Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2008. Mattie received this wonderful turkey hat from his school counselor, and as you can see Mattie loved it and put it right on. He was the cutest turkey around in my opinion. This was our last Thanksgiving with Mattie and it is a holiday neither Peter nor I will ever forget. Mattie was home recovering from limb salvaging surgery. He was in severe pain and it was at that time his clinical depression and PTSD symptoms began. It was frightening and what I recall feeling was absolute helplessness and hopelessness. It maybe why I really do not care for Thanksgiving anymore. 


Quote of the day: It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely. ~  Leo Buscaglia


Peter and I started our day off by making a pumpkin pie and an apple pie for Thanksgiving Day dinner. I learned how to make a "Brown Bag Apple Pie" from my mother in law. Who I believe got this recipe from her mom. Needless to say this pie recipe has been in Peter's family for generations. It has to be my all time favorite pie and there are many secret little steps to this pie, but the key is that you have to put the pie in a brown paper bag (like a grocery bag) and bake it stapled shut in the oven for an hour. I know that may sound odd and perhaps you think paper will burn in a 425 degree oven, but it doesn't. Paper burns at 451 degrees. Baking an apple pie in a brown paper bag has many advantages..... all the juices remain in the bag and not all over your oven, and second and most importantly it seems to trap the juices in the pie! It gives the pie a fantastic and unforgettable flavor! 

We are working on getting dinner prepped for Thursday, as Thursday is a milestone birthday for my mom. In addition to cooking dinner for 10 people, we are also hosting a dinner party for her on Saturday. We stopped by the restaurant today to finalize things, and I am glad that Peter and I could be in Los Angeles for this special occasion. Given how I have been feeling and then dealing with surgery, nothing was guaranteed. 

Meanwhile, in Alexandria, VA, the last sorting event took place today! The sorting event took place at St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School (SSSAS). This was Mattie's School, and the School did an "All-School Saintsgiving Candy Sorting"day!!! Students from all three campuses collected post-Halloween candy and sorted it for Mattie Miracle! Mattie Miracle is THANKFUL to SSSAS and we know that thousands of families caring for children in our region will benefit from this incredible service!!!!

This was the crowd which gathered to sort candy today at Mattie's school!

People were filled with energy and were having fun while sorting candy. I think candy can bring a smile to just about anyone's face. 

Each table appeared to have their own system for candy sorting, and that is also part of the fun! To develop your own system that works for you and your own team. 

Get the picture for the number of people involved in this process??

Here is where the final sorted products landed. Right now, Mattie's school is storing about 5,000 pounds of candy for us, for which we are very grateful. I will be teaming up with the School on December 1, and making the last candy donations around town!