matthew

No that was when I was telling you that they were TRYING to get knocked up... Now it seems that they were very good at it...

I told my five year old that Kiki was growing a baby in her belly. She looked at me very mater of factly & said "but they have to have sex first"...

Baldur

Good that she is around to educate you

matthew

Yes, I had to go look that up...

Baldur

Perhaps Baldur should ask a question of his audience.
Invariably I am beset (+4 points) upon by friends etc to say grace before our meal. While I am usually quite adequate at accomplishihng this perhaps having a few ready to go in my arsenal would be a good idea.
What versions of grace do you use or have heard and admired?

marius

Well, Baldur, ahem ... first prayers that came to mind are two I think you you cannot use: "Over the lips and past the gums, look out liver, here it comes." ... or .... "Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub. Yea God!"

Now that we have that out of the way, one year a friend read the Disiderata before Christmas dinner. I thought that quite lovely and it set a pleasant tone. Here's a link: http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm

One friend says a blessing almost exactly like this one ...
"May the peace and blessing of God
descend upon us as we receive of his bounty,
and may our hearts be filled
with love for one another. Amen."

Otherwise, all the blessings I've heard are "from the heart" spontaneous prayers. Good luck! Am sure you'll get many great additions from your listening audience.

Dragon

I like marius' blessing (the peace and blessing one -though I've always been rather fond Rub -a-dub-dub Thanks for the grub too!)
I don't have any particular suggestions myself except to say that brevity (+5 points) is usually best. My Brother in law (who is a preacher) always does his right off the cuff but he rambles on so much it drives us crazy. We just want to get to all that hot yummy food while it's still hot and yummy.

maddyjean08

My favorite is 'Give us this day our daily bread, may you bless IT and love US'.

Robindcr8l

As a kid, we always said, "God is Great, God is good, Let us thank Him for our food. Amen" LOL We hated that good and food didn't rhyme, so we always pronounced food like good with an "f". It's the dumbest grace in the world, which could bring your guests a laugh. But, then, Baldur, I'm sure you are going for class, with all that foo-foo china and silver!

Robindcr8l

And then there's always that recent country song..."God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy!"

maddyjean08

Oh, I don't think God is happy about the way people treat him. Whenever I tell Olivia (kimberly) she's sinned, she walks over to my Bible, picks it up, and spits on it! Just spits all over it just to bug me and disgrace God

marius

Baldur's request for ideas about grace before Thanksgiving dinner brought to mind a prayer I heard at a conference. It was sung by a Native American "rock group" as the prayer offering before our annual awards banquet. They had everyone join in on the chorus, which is the middle part. It gave me chills, the good kind! Yes, this is probably not an ideal grace for a Thanksgiving event, but still a lovely prayer. : )

Navajo Blessing Way Prayer

In beauty may I walk.
All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.
With beauty may I walk.

With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty

[Note: The way it was explained, the use of the word "beauty" in this prayer is bigger and different in meaning than how it is described in the dictionary. Think - a kind of spiritual beauty.]

marius

One prayer I've always liked is when someone says something to the effect of "Thanks for bringing us together safely and thanks for seeing us home safely." Not sure why, but that always warms the heart.

puzzler

How about one my grand dad taught me?
Over the teeth,
Around the gums,
Look out stomach,
Here it comes!

Dragon

I don't think this would work for you Baldur but occasionally when we sit down to eat at my folks place my step-dad will say "I'll say grace... Grace, let's eat."

puzzler

And does Grace let him eat??

GOLDIEGIRL8

?

sheftali52

Marius, the Navajo Blessing Way Prayer is one of the most lovely things I've read lately. It expresses a universal sort of spirituality.

marius

sheftali, great way of putting it - "universal sort of spirituality."

Funny thing, the conference where I heard that prayer was in 1992. Had the words, but not the tune so kept trying to remember the tune ... and right before bedtime it came back to me!!! Love how the brain or ? does that. Woke up humming, very nice. : )

marius

And speaking of humming, it's time to wish all a wonderful and wondrous Thanksgiving Day to all. Have selected a musical interlude to represent that wish. Enjoy.

Over the River and Through the Woods.

Over the river and thro' the wood,
To grandfather's house we go.
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,
Thro' white and drifted snow.

Over the river and thro' the wood,
Oh how the wind does blow!
It strings the toes, and bites the nose
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and thro' the wood,
to have a full day of play;
Oh, hear the bells ringing "Ting a ling ling!
For it's Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and thro' the wood,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring o'er the ground, just like a hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and thro' the wood,
And striaght thro' the barnyard gate.
It seems that we go so dreadfully slow.
It is so hard to wait.

Over the river and thro' the wood,
Now granma's cap I spy!
Hurrah for fun, the pudding's done.
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie.

PS: In our family, this song was played on the piano and sung slow and lazy. On the Internet it's sung as if folks have had a great deal of coffee. That was a shock. Perhaps we sang slow as marius learned to play it on piano as a wee child and people could not sing faster than she could play? Don't know, but it sounds very odd to hear it fast so did not post those hyper versions. : )

Baldur

Thanksgiving update time!
Baldur indeed did finish polishing the sterling yesterday, today it's all about cooking.
The list includes

Make the dressing
Bake an Amaretto Cheesecake
Bake Mincemeat Crumb Squares
Bake a Chocolate cream pie (without cream actually so just a chocolate pie)
remove the giblet bag from the turkey and boil them to make gravy with
clean and season the turkey and have it ready to go into the oven
make the scalloped potatoes
cook the balsamic braised brussels sprouts
make the bread dough for dinner rolls
peel and slice the turnips
peel the pearl onions that I grew myself!
wrap the marinated olives in pastry
wash the kitchen floor