Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

We love to be surrounded by family on Thanksgiving Day.  My mother always cooked the most wonderful Thanksgiving meal.  She is no longer with us, but I sure do feel her presence as I go through her menu trying to prepare the same delicious dishes she did during our growing up days.  

We usually have Turkey, Dressing, Giblet Gravy, Ham with Pineapple Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Fruit Salad, Pimiento Cheese Celery Sticks, Cranberry Sauce, Dinner Rolls and Sweet Tea.  And then for dessert, we have several pies to choose from:  Apple Pie, Chocolate Pie, Pumpkin Pie, and Pecan Pie.  One of our sons-in-law's Mother came and brought Bread Pudding for the dessert table as well.

We were all very thankful to be able to have a delicious Thanksgiving meal shared with many of our dear loved ones, and we did give thanks for that and much more!

The below photo shows our 8 year old granddaughter Elly, being very creative making Turkey Cupcakes.  What a fun project that was for Elly, her mother Debi, and for me to help create.

Well! If you use your imagination, they do look a little like turkeys.

This is our 10 year old grandson Preston.  He loves Pumpkin Pie.  He likes to help out in the kitchen and in this photo he is busy making the pie crust for the Pumpkin Pie.

In the below photo is our 7 year old grandson Lawson.  He helped out in the kitchen also making pie crust decorations for the top of the pies.  We all had a lot of fun together in the kitchen getting the pies made the day before Thanksgiving.

The boys did a good job making the Pumpkin Pie.

This is our little nightlight friend watching all of our activities.

I try to set the dining room table the day before Thanksgiving, because the cooking on Thanksgiving Day usually takes every spare minute.

The below photo shows the dining room which was once our garage.  As our family grew we seriously needed a larger dining room.  We closed in the garage, and then added another garage off to the side of this room.  Now we have plenty of moving around room when all the children and grandchildren come home.  We still added an additional four chair card table to accommodate everyone for Thanksgiving dinner.  It does not show up in this photo.

As I have mentioned in previous posts,  we love to go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the Summertime. Many years ago when we were planning to convert the garage into a dining room, we visited Morton's Antiques there in Gatlinburg and found this chandelier.

Ready for Thanksgiving Dinner.

There at Morton's Antiques they told us that this chandelier was an old gas light converted to electric and that it came from an old hotel in Italy.  Little did we know on the day we stepped into Morton's Antiques, that they would have just the kind of lighting we needed for our new dining room-to-be.

They have a lot of beautiful chandeliers, furniture and artwork.  If you are interested in checking on their website you can click on:  mortonsantiquestn.com

At the end of the dining room,  above the fireplace,  is this interesting Bev Doolittle painting, in the below photo.  Many years ago when we were traveling in Colorado, we happened into an art gallery and that is where we first saw Bev Doolittle's work.

We like all of Bev Doolittle's paintings and have several others, but we especially like her Forest Has Eyes.  Bev Doolittle tells us that in Forest Has Eyes "she wants the viewer to share the emotions of the rider on horseback."  Bev Doolittle's work must be looked at again and again.  In the below picture we read the story of a mountain man, not easily frightened, but respectful of the ways of the Indians.  Passing through Indian territory, he is very wary.  That is when his imagination takes over, creating images and persuading us that they are real.  Are our eyes playing tricks on us?  Or, does the forest have eyes?

How many faces do you count in the painting?

Bev Doolittle's Painting Forest Has Eyes

We all enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving Dinner and everyone went home happy and FULL!

As you can see in the below photos, even though we live in Florida, (North Florida) we do experience some Fall color.

After all that cooking yesterday, we had some spare time today to get out and about on such a beautiful day.  Our grandsons Casey and Connor came over this afternoon.  We had a good time walking around the pond looking for Alfred the Alligator.  (Remember him from a previous post?)......We have not seen Alfred lately.  Don't know if he took a walk or is just buried in the sand somewhere keeping warm on these cooler days.

In an earlier post I told you about these adorable "Switchable Stained Glass Nightlights."  www.switchables.net  I guess they appeal to the kid in me, because I think they are so-o-o cute.  So I guess in a few days this little fella will take the place of the Thanksgiving turkey nightlight, and he will become our new kitchen nightlight.

We hope that wherever you may be that you too had a wonderful Thanksgiving,  and that your life is filled with many blessing.  Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanks for dropping by and having a nice visit with us here in Tallahassee.  Please do come again.