HAPPY THANKSGIVING:

Lots of firsts happen when you lose your partner, and here we are at my first Thanksgiving without My Mike.  For those of you that know me, or have been reading my blog in past years, you know that TG was our huge holiday.  We hosted every year and we each made a turkey, yup two turkeys, we always went a little crazy.  Then we'd force our guests to choose the best turkey with a blind taste test, and we also both cheated trying to influence the win in our own direction, haha.  And everything had to be made from scratch, according to Mike.  This was because our first TG together revealed that I had grown up on canned cranberry sauce and Stove Top stuffing (I still love Stove Top). Who knew real cranberry sauce didn't come in a jelly log with can lines!? 

Anyway, it would be too sad for me to host this year so it will be a different kind of Thanksgiving for me.  I'll report back. 

But in case you're hosting and need some last minute ideas for your table, here are a few of my own favorites from past years, pictures 1 - 4 are mine and pictures 5 - 8 are some inspiration from my Holidaze board on pinterest.

1. These were my all time favorite center pieces.  All stuff my daughter and I foraged from a walk in my neighborhood.  Branches, berries and pine cones.  We also told our family and friends to brings some of the same from their neighborhood and we had fun putting them together.  The buckets were from the Dollar store.

 2. I always have a hard time throwing away perfectly good pumpkins, so I paint them.  One year they made it to Valentines Day so I painted them pink, that was weird.

3. And you can never go wrong with a charcuterie board! I like to make a few different ones on different boards and line them up.

4. These are so cute and easy, mini rolls that look like pumpkins.  All you need are store bought rolls, score then with a knife to look like a pumpkin and put a pecan in for the stem.  These were a big hit.

 And here's a few ideas from my Holidaze Pinterest Board.

5. Turn a carved out pumpkin into an ice bucket or a flower pot. Love this idea!

6. Never underestimate the power of some greenery from your yard and lots of candles.

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7. Put a candle in a vase and surround it with cranberries.

8. Tie up your napkins with twine, add a sprig of rosemary or any pretty plant cutting and a cinnamon stick. 

 This contains an image of: Cinnamon Napkin Stylings

Happy Thanksgiving