Thanksgiving

This is the whole gang. We enjoyed such a lovely day together. I think this is our first time for the tripod and timer for a group shot.  I wish I could remember what someone said that was so amusing to the kids!

The pumpkin seeds were planted a bit late this year, so the next best thing to eating them in pie on Thanksgiving, is to follow three of our grandchildren out to the yard Thanksgiving morning to harvest them. They grabbed garden gloves & tools on their way out the door. Drew is not to be outdone by his sister Lydia who loves to dress up, so he donned a fancy hat with matching purse to complete his ensemble. Steve looked a bit panicked when he saw me sneak out of  the kitchen with three kids and my camera, so he reminded me how much we still had to do to get dinner on the table.

The Cinderella pumpkin and cheerful harvesters!

We were excited that all the kids would be in for Thanksgiving this year. Everyone brought food, especially yummy food, and the morning was filled with chatter as we all worked together on the rest of the dishes. My daughter in law remarked how she is grateful to be living her dream life of time spent with family enjoying traditions together. I smiled and nodded as I agreed with her, grateful to the Lord for blessed us abundantly with our growing family. 

Alissa brought a deep fried bird to the feast (a first for all of us). We added the turkey our neighbor, Mr. Shedd gave us to the menu to assure lots of leftovers. Ben, our Alton Brown fan, took on the assignment of brining and cooking the Good Eats Roast Turkey. Our sides were sweet potatoes (beautifully topped with marshmallows and crunchy cornflakes by Ben n Maggie), traditional dressing, green bean bundles & loaded baked potatoes (specialties of Alissa), Green Salad w/ spiced apples & Asian pear w/ cinnamon dressing by Megan, Sweet Potato biscuits w/ Lingonberry jam,  Cranberry Orange Sauce , & for dessert- Pumpkin Pie (by Megan and loudly proclaimed by Drew) and Triple Berry Pie .

If you check out the link for the Triple Berry Pie, you'll see that it is not a pie to leave for the last minute to accomplish. Megan had already picked up all the fresh berries at the store for me and was gracious enough to make the pie crust and filling at the last minute.  My helpful kitchen assistants were very anxious to help in the kitchen and very proficiently cut the leaves & flowers to decorate the top and edge. 

The girls were very helpful before dinner writing names on the place cards and spent time writing down some things they were thankful for. I was thankful for these free Thanksgiving printables. They made our table extra festive!

Their masterpiece was very delish and several proclaimed it as a must try again recipe.  I decided it was a perfect way to involve the kids, and their sweet little hands created a very special memory for me. 
I'm thankful for an endless list of blessings. Our family is at the top of that list!

Stepping Out

Steve is due home from a pheasant hunting trip shortly and instead of cleaning up my clutter I am trying to figure out how to design my blog! The hunting trip was in Nebraska at my parents farm. Here is a shot of our favorite landmark on their farm. There is 40 yrs worth of Queen Annes lace crawling up the windmill. Don't you think it is beautiful?

I was inspired by http://nancysdailydish.blogspot.com/ on her Nov 16th post to create a centerpiece with pheasant feathers for Thanksgiving. Steve agreed to save me some feathers from their hunt. I will share a photo with you this week, if my efforts are successful. Check out Nancy's amazing talents for table scape and her beautiful transferware dishes.

Today I had a visitor who stopped by after I commented on her blog at http://lambsandivydesigns.blogspot.com/ I have always loved ribbon roses and her work is more lovely than any other I've seen. Dana was kind enough to thank me and mentioned that she was going to follow me in return but I had no posts! This blog has been on the back burner amongst dozens of other unfinished projects waiting for some attention. I am determined to jump in and figure out how to post photographs and create links. I named this blog 4 yrs ago and find it interesting to note that my quiet time this morning was spent reading the book of James where he says to "Consider it all joy..." in the second verse. (At that point of the day, working on my blog was not even a remote possibility.) Life does have its challenges that develop character, endurance, and make us complete. I look forward to this old study from Chuck Swindoll, who will challenge and teach me interesting perspectives on this practical book.