Thanksgiving Recap

   With a brand spanking new baby in the family, we decided to scale back our large extended family Thanksgiving celebration. At the final count we ended up with fourteen adults and four children, but that included Little One and Little Two and Little Two's first cousins from Birmingham. It was a joyful celebration that extended itself over two days. I love having a house full of people and for two days that's what we had. Here is a visual recap of our time together.

     This is a shot of the "big" table -- in the dining room. You can certainly tell that I am not shy about using color. I filled my mint julep cups with assorted mums in a range of fall colors; the leaves on the table are from Hobby Lobby, and thankfully, I did not drag out my china. I used my everyday dishes, Pomona by Portmeirion, and boy, am I glad I did. The clean-up was ten times easier. 

   From this angle you can see the other table in the living room. I tried to line them up for conversation purposes, and it worked fairly well. If you look closely, you will see that I have a mishmash of odd chairs. No apologies. You use what you have. Right?!

   I was inspired by some of my fellow bloggers to try something a little different on the other table. Off and on during the year, I searched for some vintage tins in which I could arrange some flowers. Sadly, I forgot to make sure that all of the tins were waterproof, and  I was unable to use my favorite purchase -- an ancient Lipton Tea tin. This venture did not turn out quite as expected, but I learned a lot. This old dog can learn new tricks.

   The day before Thanksgiving a friend dropped this adorable white pumpkin by my house. Of course, I had to use it on the serving table. If you look closely in the picture, you can tell that I have not finished cleaning up for the soon-to-be arriving company. That's one of those "As Seen on TV" BarkOff products on the table. I am a sucker for those kind of things. I guess I am doing my part to keep the economy afloat.

     This is my "keeping it real" shot. I make a huge mess when I cook or work on any project, for that matter. You think I would learn that it sometimes means I have to clean up twice. I also did not want you to think that I had one of those large fancy gourmet kitchens (I wish). This is the forty-plus year old kitchen that originally came with the house except for the granite countertop upgrade and a relatively new stainless steel hood. That's all the budget could handle. I am day-dreaming about Urban Grace and all of Erica's fabuloso design work, but somehow don't think it is in my immediate future.

      Now on to the best part -- the folks who graced our table this year. Picture on the left is our daughter-in-law's father and one of Little Two's first cousins. Isn't this little girl a doll in her mini Boden outfit?! And I just adore the grandpa name for this fabulous grandfather -- "Big." Big is short for "Big Daddy." And that cutie-patootie in the second shot is none other than Little Two. She is officially just shy of the one week mark. She was a dream baby on Thanksgiving Day, and despite the noise that surrounded her, we heard nary a peep from her.

       Below are the beautiful "B" women. Our daughter-in-law is the gorgeous girl on the far right, and the two precious little people belong to the beauty in the middle. Grandmother MiMi on the left is also a lovely lady inside and out. The Dad and I feel extraordinarily blessed to have this family connected to ours.

  

       This picture makes me melt inside. My Second Son holding his daughter, Little Two. Wow. It takes my breath away and reminds me afresh of the faithfulness of our God.

         And of course, no special occasion would be complete without the reminder that Little One was there. She loved the fact that Little Two's cousins were in attendance as she finally had a playmate her age. However, nothing could deter her from her usual search and destroy mission. Can you tell she was having fun?

  The aftermath...there is nothing more to be said. I am still working on it two days later.
 But that's also my style and my choice! No complaints here. Just a heart full of blessings
and a belly full of food! Hope yours was delightful as well!