Mother Nature, and the simple pleasures or “wants”. Say “thank you” out loud or quietly, to yourself. Post your gratitude moments on social media or write them down in a private journal.
GRATEFUL FOR LIFE’S LITTLE COMFORTS
We should be grateful for all of the little comforts that we enjoy in life, as well as for the big things. We take so much for granted. Not everyone has access to education or a roof over their head. Not everyone has a warm bed, with sheets and blankets on which to sleep; let alone clothes, shoes, electricity, heat, a shower and toilet, food, or clean water.
Not everyone has inspirational role models, mentors, family, friends or other supportive relationships. Not everyone experiences a hug everyday from someone who cares. Not everyone has a pet that will love them unconditionally.
Not everyone gets to enjoy good health or prosperity or random acts of kindness. By the way, coming soon is World Kindness Day (on the 13th), and the start of… World Kindness Week (on the 8th).
We should be grateful for Mother Nature’s gifts, too – fresh air, sunrises, sunsets, a cool breeze on a warm day, the colors of fall covering the trees, or the sound of birds chirping. Having a second chance or a new day ahead of us with the ability to begin again – maybe change our perspective – is just another “gift” we take for granted.
GRATEFUL FOR FAMILY STORIES
I am personally grateful for the many family stories I’ve found in Mom’s writings, as well as for the inspirational role models I’ve had in my life. Besides in her writings, I have many of the family correspondences that Mom and my grandmothers saved over the years.
Through these, I’ve learned some of my family history. Family was always very important throughout many generations of my ancestors, especially on Dad’s side of my family. In fact, his relatives from West Virginia kept extensive records of their lineages, going back a couple hundred years, at least.
I wish I could go back in time to all of our big holiday gatherings with my grandparents and great-aunts and great-uncles and cousins. Everyone talked about their favorite family memories and traditions. If hind sight were fore sight, I would have paid more attention to all the stories that were told and I would have made recordings of them, as well.
No Laughing Matter (a series of syndicated editorials), by Gloria Pitzer (circa 1970s)
THANKSGIVING – OR THE TALE OF TWO SITTINGS
FOR THE FIRST TIME since we’ve been married, we can entertain our relatives this Thanksgiving without having to apologize. Thanks to the ecology promotion to recycle what we can in our society, my entire house is finally right in fashion.
This means that I can now set a stylish table without making excuses for the cheese spread glassware, the Betty Crocker coupon silverware (in six assorted patterns), or the flowered bed sheet we use as a table cloth… because the flowers blend in nicely with the gravy spots that didn’t wash out from last year’s dinner party.
And last but not least, our dishes, with the chipped rims, convey the impression that we not only try to conserve for the sake of ecology – but we have clumsy kids who cannot dry them without dropping them!
In the days of my [youthful] energy, the fabulous women’s magazines, with their picturesque 4-color food displays used to prompt me to run out and rent matching stemware because I foolishly believed that everybody set a “Better Homes & Gardens” table. Not so!
Today, life is more casual than the gourmets would like it to be but that’s good. It gives those of us in the Phyllis Diller’s Diners Dropout Club a chance for acceptable recognition.
The only problem I have to handle now is the execution of a successful menu. One can’t have Howard Johnson or Colonel Sanders, standing by on such an occasion.
And there’s no excuse for a veteran cook, like myself, to complain that “dressing a turkey” means she must spend a week just making the blouse. What is difficult, is working within the budget allowed me by a man who cashes his paycheck at an Orange Julius stand.
Like the pig who wished the whole world was Jewish, I’m sure, if the turkeys were polled, they’d like to have the whole world vegetarians. Frankly, the turkey might pose a problem for me.
Before I can get it into the oven, I’ll have to decide what to do with that baked-on grease build-up that even Easy Off refused to budge. I’ve lived in mortal fear of the oven catching fire with the holiday bird only half roasted.
I know, cleaning one’s oven isn’t that difficult. But I felt I owed it to pop music lovers everywhere to leave it the way it was when I [was] inspired [by] the song, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”. With my oven, I’m not known as “Nanook of the North” for nothing, you know.
GRATEFUL FOR LIFE WRITINGS
For many years, especially since both Mom and Dad passed away, I have been fascinated by ancestry and finding my own family origins. If it’s in the genes, I must get it from Dad and his “down home roots”. I’ve often thought of doing a DNA test on Ancestry.com because I’ve had a hard time finding my roots on Mom’s side of the family, past her grandparents.
That’s another reason why I am grateful to at least have the many family stories I’ve found in Mom’s writings and the correspondences that she and my grandmas saved in the scrapbooks I inherited.
The November-December holidays are when families gather the most often and reminisce about the stories of their lives. It’s that time of year when we recall heartfelt nostalgia and happy memories, as well as when we express the most gratitude.
No Laughing Matter [her syndicated series of articles (circa 1970s – 1980s)]
‘TIS THE SEASON TO BE THANKFUL… By Gloria Pitzer – Recipe Detective
I AM CONCERNED THAT each year it becomes more and more difficult to find the tradition of Thanksgiving being celebrated with the same spirit that we enjoyed in our childhood, and our parents in theirs. You certainly don’t have to celebrate the occasion extravagantly.
And you don’t have to feel that the glorious glossy photos in the countless magazines on the newsstands have set the standard that we must be obligated to follow. The world has always had its poor and unemployed, and people have always gone to bed hungry in every generation.
When our children were very small and our struggles seemed hopeless, I remember that had it not been for our backyard garden, a few apple and pear trees in the back, and good fishing in the river “out front”, we would have sent our children to bed hungry, many a night. But we didn’t.
