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Giving Thanks


November is the month of Thanksgiving, which by the way, is my favorite holiday. (After last month and experiencing Halloween around here, Halloween might be taking over the #1 spot!). We did run out of candy, by the way, after about 45 minutes. That was fine by us because it gave us an excuse to go out and experience all the excitement ourselves. Such a fun time. Now, we've put away all our Halloween decorations and have gotten out all the Thanksgiving stuff. Everything had it's spot in our old house but now I had to find the perfect spot in our new home. The fireplace mantel is usually the first thing to decorate. I thought Mr. and Mrs. Pilgrim looked good there with a few small gourde candles.

  

Putting fall colored items around the house makes it look so festive for the season without much effort. I've always love looking at my turkey candles I got at Pottery Barn years ago. I like the way the sun shines through their tails.


I also put a couple of them on the china cabinet and table along with a fall centerpiece and pumpkin candles.


 The dining room table has it's own fall decorations with pilgrim place settings and turkey salt and pepper shaker, same as on the above table.


I have my "egg" pilgrims in the dinning room china cabinet along with a few other fall decorations.


My fall glass beads are on the window sill that sparkles when the sun shines on them.


 Another turkey decoration sits on the top shelf with his legs dangling in the living room along with some wheat in autumn vases.


Across from this built-in shelf, fall colors fill the corner with a vase of Chinese lanterns .


In the kitchen, I have an autumn Longenburger basket from 1995 along side some turkey plates.


These plates, by Tag, match the bowl in the entry when you first walk into the house.


I could have something larger and grander here, but I still can't bring myself to buy more "stuff" after all the packing and unpacking I've been through the past few months. It sort of left me in a state of shock experiencing that and seeing all the "stuff" we have. It's just appalling, really. So my little wooden turkey and tag bowl will do just fine here. I'm just glad I did all that shopping the past 30 years so I can enjoy it now. I also like this metal turkey candle holder I have in the kitchen.


On the same window sill are some more metal turkey tea candle holders, so cute!


I've had this Fresh Farm candle since the early 90's from a fundraiser at Nick and Lauren's grade school...and I still have it! (Which is why I have so much "stuff") But now canning jars are popular. See...it pays to hold on to things...



 My turkey dish towel is also hanging in the kitchen.  It's too cute to use, just for Thanksgiving decorating. I've replaced this dish towel over the years as I find cuter ones but I've had this one a long time.  It's quite perfect.


 Even the bathroom has Thanksgiving decorations. I put a turkey basket in here with my Lush products


and the shelving completes the fall theme.


Next to this hall bathroom is a spare bedroom that didn't get left out. I found from decorating for Halloween that the Beanie Babies look good in this room.


Yes, you're right.  I haven't been able to get rid of all the Beanie Babies Lauren collected in the day...


I did get rid of A LOT of stuffed animals when we moved but I did keep a box of Beanie Babies. They are really cute when compared to other stuffed animals, though. Look how cute the turkey one is next to my mom's old antique typewriter. Love it.


This year I am not hosting Thanksgiving so I don't have all the cooking ahead of me or lists to make. Now that I'm living around a lot more relatives, we actually will be guests at my sister's house for Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to that!  She just had a major kitchen remodel and she's eager to host a big meal and use her new space. I was more than happy to let her do it, too. This is actually the first month I've been able to relax a bit now. We've had multiple visitors September and October, people eager to see our new home so luckily we got most the unpacking done before Labor Day which was my goal. It was pretty much nonstop visitors after that. We've learned that this house works great for having guests and having people coming and going. We knew it would be the perfect house and it is. That is why it's so fun to decorate...We've been eating most meals already on my blog like tonight's ham and lima beans.


I cooked a ham for dinner on Sunday and now using up the leftovers. I used this recipe for the ham from the Pioneer Woman


and it made for a nice Sunday dinner with Lauren and her boyfriend, Ari, joining us.


This week, we've also had split pea soup and lots of ham sandwiches for lunch.  It's just nice having a relaxing month and enjoying my favorite recipes from this blog.  So much to be thankful for.




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