After realizing last year how grueling it was to travel to and from the east coast with kids, twice in one month, we stayed home for Thanksgiving this year. We invited some friends and family and Marc ended up traveling to London for the holiday for work, so it ended up being a unique, but fantastic day.
Everyone brought their favorite side dish or two, and I cooked the turkey, gravy and desserts. The turkey took a little longer than I'd planned, but except for being an hour late, dinner was delicious!!
Free subway art from 18twentyfive, popped in an old frame
Gotta love free decorations.
This $20 scratch and dent clearance chalkboard frame from Homegoods always comes in handy.
So easy to change out seasonally with a sponge and a chalk marker!
Molly was in charge of place cards. She rocked them!
Tablescape made of stuff I had lurking in my basement.
I may have a small hoarding problem with it comes to fall decorations.
But nothing beats a wreath with a hurricane lamp in it as a centerpiece. It's been my go-to for years, even back 14 years to my sister's wedding shower!
Hoarding Problem : I mean really, how many funkins does one family need?
(trick question - the answer in my world is that you can NEVER have too many funkins!!)
Like I said the food was amazing!
Ulia brought sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes and a huge pan of home-baked rolls so delicious that they made the turkey look like an amateur. Emily brought sweet potato casserole and a "modern riff on the string bean casserole" that made me wish it was thanksgiving every day.
I did my infamous (in my circle of twelve) puffed butternut squash and crucified my mom's broccoli-cheese casserole (apparently I used the wrong baking dish, but it was the only one I had left at that point!)
And for dessert I made my infamous Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Swirl.
My little helpers and I put together a trifle with chocolate cake,
chocolate pudding, cool whip and crushed up candy cane Joe Joe's.
We crushed the Joe Joe's the old fashioned way.
But honestly, the day isn't about the decor, or even about the food. Like any good holiday, Thanksgiving is about the PEOPLE you share it with!
The headwear is courtesy of the Target Dollar Spot circa 2009. The September before Ben's 1st birthday I saw them there, and passed them by, intending to go back to get them as favors. But when I did they were GONE. Not to return for a whole year. You bet your hippy that the next September, I bought all of them. Every single one. Ben will be turning 50 and I'll still have some to spare I bought so many. But can you blame me? I mean, look at how cute this little turkey below is and tell me you wouldn't have bought them all too! |
| "Who you calling a Turkey?" |
He is so going to love me for this. Sorry little bro! I had to do it!
She made me give her a job to do. She flat out refused to put her feet up and let us cater to her.
34 weeks Thanksgiving Day - yay for babies-on-the-way!
For Mel, and anyone else who wants to know, the sweater is from SEARS of all places, the boots from DSW and the jeans from Express. The sweater is amazing! It can be worn open as a swing coat, or the two front corners can be snapped up to make a humongous cowl. Which is excellent for hiding a pouchy muffin top - or on this day, turkey top, lol! They had it in black and white too.
We sure did miss Marc, and I definitely noticed his absence in the working part of the holiday.
So if I ever complain that he doesn't help enough (not that I would ever do that!), I would be wrong, because it was way harder doing the prep work alone.
But once everyone arrived, many hands made light work!
I even recruited Dan to make the Thankful Tree I was dreaming of but never had time for.
And then we ate our faces off,
cleaned dishes until the place was gleaming
(who knew cleanup can be fun when you all pitch in together?)
and went outside to plug in the Christmas lights for their inaugural run
as we said goodbye to all our friends and family.
Thanksgiving in Illinois was pretty awesome
anyone else want to join us next year?
The door is always open!!
2 comments:
It looks awesome! I must know more about the plates for the kids, the puffed butternut squash dish, and the awesome sweater you're rocking. Really. I must know more about these things, then we can work out the details regarding Thanksgiving at your house next year! ;)
You are so sweet Mel, and so good to always comment and let me know you're there! I sometimes forget people read this at all!
Okay, so I threw some details in the main post, but I'll dish up specifics here too. I made the plates at a local paint-your-own pottery place. You take the child's hand and paint each finger a different fall color and the palm brown. then you stamp it on the center of the plate. Add a nose, an eye and a wattle, and you've got yourself a personalized handprint turkey! We did it for Ben's 1st birthday. If they ever break I'll cry a million tears, I love them so much! I'll post the squash recipe soon, I promise - and it's so super easy you'll love it! Done 100% in the microwave, no kidding! The sweater came from Sears - I have great luck in their Apostrophe section, even though I think this was another brand lumped in on the same pad. I checked their web site and couldn't find it to link you to, bummer.
If you did come for Thanksgiving next year, we'd make it such a party! I'd even make your pumpkins filled with everything good if you liked! :)
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