Brown gingham checks (not black, as it appears) border the towels, embroidered by 10 yo granddaughter, Laurel. The towels are from All About Blanks, my favorite on-line source for blanks.
Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and I hope it was your best one yet. We all have so much for which to be thankful. No matter what our circumstances, we all can look around our town, our country and around the world to see others so much less fortunate. So we Americans celebrate our many blessings with family and friends, around a table heavy laden with favorite holiday food.
Norman Rockwell captured the spirit of the day in this 1946 picture.
Some celebrate in the traditional manner, as shown above. Others dine in a more contemporary style, as shown below.
Someone else captured another way to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Either way, most of us celebrate our good fortune.
This year, Laurel and Robert, our son’s children and parents shared the day with their mother’s family. Laurel stitched the dishtowels shown at the top of this post for her hostess aunt, her grandmother and her mother.
Undaunted by the task, she shuttled between my Brother Quattro and Duetta machines as they stitched her projects at the same time. Just like her church clothes, she has outgrown her beloved Brother PE300S sewing combo machine with its 4×4 embroidery field.
Hostess Carol is in the red and white shirt and host Alan is in the blue striped shirt. He has his back to the camera as he carves more pork roast and turkey for their guests.
Just as last year, we joined our daughter for a truly joyous gathering at the home of her mother-in-law. Honestly,Alan and Carol have it all together! In addition to being the perfectly gracious host and hostess, their house was beautifully decorated and the table was elegantly set with monogrammed linen napkins and beautiful china. They served turkey, pork roast, cornbread and traditional dressing, mashed potatoes and the sweetest sweet corn ever which they had processed and frozen last summer.
Other family members added the requisite green bean casserole, butternut squash, sweet potato casserole, fresh cranberry/orange relish, broccoli and rice casserole, hot rolls, desserts and more.
Last year we were entertained by Judy’s saga of the 8000 paper plates. FYI, this delightful lady did indeed get the matching USF napkins after Thanksgiving on Black Friday. Just not quite so many. Her handsome sophomore USF son remarked that college is fun but his chemical engineering classes are hard. Still, his grades are excellent. So of course his proud mother wants to show her support with these plates and napkins.
I followed Laurel’s lead and embroidered towels to each of the 5 ladies using the same designs, but didn’t get a picture. There are so many gorgeous Thanksgiving designs. I wanted to stitch them all, but ran out of time.
Before dinner, grandson Alastair and “Gaga,” his Uncle Doug stood guard at the dessert table in the breakfast room. Well, Uncle Doug did look up periodically from his paper. which helped Alastair control himself in the face of all those goodies. The menu included apple pie, chocolate pecan pie, 5 pumpkin pies and an angel food cake.
93 year-old Ruby, our host’s mother, brought the chocolate pecan and 1 and 1/2 pumpkin pies, made from pumpkins that she grew herself. The delicious pie was very light, both in color and flavor.
Ruby’s half pie made from home grown pumpkins.
She giggled when she whispered to me that she actually made 2 whole pumpkin pies, but they looked so good that she ate half of one that morning! Ruby is an amazing woman who lives alone, keeps her own house and garden, and is busy every day.
Because Ruby had not announced her intention to bring pumpkin pie, this standard Thanksgiving treat was assigned to me. In an effort to make my grandchildren grin, I decided to decorate 2 of my 3 pies.
The cuts were made because I forgot to set the timer and had to keep inserting a knife to see if the pies were done.
As it turned out, Alastair chose the undecorated pie, “because it looks really good.” When Uncle Doug abandoned his guard post at the table, Vivian Rose dragged her little chair to the desserts. With kiddie fork in hand, she pried three of the pastry turkeys from the pie and ate them like cookies. I wish I had snapped that shot. Next year we’ll have to set up a surveillance camera.
Moment by moment, grandchildren Alastair and Vivian Rose kept our attention. I was able to snap one photo of whirlwind Vivian Rose in her harvest dress. She is always on the move. Or eating.
I’m thankful for so many things, most of which are obvious–my wonderful, loving husband and family, my home, my dogs, my friends, my church home and God’s unending grace.
But I am also thankful for you dear readers who take time to read this way-to-chattery blog, view my sewing projects, and leave your comments. I appreciate each one of you.
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