Madison and Marcus spent Thanksgiving with their dad so the night before they left we had a Family Home Evening on gratitude. We took Michelle's suggestion and blindfolded them, gave them an object to be thankful for and let them guess what it was. We read a story about giving thanks on thanksgiving, and then made cupcake turkeys. They turned out so cute and were gobbled right up.
On Thanksgiving day, we had the standard fare turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, Kelly's amazing rolls, cheery pie for my dad, pumpkin and banana for the rest of us...all of which were amazing as usual (my mom is a great cook). We also had a few different items that made it fun. Julia created such cute table decorations all out of paper. they had little Thanksg
iving reminders all over them. She even made little favors full of candy. We had 4 different cheese spreads with a variety of crackers and a huge fruit bowl for pre-dinner snacks. It was just enough to get us through the lunch hour, and so fun to sit and chat while things cooked. We baked the sweet potatoes instead of making candied yams. I came up with a walnut caramel sauce (from various recipes) that, thanks to my mom, turned out really well. That way we could add as much sugar as we wanted without the marshmallows or whatever. Julia made green bean casserole which I know is standard in many homes, but I don't remember having it at our dinner before...it was nummy. 
I made a poppyseed, pomegranates, almond salad that was fun. It was a new way to dress up the veggies and once you get the pomegranate seeded was so easy to put together.Here is a picture of the kids table before dinner started. I love it that Miriam is old enough to sit by herself at the kids table. Although, without my supervision I know all she ate was a roll and mashed potatoes. I think with the next child, I will suggest dinner take place during naptime until they are old enough to sit at the kids table, it's so much more pleasant for me.
Here is my Thanksgiving project. I have been coveting vintage ruffle aprons (see Cristin's Thanksgiving blog to see them) from cute local store for months now, but they were pretty pricey. My mom told me about all this material my Grandma had left over from her moth
er, as well as her various quilting projects so I decided to try and make my own. I had the lofty goal of making them for all the little girls and the woman by Thanksgiving day. That didn't happen, I made Miriam's Thanksgiving night and it took me 3 hours! My mom was so patient and did much of the work herself. I don't believe I have natural sewing talent, but if desire is worth anything I think I will be able to learn eventually. I have to add here that my mom would have loved to have taught me to sew when I was little. She actually tried a few times but I resisted. I didn't want to wear cutsie dresses at that point so I didn't see any reason to learn. I still have no desire to wear cutsie dresses but I want Miriam to! Anyway, long story short, Miriam's apron was the only one I finished (or started) but I fully intend on at least making myself one. My grandma has this funky material I just can't let go to waste!On Saturday Sarah, my parents and I did a marathon shopping trip.
I was there to be entertained while Darin wrote a term paper but my family did some major shopping. My one purchase was the Hallmark mini Wizard of Oz ornaments. I had to buy the display and they were sold out at all the other stores we checked. Success!!It was a wonderful weekend. Thank you mom and dad for putting up with all of us!!
