Happy Turkey Day

I hope that those of you preparing for Thanksgiving are taking time to enjoy the process of getting ready for the holiday.

I will be spending the next few days cooking, cleaning and getting ready to have a house full of people here on Thursday...13 to be exact!

I will finish cleaning tomorrow and then set my table, but the rest of my Thanksgiving decor is in place and ready to welcome friends and family.

Thanks to my friend Doug Vogel, I have a beautiful centerpiece...all I had to do was add the pumpkin and I was set!  I'll add some fresh flowers throughout my house, not so much for the guests, but because having fresh flowers around always makes me happy!

I've collected Thanksgiving decor ever since I was first married.  It was much harder to find turkey day decor 20 years ago!

And of course you have to have acorns to commemorate the holiday!

I gave my parents this turkey from Williams Sonoma about 8 years ago, my mom had an amber one like mine above, but wanted a red one too!

My parents were married on November 27, 1953, so every year they were busy preparing Thanksgiving for our family right around their anniversary.  We always managed to have a few close friends, or even some stray military folks join us who were too far from home to celebrate it with their own families. 

I think the largest crowd we had was 26 one year, and my mother always managed to cook WAY more than we could ever need, but oh the leftovers were wonderful!

Thursday will be a little reminiscent of those happy gatherings.  It will be the first time that all of us kids will be together again since my father's passing 3 years ago.  And today I received a crazy phone call, one of my sister's best friends accidentally called my phone number while trying to reach her realtor, who has the same first name.  When I asked what she and her husband had planned for Thanksgiving she said they were going to a little French restaurant near their home.  I asked if they wanted to make the drive to spend the day with us, and after calling her husband, she called back to say they would love to!  So it will be like old times in many ways!

But if I stay on here much longer, all of those people will arrive to a messy house!  Contrary to popular belief, dust bunnies are not edible!  And I'm thinking they might want some food while they are here.  Thankfully, everyone will be bringing something.  But after I finish cleaning, I still have to make a turkey, lots of corn pudding, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and peas...so I better quit procrastinating and get crackin'!!!

I know I'm crazy to host such a high work load holiday right after getting a tiny puppy, but hey no one ever accused me of being sane! ;-)  I'm just thankful that we will all be together again!

I hope each of you celebrating Turkey Day this Thursday will be surrounded by family, whether biological or chosen, and that you'll save room for dessert!