Top Decoration

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We spent the day at my best friend's house with her family, and we couldn't have asked for a more relaxing and enjoyable day.

There were ten of us, including six kids ranging in age from 16 years to 3 & 1/2. Will and Owen have a blast with Luke and Kelly's son, Isaac, and their daughter, Miranda, so the four of them all but disappeared for the day. Their daughter, Alyssa, and Ellison are like two peas in a pod...

Ellison LOVES Alyssa and followed her around all day! We're so grateful that Alyssa loves her back and didn't mind the three year old following her around and calling her name when she couldn't find her. Ellison got the royal treatment - she got her nails and toes done, her hair done, and even got to wear one of Alyssa's shirts (as a dress) which made her feel so special. Needless to say, our little girl had a fabulous Thanksgiving!


We had more food than we knew what to do with and our eyes were certainly bigger than our stomach's, but it was a beautiful spread and almost everyone had a hand in preparing some part of the meal.

A true feast!

It just isn't Thanksgiving without

Sugared Pecans

so we made two trays of them on Wednesday night...

(it's a family recipe from my good friend down in AZ. I'll ask her if she minds me sharing it and if she doesn't, I will pass it along to you. Even if you don't like pecans, you'll like these!)



As a hostess gift, the kids and I made Mr. Turkey and filled him with assorted nuts and a nutcracker to give to our hosts to say

"Thank you for having us!"

Owen was bound and determined to make this after we found the idea earlier in the month, and I think it turned out absolutely adorable!


Speaking of the kids and crafts...

We made these for the boys' teacher's on Tuesday night for them to take to school on their last day before the Thanksgiving weekend...

This is about as easy as it gets!

I make sure that I always have a supply of handled craft bags here. They come in handy and can be dressed up, if need be, in a snap!

For this, I kept it simple.

I wrote our message right on the bag, so that the boys wouldn't have to be worried about losing a separate card...

We made two loaves of Cranberry-Orange Bread...

(very simple to make, but SO yummy)

I wrapped each loaf up in waxed paper and tied twine around it to look like a package...

Each loaf fit perfectly in the bag. I added a little tissue paper and a small bow made with a little more twine, and that was all it needed.

Just a little something to let their teacher's know how grateful we are to have them in our child's lives!


The day after Thanksgiving is the day that Christmas arrives around here!

So we spent yesterday doing this...

...and this...

...and this...

Today will be more of the same.

Decorating, listening to Christmas music and just being together.

My kind of weekend.



I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!




P.S. I am posting this over at A Soft Place To Land for DIY Day.