Thanksgiving 2025: Unexpected Acts of Kindness

2-yr old Emily DeArdo with the Thanksgiving turkey, 1984

Inspiring Thanksgivings of Old

The following is Emily’s post from February 2019 where she mentions the kindness of others back on Thanksgiving day 2001.

That kindness must have made a big impact on Emily, so much so that she would write about it over seventeen years later.

We would like to share Emily’s post with you again and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and maybe take some time to remember when someone did an act of kindness for you.

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“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. … Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
- Matthew 25: 35-36, 40

Daybook: Pre-thanksgiving, pre-Advent!

November sunset

I thought it was time for a little daybook!

Outside my window::

41 and sort of cloudy. We had snow on Saturday—didn’t stick around, but we had it.

Wearing::

black leggings and a very cozy navy sweatshirt my sister in law got me. :)

Reading::

—The notes to Paradiso* —I re-read the Divine Comedy last week, after not having read it for awhile. Anthony Esolen’s notes are fabulous and he does a beautiful job with the translation. (Here’s his Inferno* and Purgatory*)

—The third volume of the Summa Domestica. This would make a great Christmas present! (As would the three Dante books above.) It is sadly NOT AVAILABLE right now but it is been RE-PRINTED and I will let you know when it’s back! In the meantime you can check out Leila’s blog!

Cooking::

Beer bread! Also I am sort of in charge of Thanksgiving this year. I’ve made a plan, we’re getting a smoked turkey breast (YUM) and the only recipe I really have to worry about is the creamed corn recipe because I’ve never made it before, but it’s an Ina recipe so I’m sure it will be fine. I mean it’s cream and corn, it can’t be bad!

Living the Liturgy::

Christ the King Sunday is this week!

As I wrote last week, let’s remember Advent. That doesn’t mean we don’t do any Christmas prep during Advent. Heavens, no. My Christmas cards are all written out already! But it does mean, as I talk about in that post, that we use Advent as a season to prepare for the Incarnation—for Christmas! Christmas is its own incredibly delightful season, and let’s not rush to it! Let’s prepare! Let’s “wait on tip toe” as Mother Mary Francis writes!*

Let’s remember what Advent is about, and what Christmas is about.

So in the pre-Advent prep department, I am clearing off the space where my nativity will live.

Normally, this area is given over to books:

And photos of the “little girls”—Patty, Madeleine, and my new niece, Hailey, who is still cooking. :) (I have an ultrasound photo of her in a frame that my brother and SIL gave me here.)

I have removed the photos. Now I am going to start removing these books, and then I will give this are a good dusting and polishing before the nativity (I have a Fontanini set) comes to live here!

These are divided into pretty books and knitting books, and also books I need to read or shelve. It is, as you can see, a lot. :) (And yes, normally boxes do not live here, but this is my real life! Boxes are there right now from the porch! This is how it looks RIGHT THIS SECOND!)

So it will be cleared off and my nativity will eventually take up its place here. I’ve also replaced some of the fake plants I have around with new Christmas/winter-ish plants—firs and spruces with some red berries for winter and Advent/Christmas.

I am very excited to begin Advent.

(Do you have your candles?)

Knitting::

I wore my Rolling Pastures shawl to Mass on Saturday!

Isn’t it pretty? I think it will also be taken out to Mass for Gaudete Sunday in a few weeks because it’s ROSE. :)

I am working on Hailey’s blanket for Christmas and also another Christmas present, and then I’ll move onto scarves for Madeleine’s first birthday party in January!

Around the house::

See living the liturgy, but also just general tidying up and I need to take a load of books to the used bookstore to sell them. The book purge is constant. Books come in, books come out! The circle of life!

Fitness::

Just made my peloton schedule for the next two weeks. Walking, strength training, stretching…all the good stuff.

Daybook No. 113

Outside my window::

Grey and cloudy. This is helped by my tree, which is glowing in the corner, and the Joy candle I have lit on my counter. I don't mind rainy days and this is a good day to get things done after the holiday weekend. SO much goodness happened, which I'll be writing about below--but suffice to say, I don't mind a rainy day today!

Wearing::

a Pure Barre sweatshirt, Athleta workout capris, and....flats. Yeah. This outfit is AWESOME, right? :) I'm going to be working out shortly, and since I'm hanging out around the house, does it matter what I wear? Well, OK, probably. But  don't care. :) 

In the CD player::

Renee Fleming's Christmas in New York, alternating with Part I of Messiah. And yes, Adele 25 is sitting on my counter, waiting to be heard.

Reading::

Cinder (again), and my crazy stack of Advent devotionals: 

Come, Lord Jesus is my FAVORITE devotional for this time of year. SO much wisdom, so much to pray about. 

Writing::

NaNo is over and I'm not even going to ouch Tempest until January. It is, though, tentatively the first book of a trilogy, so I've done some note taking and brief preliminary planning about those two books. I'm not pressuring myself to write anything substantial in those for awhile, and I'm sort of afraid to until I do Tempest edits. Suffice to say I have a vague idea of the content of those books, but that's all it is right now--a vague idea.

Also working on the new Catholicism series I talked about yesterday.  While I teach first graders, don't think I'm going to use first grade vocabulary and write like you are first graders, lovely readers. We'll use "big people" words and concepts. 

Tidying Up: 

I think I have just about reached the "click point" the book talk about--where you know how much of a thing you need. and you enjoy having. There are a few more books and movies that can go (this is like the fourth round of purging in that area), but I think I'm at the point of saturation. Yay! I didn't think I'd get here when I first started, to be honest. 

The second part of the book talks about finding places for everything. This is another hard thing for me because I have things that I need (like, Duct Tape), but where does it go? (It's too big for the junk drawer, it doesn't fit in the tool box, etc.) So that's what I'll be working on next. 

Since I've decorated for Christmas, there is some chaos around here, because I have to move furniture to put up my tree. But it's all good. 

Thanksgiving::

I had a great holiday. Did you? I hope you did. Thanksgiving day was in the high sixties here, so we got to hang out on the deck and enjoy the warmth before dinner!

And yes, that's my sister, who came up from Houston to surprise me! She's here until tomorrow. We've had a LOT of fun while she's been here--she helped me decorate my tree, we went to the Penguins/Jackets game with our brother, and we all (us siblings) had a great meal last night at The Barn, one of our favorite local restaurants. Since Mel lives in Texas now, I don't get to see her nearly as often as I used to, and it's always fun when she comes up! 

I also had a great day with my friend Sarah (who made that GORGEOUS wreath two photos up). We had lunch and talked on a rainy Saturday while her husband watched the OSU/Michigan game with some of our friends. She's another friend I almost never get to see, and not nearly as much as I'd like. 

What was the best part of your Thanksgiving Weekend?