Did anyone notice that Christmas decorations and paraphernalia started turning up BEFORE Halloween this year? I say, let’s just enjoy each month and what it brings in the moment!

For me, this means our annual trek to Chicago to see family for the Thanksgiving/Indigenous People Day holiday. Last year, we missed it AND spent the better part of the evening at the emergency vet hospital with our dog. (Good news – she was fine in the end!)

This year, we are celebrating together in person. I just got my Covid booster yesterday, and we’re busy making plans for what everyone is cooking/baking. When we get together in my brother’s wonderful kitchen, we all have a blast cooking and prepping, cleaning (my mom, the Energizer Bunny), and having a lot of laughs. I have immense gratitude that everyone in my family gets along, and we genuinely enjoy each other’s company. We are SO thankful we can all be together this year safely.

Teledraw

One of our annual traditions is to play the game, “Teledraw” after dessert on Thanksgiving. If you don’t know this game, I highly recommend it! We usually end up rolling on the floor crying with the giggles. My nephew, Sam, taught us this game over a decade ago which combines the concept of “Telephone” with writing and drawing.

How to Play:

You start with booklet of paper having pages equal to the number of people playing. You sit in a circle, You write a sentence of your choice and then pass to the person to your right, This means you receive a sentence from the person on your left. You then draw an illustration of the sentence you just received on the next page which is blank. Then after drawing, you pass to the person to your right and you receive a drawing from the person on your left. You must write a sentence describing the drawing you just received on the next blank page. Then you pass the booklet to the person on your right. You continue in this manner until all the pages have been completed. No peeking at the previous pages until the very end! Then you take turns presenting your “story” and each page to the group. The results are hilarious.

My sister-in-law’s drawing of “I see a kid running happily towards cake” to which my husband, Denis, described on the next blank page as: “A smiling unshaven man watches as a child rushes toward a rocking chair-shaped menorah perched on a fireplace mantle. ”

A simple sentence like: “I ate some cake.” can turn into a final picture that illustrates “A man stabbed himself in the head with a stick but ended up running happily away.”

I wrote about the rules of the game and the metamorphosis of that sentence here. This was eleven years ago, and I’m happy our tradition is still going strong! I highly recommend this activity to groups. It’s both adult and kid friendly. Let me know if you try it out!

I’ll end here with a li’l butternut squash tutorial and some recipes. Prepping a whole butternut squash takes a bit of time and effort, but I think it’s SO worth it. You get twice as much for your $$, and I find the raw squash lasts much longer in the fridge than the precut store-bought packages. PLUS, toasted butternut squash seeds are the best!

To access free illustrated tutorial, click here.

Roasted Butternut Squash

4 cups cubed or sliced butternut squash (about ½ a squash or one package of prepared).
2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and other seasoning of choice to taste (cinnamon is also nice)

1. Preheat oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Toss cubed butternut squash with oil, season with salt, and stir to combine.

3. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.

4. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring and flipping cubes at 20 minutes.

5. Taste and add more seasonings it desired.

6. Serve warm or at room temperate

This recipe maybe be doubled.

Make sure the cubes are in a single layer on baking sheets so edges can get caramelized.

Toasted Butternut Squash Seeds

Batch of cleaned raw seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and other seasonings to taste (I prefer just salt but feel free to experiment!)

1. Preheat oven or toaster over to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Toss cleaned seeds with oil. Spread in a single layer on prepared baking sheet.

3. Toast in oven for about 7-10 minutes. Watch closely. When you hear popping, the seeds are getting close to finished.

4. Stir seeds occasionally.

5. Remove baking sheet from oven when seeds look tan.

6. Let cool for a few minutes in pan.

7. Transfer to a bowl and season with more salt or other seasonings to taste.

I made a Harvest Salad using both some roasted butternut squash and toasted seeds last week.

Harvest Salad

Dressing:

1 teaspoon honey mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Salad:

Greens of your choice
Cubed raw apple
Shredded roasted chicken
Roasted butternut squash
Toasted butternut squash seeds
Dried cranberries

Combine honey mustard, sugar, and balsamic vinegar together in a small bowl.
While whisking, add a slow stream of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Assemble salad and toss with some dressing. Save remaining dressing in a jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.