Tips, Treats & Treasures: Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving always brings a feeling of gratitude for family and friends, along with an appreciation for all the special people in our lives, and the moments and memories that bring us joy. A special time to count our blessings!

We were not able to have all of the family together this year for Thanksgiving. Most of our extended family are in several different states, but our kids are close by. One daughter could be here but unfortunately our other daughter and her family could not, and so at first thought of that I was thinking "well this could be a small intimate, down sized, non-traditional affair", uh huh, yeah right! I always cook a ~~large~~ huge turkey (20lbs or more) mostly because we love the leftovers - turkey and pickle sandwiches...oh yes!, on fresh white bread, add mayo for me and mmm, mmm! And I make some delicious turkey-n-dumplings, so some will be used for that later too!

It was hubby and me, our daughter and a family friend for Thanksgiving dinner, and we didn't miss out on any of the traditional fare we are used to! We had a beautiful and juicy oven roasted turkey that I was very proud of. I mean that bird was worthy of me tootin' my own horn, beep-beep, and gobble-gobble! It really was very good! I usually always choose a Butterball turkey, and I've never been disappointed, and this year's turkey proved all the more why I swear by them. With the turkey we also had the traditional sides of dressing/stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs, cheesy macaroni shell salad - you can find a link to my recipe here, and desserts of my delicious chocolate covered brownies, and store bought pecan pie, blackberry pie(it was supposed to be cherry, sorry Daughter!) and vanilla ice cream. Everyone pitched in with some help on tasks or prep, and mostly the after clean-up, which I never turn down. I was busy with cooking, and then later eating, and enjoying said goodies and our time together, so photos of the food were not on my mind! I did get a few photos of the dining room and table decor.

The table is all set and ready for our delicious Thanksgiving dinner!

I love my beautiful gold tableware, and I enjoy using it on special occasions.

I created layered place settings using a gold placemat, a white paper placemat, and leaf print scrapbook paper, for each place setting.

I found this scrapbook paper at the craft store, and got the idea for using it this way,
I think it worked nicely and the colors were just perfect!

Aren't these the cutest?
I used pine cones that I spray painted gold, for place card holders.

My girls did these cute name cards years ago using 3x5 note cards and a gold paint pen. We still use them every chance we get! These are easy and simple to make!

A while back I purchased several gold flecked dishtowels and cut them in half, sewed the edges, and made napkins out of them. I just loved the look of them!
My sister sent me (for my birthday), the cute fall napkin rings with leaves and acorns on them...

...and also these cute leaf salt & pepper shakers too.
(Thanks again Sis, they go so nicely with my fall decor.)

I made this pretty floral arrangement a long time ago, and I like to change it up often. I add different items to it for different occasions, I added the gold painted pine cones and bows for my Thanksgiving arrangement. I like that it is a simple white arrangement that I can enjoy on it's own as is, and also add embellishments that change the look.