Being products of the [Great] Depression of the 1930s, Paul and I remember how to make more from less, during those times. It was always sufficient. And we always looked toward the day when there might be “more”, making it a goal that enabled us to take on many an undesirable job for meager pay, just to keep going.
Our married daughter still has the rag doll I made her one of those Christmas holidays, designing it from one of my old skirts and blouses, stuffing it with old nylons.
I had forgotten all about it, until I saw the pathetic little thing sitting on her dresser, one day, and said it looked familiar. She keeps it, she confessed, to remind her of how much she has now and how far we have come, by working hard and caring!
Thank Heaven that, for every 10 people you meet who don’t care about anyone or anything these days, you’ll meet one who does! It isn’t a national statistic, but there’s every reason to believe it’s a growing epidemic that has us believing it’s now unfashionable to be either thankful and/or jolly!
It’s a wonder somebody didn’t try to cancel Christmas! I mean, after all, most people seem to forget that problems aren’t necessarily promises – lasting conditions that can’t be cured so must, therefore, be endured!
Maybe our biggest problem these days is that people don’t seem to like each other as much as they used to. I saw a sign in our local catalog store, advertising a new game to give for Christmas. It’s a jigsaw puzzle for folks you don’t like. None of the pieces fit together and the four corners are missing!
There was a time when people DID like each other, that our manners were morals, and discarding litter on the public roadside wasn’t considered a problem of the ecology but bad manners.
When was the last time you could nod, smile, and say “hello” to a stranger in a supermarket or on the main street of town and not get a look right back that said, “What in the world are you talking to me for?”
Even traffic signs have changed from an ordinary “Please, approach intersection with care” to little drawings that totally eliminate language. The walk/don’t walk signs fascinate me the most. It’s as if they were invented to give you something to think about, as you cross against the light.
On the other hand, in downtown Pearl Beach, where we have lived a long time, they always have to be different. We have one traffic sign that reads: “Walk!”, “Don’t walk!”, and “Run like the devil!”
A lot of people aren’t even going to have the traditional turkey at their holiday dinner table. If you’ve seen the prices lately, than you know why we now say that “a bird in the hand” isn’t even worth anything, unless you can get financing. Money may not buy happiness anymore but it can sure get you an appointment with the IRS!
It’s difficult to live in a world that now bases its entire system of values on the dollar – difficult but not impossible. Perhaps we have also forgotten to be thankful, really thankful for the good; since today, We’ve made television our bible and the news analysts our priests.
We have replaced that “poor-but-honest” image of the founding American with a hopelessness that things will never be right again, unless we get everything we want, rather than be thankful if we only get what we “need”!
In other words, we should be thankful for the good already received before we can expect to receive more but we forget. And the television news analysts continue to harp on our hangups.
But in a fine print reference, I noted one news commentator talking about the millions of Americans that will be eating “stale bread” this Thanksgiving, forgetting to mention that the cookbooks call it “stuffing”.
If we can’t think of one thing to really be thankful and/or jolly about this year, perhaps we should consider what would’ve happened to us, had our pilgrim ancestors decided to celebrate that first Thanksgiving with STEAK!
GRATEFUL FOR EXPERIENCES & INSPIRATIONS
#NationalInspirationalRoleModelsMonth
Again, not everyone has a radio (to enjoy music – a universal mood booster), or a television (for entertainment and knowledge), or books (for the same perks already mentioned). Not everyone has access to a nearby library, either.
In our lives, we often take for granted the inspirational moments that affect us, the laughable moments that uplift us, the quiet moments of reflection that clear our minds, or the meaningful memories of bygone days that touch our hearts.
Mom inspired me to be grateful, daily, and count my blessings. It only takes one minute out of the 1,440 minutes available each day. I’m working on my own personal, daily gratitude log for November and will post it all on November 30th. Express your gratitude daily and share it on social media.
Ron (Rock) Allen is a friend and blessing who I count twice. He recently built a creative and uplifting website, at Brassheart.Studio; as well as another, specifically for Michiganders over 50, that has great Michigan based stories. One such story he wrote about me and Mom. It also has games, events, and more. Check out MichiganOverFifty.com.
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective. I look forward to hearing from you!
IN CLOSING…
In honor of TODAY, being National Deviled Egg Day, here’s Mom’s secret recipe for “Perfect Deviled Eggs”; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Secret Recipes Newsletter (Secret RecipesTM, Marysville, MI; March 2000, p. 6). Per usual, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
The month of November observes… Banana Pudding Lovers Month, National Fun with Fondue Month, , National Native American Heritage Month, National Novel Writing Month, National Peanut Butter Lovers Month, National Pepper Month, National Pomegranate Month, National Raisin Bread Month, National Roasting Month, Spinach and Squash Month, Sweet Potato Awareness Month (also in February), National Vegan Month, and more.
Today is also… National Ohio Day.
Tomorrow is… National Housewife’s Day and National Sandwich Day.
November 4th is… National Chicken Lady Day and National Candy Day.
November 5th is… National Doughnut Day.
November 6th is… National Nachos Day. Plus, as the first Friday in November (for 2026), it’s also… National Jersey Friday.
November 7th is… National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day. Plus, as the first Saturday in November (for 2026), it’s also… National Play Outside Day, which is the first Saturday of EVERY month.
Sunday, November 8th, is… National Cappuccino Day and National Harvey Wallbanger Day.
Have a great week!
…43 down, 9 to go.
