Punk, I was just joking about Christmas. I'm one up on everyone, anyway. We had bought a new prelit 7' Christmas tree after Christmas the year before we bought this house. The first Christmas here we put it up in the living room and it is now 4 years later and it is still up!! So I don't have to put up the tree!! It's so fun because if I find an ornament I like - I just buy it and bring it on home and put it on the tree, even in July!! DD has forbidden me to put any more on it. Says there is TOO MUCH STUFF and the tree is going to fall over from the weight!! The living room is usually off limits to the GKids unless I am in there with them because of the ball and toy throwing (I get crazy and throw ball inside with them when it is too cold outside sometimes, Shhh, don't tell Alfred.) and the fact that I store LOTS of dishes and accessories behind the sofa. (Everyone else likes the den better and goes there to hang out anyway, so the living room is my sanctuary.) I also have 2 china cabinets in there and one is a beautiful antique that DH's Aunt B had given me when we moved here with the curved glass. (They used to sneak in there and hide when playing hide-n-seek until I found out and made it off limits !! Just think of the damage possibilities. Shivers!) Before we moved here we had lived in a single-wide trailer for about 3 years. Just imagine trying to raise 4 young children, 3 boys and a girl in a single-wide. (Long Story) His older 3 had grown up and left home by then. My DD was grown and married before we married. God knows what he is doing when he doesn't let us see into the future. We would never do what he wanted if we could! No storage, no privacy, no sanity. Needless to say I had great gardens because I couldn't stand the chaos inside!! If I wasn't at work, I was outside daylight 'till dark. Sometimes after dark. Poor Alfred would open the back door and holler out, "Honey, don't you think you ought to quit for the day?" I would holler back, "In a minute." and keep on planting peas by flashlight!! LOL So when we moved here the living room became my refuge. It is where I start my day with my cup of cappaccino,(sp? I just drink it-I don't spell it!!), my Bible study, and LOTS of prayer. I would go in and turn on the tree and sit in silence. Ahhh.. Every woman should have a refuge. I followed Judith's example and my tree is definitely a ' more is more' tree. I started with a bird theme and it grew from there. The color scheme is mostly blue/white except for the birds and a few sentimental items. I still want to order some crystals to give it some more shine. If I ever solve my storage issues and have a nice place to store it, I will put some strings of white lights on it when I put it back up. Now it just has colored and is darker than I would like. I will try to do a post with some pictures as soon as I go buy a new memory stick for my camera. I'll do a separate post for the Thanksgiving 'tables and tales'! I'm feeling some better, now. I will need to get a few more shots to kill all of the infection. Then I'll be as good as new. Thank you for your concern. I love my family here at C&H forum so much. The sewer? What's up with that? Sounds like your life is even more 'interesting' than mine used to be! Details, Girl! Give me details!! I don't know what you are using for energy, but please share your secret! Betty

You can substitute pumpkin for winter squash in any recipe that you have. Here is a good main course one if you like spicy. Clare Thai Pumpkin Curry with Citrus This vegetarian curry offers an array of bright colors - orange, yellow, and red - infused with citrus accents. You'll love the delicious taste of this curry, as well as its healthy combination of vegetables, including pumpkin or squash, yam/sweet potato, carrots, yellow bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes. Add chick peas as a protein source, then finish the dish with a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and nasturium flowers for a gourmet curry recipe that's as beautiful as it is delicious. Makes a perfect vegetarian Thanksgiving recipe, but is equally yummy any time of the year. ENJOY! Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 30 minutes Ingredients: �1/2 small pumpkin (or subsitute 1 acorn squash, butternut, or any other orange squash except spaghetti) �1 small or 1/2 large yam or sweet potato, peeled and cubed �1-2 medium carrots, cut into thick slices �1 yellow bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces �1 cup cherry tomatoes �1/2 can chick peas, drained �2 Tbsp. grated orange rind �CURRY SAUCE: �3-4 cloves garlic �1-2 fresh red chillies (or substitute fresh green chilies, OR 1-2 tsp Thai chili sauce) �1 can coconut milk �1 tsp. tamarind paste (or substitute 1 Tbsp. lime juice) �2+1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce (use wheat-free soy sauce for gluten-free diets) �1 Tbsp. brown sugar �juice of 1/2 lime �juice of 1 medium orange �1/2 tsp. turmeric �1 Tbsp. rice vinegar (or substitute apple cider vinegar) �1 Tbsp. ground coriander seeds, 1 Tbsp. ground cumin, and 1 tsp. fennel seed �1/3 purple onion, sliced �GARNISH: �handful of fresh basil leaves �optional: 1 Tbsp. roasted pumpkin seeds and a few nasturium flowers (or other edible flowers) Preparation: 1.To make the curry sauce, place all sauce ingredients together in a food processor (or blender if you don't have a processor). Process well. Set aside. Prepare pumpkin or squash by cutting it open and scooping out the seeds with a spoon. Either save the seeds for roasting, or discard. Cut the pumpkin/squash into cubes, slicing off the skin. You will probably only use 1/3 to 1/2 a pumpkin for this recipe (save the rest in the refrigerator for cooking later). Prepare the rest of the vegetables plus the orange rind. 4.Place the pumpkin (or squash), yam, and carrots in the wok/frying pan together with the curry sauce over medium-high heat. Stir well. When the curry begins to boil, reduce heat to medium, stirring occasionally. Allow to simmer for 6-8 minutes, or until vegetables have softened. Add the bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, chick peas, and orange rind, stirring to incorporate. Simmer for 2 more minutes. Do a taste test for salt and spice. If not salty enough, add a little more soy sauce. If not spicy enough for your taste, add more fresh chilli (or chili sauce). If too sour, add a little more sugar. To serve, scoop into a large serving bowl, or portion out on individual plates. Sprinkle with fresh basil leaves and pumpkin seeds, then top with several nasturium flowers (if using). Serve with plenty of Thai jasmine rice (white or brown), and enjoy this colorful and fragrant Thai dish!

