Ruth, I just returned home to your lovely card.....a very fun card....LOL!!!! And seeds too....Zinnia Benary's Giant Blend. LOVE Zinnias!! Thank you very much!! Wishing you and your clan a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

I will be back with THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS later. Annie has been goofing off way to much out of town....let me get some laundrey going and take care of some other stuff. I am leaving again on Thursday for 4 or 5 days....and I have to pack again. If there is one thing about traveling that I do not like......it is packing....LOL!

Bingo!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

Congratulations to our 3 Bingo winners, Ruth, Jeanne and Nicole!

Annie, glad you are back safely. I agree packing is the worse part of traveling. I am glad you will be participating in sharing your Thanksgiving traditions. I was beginning to worry about you lol.

If anyone else hasn’t responded yet about their Thanksgiving traditions, or maybe you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, whatever the case may be, please post a response so I can award you points and send you a prize. I am extending the deadline until noon tomorrow EST to give everyone time to respond. I know we are all probably busy with holiday preparations.

We still have a few straggler cards probably floating around at the post office. I am hoping they will be delivered soon. I will post an update soon.

Have a good night. I am going to get some sleep. I did all the laundry today in addition to working my 8 hour shift.

THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS.....Kind of strange but Thanksgiving food is not my favorite of all foods but I so enjoy the holiday. The most important tradition to me is family being together. And if there are people/friends that, for whatever reason, do not have a place to go, they come and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with us. My Mom and Dad always did this and it has continued on. No one should spend the holidays alone. My younger sister started the tradition, probably 50 years ago, of going around the table or should I say tables....everyone had to state what they were thankful for. Always interesting for sure what people are thankful for....LOL! The young kids always have the best THANKS!! Egg Nog with brandy, topped with freshly grated nutmeg is a must....must....must.....and I mean every year. OH the calories!!! Football is always on the tube.......Christmas music is played, We girls will sing fun Christmas music along with the real music groups ie The Carpenters, Bing Crosby etc....the guys are just rolling there eyes. They really have no choice in the matter but to listen to us. We have the best time.

We have newer traditions since our Mom and Dad passed away .....We always share stories about growing up.....such great memories for all of us, especially since our Mom and Dad are no longer with us. We will end the Evening around 10pm by either watching "It's A Wonderful Life" or "White Christmas". We rotate the movies. I am pretty sure we started the movie thing when our Mom and Dad were still doing Thanksgiving but I think it is more special now than it was then.We decided this year to go more casual and not bring out the fine china and crystal etc.....the weather will be 80 ish degrees....shorts, a shift or bathing suit will be perfect attire. And we will eat outside. That is always a weather call.

Most important is that we are together....we laugh together....we have great conversation even when we disagree. Family togetherness is truly the best!!

Happy Thanksgiving....be safe and be happy.

Annie

Happy Thanksgiving Eve Everyone!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone...the big day is almost here.

I have tallied up the participation numbers and here are the results. Please let me know if I missed anything.

Participating in 3 rounds

Annie

Jeanne

Margo

Melinda

Nicole

Ruth

Participating in 2 rounds

Urooj

We also have our 3 bingo winners:

Ruth, Jeanne and Nicole

Congratulations everyone, I will be getting prizes out to everyone soon.

Also, there are a few cards that are still missing. I am hopeful they will arrive today or later this week. I will update those later.

I am going to be working late today and then cooking so I will probably not have time to stop by later, but I want to wish you all a very Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!

Urooj, my card from you arrived today. It seems you had perfect timing. Thank you also for the Rose of Sharon seeds and I'm wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my gardening friends!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have a blessed day. I have been busy making pies and sides. I made a lemon meringue pie which is my daughter’s favorite. I’m so glad she is hosting at her house this year.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING LADIES......enjoy the day with your family and friends. BE safe....Be happy!!

Hello FOTESS gardening friends. I hope everyone had a safe and blessed Thanksgiving. I had a great time with family and the food choices were endless. Everything was delicious and I was careful not to eat myself into a food coma since I had a long drive back home in the evening, lol.

I wanted to let you know that the participation prizes will be delivered tomorrow for Annie, Jeanne, Margo, Nicole, Ruth, and Urooj and Sunday for Melinda. They are all the same, and nothing too special, just a little something I think everyone needs as a gardener. I hope you like what I selected. Please just post that you received when it arrives via Amazon.

