Whether it’s for the expected arrival of a first grandchild, the ability to be a stay-at-home mom, landing a new job, or savoring the sheer blessing of being alive to celebrate the holiday — people across The Laker/Lutz News coverage area have many reasons to celebrate this Thanksgiving.
Those of us working at the newspaper, join them, in celebrating the holiday of gratitude and express our appreciation to you, our readers.
(Photos by B.C. Manion)
“I am so blessed with family and a husband that survived a stroke and club members (GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club) and church (First United Methodist Church of Lutz), said Edwina Kraemer, of Lutz.
For Thanksgiving, she said, “We are having an organic turkey. And, my son and daughter-in-law and my beautiful granddaughter and some friends of ours are all coming over, and we’re going to try to eat healthy.”
Isabel Wirth, who has been volunteering at Daystar Hope Center Thrift Shop in Dade City for 19 years, said “I’m thankful that we can do as much for the people here, and I’m thankful for good health.”
The Dade City woman plans to travel to Mount Dora to her niece’s house for Thanksgiving.
“I’m thankful for the nice weather. I’m so glad it’s finally cooled down,” said Lois Cohen, of Land O’ Lakes.
But, that’s not all she’s grateful for.
I’m thankful for all of the friends that I have in the Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club,” she added.
For the holiday, Cohen said, “We’re having my family over for Thanksgiving. My husband is doing a whole menu,” she said, including German potato casserole and cranberry trifle.
Matt Badillo, of Wesley Chapel, is thankful for a new employment opportunity. “I just got offered a job at the VA. It was a bit of a long process, but it’s finally rolling through. It’s really good. I’ll be a nursing assistant there.”
But, he’s also grateful to be celebrating the holiday with his family.
“I just recently came back from living in Australia for three years. I came back in April,” he said, noting he’s looking forward to turkey and cranberry sauce, and for another favorite, too.
“My grandma makes this corn casserole that I’ve been waiting for, for awhile.”
Pat Wright, the circulation supervisor at Hugh Embry Branch Library in Dade City, said: “I’m thankful for the whole staff that I work with here at Hugh Embry.”
The Webster woman said she’s also grateful for family and friends, and planned to be making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, with all of the trimmings, for her family.
Rita Noble, an avowed book lover, has been working at Hugh Embry Branch Library for 17 years. She said she’s grateful for her family and friends, and is excited by the prospect of her first grandchild who is due this spring. Noble said she’ll be making a “Thanksgiving dinner “with all of the fixins’.”
Sister Jean Abbott, who oversees the Daystar Hope Center Thrift Shop in Dade City, said “I am thankful for the generosity of the people who donate their time and their money and their items, or their food and household stuff to us.
“It keeps our doors open. It keeps us able to assist people who are needy, and I’m especially thankful for the volunteers who do all of the work of processing that stuff that comes in, and making sure it’s in useful shape to go to the people who need it,” she said.
She plans to spend Thanksgiving at Saint Anthony Parish Hall, helping to serve others and enjoying her holiday meal.
It will be her second Thanksgiving dinner, which makes it hard to follow her primary doctor’s advice to watch her carbohydrates, she said.
Stephanie Critser and her 3-year-old son, Joshua, were enjoying a beautiful day at Zephyr Park recently — which offers an example of why the Zephyrhills woman is grateful this Thanksgiving. “I am very thankful that I am able to stay at home with him. I’m able to spend a lot of quality time with him. I haven’t always been able to do that, so this year, I am very thankful for that,” she said.
The family will be celebrating Thanksgiving with her in-laws, she said. “My husband (Daniel) is making his mashed potatoes.”
Suzanne Jasinski, of Land O’ Lakes, is grateful to be able to celebrate another Thanksgiving with her family.
“A couple of years ago, I was shivering, I thought I was cold. I kept putting blanket after blanket after blanket. My son said, ‘No, you’re going to the hospital,’” she recalled.
She didn’t want to go, but she went.
“It turned out to be septic. My kidneys were shutting down. I was in a coma for 3 ½ weeks,” she said. She was on dialysis, too.
“They took me off dialysis because my kidneys started working,” she said. Her doctor called her “his little miracle.”
Jasinski lives with her son, James, and her daughter-in-law, Michelle, and they expect about 20 people to celebrate Thanksgiving with them.
They’ll be enjoying a feast, including turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams — “the whole nine yards,” Jasinski said.
And, that includes dressing.
“Her oyster dressing is the best,” said Kimberly Lucas, Jasinski’s daughter, who was with her and Jasinski’s granddaughter, Ashley Lucas, at The Shops at Wiregrass.
Published November 22, 2017