Here ya go: PUMPKIN PECAN MUFFINS 1/4 cup oats, quick-cooking (not instant) 1/3 cup chopped pecans 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup pureed pumpkin 1/2 cup oil 1 egg 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. nutmeg 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup milk 1 tsp. vanilla TOPPING: 1/4 cup oats, quick-cooking (not instant) 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 3 Tblsp. chopped pecans 1/4 cup margarine, softened Heat oven to 400° F. Mix together and fill muffin cups 3/4-full. Mix topping and sprinkle evenly over top of muffins. Bake 20 minutes.

Soup finished and I just had it for lunch. Thanks for the recipe Chloe, this is going into my "keeper" file. Best combo overall for squash/pumpkin soup I have tried so far. My notes: Roasting the butternut squash was a great idea. I always find butternut to be one of the blander squashes, so roasting it definitely doesn't hurt if you make that substitution. Of course I started with a garden grown squash, but you could easily use one of those frozen squares of squash, as I often do for soups in a hurry. I added/used about a scant half cup of dried yellow split peas. Not sure how long I had the peas, but I soaked them for a few hours before cooking and then cooked them for TWO hours in extra water, and even blended them up with the stick blender and the soup still had a little "tooth" to it because of the hard peas. I know old beans take forever to cook, but this taught me that although beans and peas don't really go "bad" there is a point when they are practically better suited for craft projects and pie weights . . . On the other hand, a little bit of yellow peas added some depth and protein to the soup which was not a bad thing. Depends on what you want the soup for. Being mostly vegetarian, soups are usually part of a full meal for me rather than a starter. I might even add a wee bit of brown rice to this soup before blending to complete the protein, depending on what else I was serving. Could also add some other type of white or beige bland flavored bean, but keep the proportion small or the nature of the soup totally changes. The 1.5 hot peppers I added from the garden with the saute just skirted the edge of acceptability for me with heat. I'm glad my watery eyes alerted me to stop after 1.5 and not add that last half. I had peppers from the garden to use up, otherwise I would have done better adding a dash or two of tabasco after the soup was finished to taste. It was good with a bit of hot pepper though. If I do it again I think I'll also add some ginger, I have a small jar of ground ginger in the fridge. Saffron always a good addition. Don't overdo, but it was fab in this soup. I just added a few threads in with the broth. I used 1 tsp. curry powder and 1/4 tsp garam masala, Spice Islands" brand. All curry blends are different so it will make a difference in how the soup tastes but I imagine most folks have a blend they like. I am not a big fenugreek fan so I look for blends without that. I dialed down the butter to half with no noticeable effects. Could go slightly less even, if you're worried about such things. I also used about 1/3 cup lite coconut milk and 1/3 cup half and half, because I had those to use up. The soup will be good with any type of creamy beverage if you have dairy issues like we do. Easily dialed back if you're watching your calories. Kale addition was fab. but we love kale. I love kale with root veggies or squashes, great flavor combo, IMHO. But mushrooms or corn would also be cute floating in this soup I think, if you want to guild the lily. Or red pepper, although we are not big fans of cooked peppers, particularly matched with blander things and not tomatoes. None of this would be critical to the basic goodness of the soup though. Thanks again Chloe for sharing!