The three Bingo prizes for Ruth, Jeanne and Nicole were also purchased and are being shipped by a third party. (I learned all of this from my dear gardening friend Annie, and I love it!) I will update you with shipping dates and estimated delivery. They ship via UPS and advised shipping is a bit behind as is to be expected this time of year.

Well, I am going to try to be productive and get some work done. I hope everyone has a great day, and hopefully those missing cards will be delivered today or tomorrow.

Take care and have a great Friday!

I just deleted my post, which included a photo of the mangled envelope it came in because I realized it showed Susan's address to the world. Here it is again, minus one photo.

A little damp and dirty, but it made it. The postmark is the 16th. The nice card may have suffered postal abuse but the seeds in a plastic baggie are fine. I don’t have Russian Tarragon and I’m truly looking forward to trying it! Thank you Susan.

Oops Deleted both photos

So glad you received the card and sorry it was all mangled up. The post office should be ashamed. At least the seeds are intact. I wish you happy gardening next spring.

Susan, thank you for the awesome hosting!!! Always a great time with you.

Ended up cancelling plan and stayed home with hubby. Too late to plan a dinner but our wonderful neighbors brought over some of theirs. It was delicious.

Awww Margo, thank you! I always have a great time hosting. All of you are so much fun and always participate, which is so nice.

I am glad you have good neighbors that look out for you and I hope you are doing better. I know it’s hard when we have to cancel or postpone our plans but I know you will make it up at a later date and I’m sure it will be great.

It is pretty chilly here and we have had flurry activity odd and on all day. There is a thin dusting on the ground. I know it’s that time of year but I am never ready for the snow. It will be in the 40s a couple of days next week so I will look forward to that.

Susan, this month was lots of fun. Thanks for being the hostess.

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday. It is cold and dreary here, but to be expected this time of year.

I wanted to give all of you an update on your participation prize from Amazon. Tis the season when Amazon is overwhelmed with deliveries so I apologize for the delay. I cannot believe they deliver until 10 pm in Texas and California, but that is what it says when I looked them up. Enjoy your day. I just got finished working so I am going to go to dinner with some dear friends and then watch a good Christmas movie. Hoping it will motivate me to put up some Christmas decorations soon. Have a great rest of your day ladies!

Here's the scoop:

Jeanne - out for Delivery - arriving between 4 pm and 7 pm today

Urooj - out for Delivery - arriving by 10 pm today

Ruth - out for Delivery - arriving by 10 pm today

Annie - out for Delivery - arriving between 2:15 and 5:15 pm today

Nicole - out for Delivery - arriving by 10 pm today

Melinda - arriving by 9 pm tomorrow

Margo - delayed and now scheduled to arrive on Monday

Another update....Bingo prizes estimates delivery by UPS:

Ruth - Wednesday by 9 pm

Jeanne - Thursday by 9 pm

Nicole - Friday by 9 pm

Thank you for the wonderful prize, Susan!

Susan thank you so much for my awesome bingo prize!!!

thank u for hosting this month!! i know it was a very busy month.

I am glad the participation prizes are being delivered as scheduled by Amazon. They do a good job. It was my honor to host this month and I had such a good time. I loved learning about your stress reducing tips, traditions and recipes. Thank you for sharing with me.

Nicole, your Bingo prize is a separate prize and will be delivered on Friday by UPS.

Hi susan. i tried to post yesterday but it didn't go through. first of all, thank you for hosting a wonderful swap. it was quite generous of you to mail out prizes to participants, there was no need! I received my prize yesterday, as scheduled! thank you so much!

since my post from yesterday didnt go through, i will just restate that the rose of sharon needs to winter over so just throw them outside and see what happens, i grew this bush from seed from one of you guys! it did surprise me and come up a year or two later from planting....

Thank you For the update Urooj. I enjoy hosting and awarding little prizes to my gardening friends.

I am going to be planting the rose of Sharon seeds as soon as the snow melts during the week. I am excited to grow from seed. I never grew them from seed before, and I don’t have a pink rose of Sharon. I have a blue double that I just purchased this past year and a couple of purple ones with red centers. Do you know if the pink one you sent seeds deom has a red center Urooj ?

Just got home tonight from a little family weekend road trip to Amarillo/Palo Duro Canyon State Park. We've had our rescue dog Hannah for 3 years now but this was her first road trip. She did not seem to like it. She loves little short trips especially to a park that's close by. We knew Mufasa has some issues with traveling but he did better than usual this trip.

Both dogs are so happy to be home.

Had a package waiting at home and was very surprised when I opened it. I assume it was from you Susan. Exactly what I needed. Thank you so much. And thanks for hosting a fun swap month.

So glad to hear imyour participation prize arrived and that you can use it Ruth. Your Bingo prize is also on the way and it should arrive via UPS sometime Wednesday.

Regarding your dog and road trips, I understand how that can be. I have a chihuahua that does well on road trips and a Maltese puppy that has done well on short trips of an hour and a half each way. I am hoping he will do well on longer trips but he is only 7 months old so I will wait until next year before I try a longer weekend trip with him. I had a dog once that suffered terrible car sickness and we couldn’t take him anywhere.

Big thank you to Susan!! Love my gift! Needed new ones!

So glad you liked it Melinda!

Susan, I just opened my package.....THANK YOU.....THANK YOU.....THANK YOU!! I needed new ones!! Wonderful month of November swapping and playing with you girls. THANKS so much Susan......fun, easy, simple month!!

Hoping everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving day and weekend with family and friends. I sure did!! I need to buckle down and do reality stuff...haha!

Happy day!

I am glad you received your prize safe and sound Annie. It is hard getting back to reality after the fun holidays. I for one don't want to eat anymore turkey until next Thanksgiving.

Heidi, I received your beautiful hand made card today and a nice selection of marigold and blanket flower seeds. Thank you so much!

I have tried to keep track of the cards being received and my records show Margo and Annie only received one of two cards. Please let me know if I am wrong. Sometimes we don't see all of the messages here, so I am not sure if they were received and I just don't see the post.

Susan, love my prize. Definitely needed new ones. thank you

I‘m pretty sure I posted anything I received because I’m always thankful but anything goes with the post office. LOL

Thanks Margo. So glad you can use them. I love mine. They cut through even thick branches.

Susan, I posted what I received. The other card is probably lost in space...LOL!

Susan, I'll message you. I didn't even realize that I had a second prize coming to me. Thank you so much.

Glad you got your Bingo prize and that you liked it Jeanne.

I hope everyone is having a great week. I just wanted to post an update regarding Bingo prizes:

Jeanne - received

Ruth - scheduled for UPS delivery tomorrow 12/1

Nicole - scheduled for UPS delivery Friday 12/3

I see there are still a couple of cards not delivered yet. I hope it isn't a sign of what we can expect again for Christmas cards being delivered in Feburary that were mailed in December last year. I am hopeful they will arrive. Please post when you receive.

Take care everyone, and thank you for being such gracious participants this month. It was an honor to be your host. I can't believe it is the last day of November. It really flew by. I have so much to do and I am sure all of you do as well to prepare for Christmas, but I love this time of year.

Oh my goodness Susan N ~ Today, I received my bingo prize and thank you so much. The participation gift alone was good. Thank you for hosting one of the busy months and thanks for making it so fun!!!

Nicole, I am so glad you received it. I hope you enjoy. I had a great time hosting.

I started to go bed last night around 11 and decided to look out front. There were 4 boxed stacked on the porch. They weren't there at 8. Someone was working late last night.

One had my name. OH MY, Susan. I love it. You have us all spoiled this month with these wonderful gifts.

I am so glad you received it Ruth. I was hoping you don’t have that one yet. I know you like pink and flowers with green eyes so that is why I chose that one for you. I hope it gives you many beautiful blooms. Enjoy!

Did anyone receive the missing couple of cards? Everyone should have received 2 cards. Please let me know if you didn’t get your second one. Thanks.

I only have two Amaryllis and they are both red. I've lost the tag on one but I think it's Red Lion and the other is St Joseph. Both red. I love this one. Thank you so much.

You’re most welcome Ruth.

Susan, I received one card but don't worry about it.......it probably got lost in the mail or gobbled up in one those machines....LOL!

Oh my goodness Annie I am sorry. Thanks for letting me know. I do hope it turns up.

Susan, I believe the missing card has arrived.......from Heidi. I received a lovely Fall card with White Marigold, Durango Marigold and Blanketflower Gaillardia seeds....Thank you so much Heidi.

So glad it turned up Annie! I think we are all complete now for November!

Take care ladies. Thanks again everyone for allowing me to host. I had a great time.