Thanksgiving was like so last week...

We had a lovely and busy weekend. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving with my family. We all congregated at my aunt and uncle's house in a tony Hartford, CT suburb. There we were joined by my parents, my 3 cousins, their spouses and all eleven and a half children and an adorable Cocker Spaniel dressed up in her Angela Moore doggie collar. (This is so my aunt Dee!) It was delight and chaos and joy! Most of the time the children were in the basement playing with the toys from my generation... the original Fisher Price Little People, Legos and whatnot, working out on the gym equipment and watching the game in the movie theater. (I aspire to have a basement like my aunt and uncle's!) We dined on wonderful and perfectly cooked food. My aunt is a fantastic chef. And didn't stop until our waistbands got too tight for comfort. I met a new nephew. It was a picture perfect day!

The following day we headed to Massachusetts to celebrate Thanksgiving Number 2. We enjoyed leftovers at lunch with my husband's family. A crowd similar in size to the one from the day before. The kids hung out in the den playing Wii and with their Nintendo DSs while the adults never left the dining room and noshed on all the wonderful goodies all afternoon.

But Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without leftovers of one's own. I spent my Saturday in the kitchen cooking my own bird, relishing in the smells permeating through the kitchen and the rest of the house. There is nothing quite like that Holiday Smell! I would bottle it if I could! With the turkey I made stuffing (nothing fancy, just the Peppridge Farm variety) roasted carrots, roasted brussel sprouts and spicy garbanzo beans lightly sauteed in olive oil. My gravy came out perfectly! This was a slightly healthier Thanksgiving and delicious no less delicious than the unhealthier meals I have had in the past!

And then I realized something yesterday. I'm not the biggest fan of leftover turkey! I find it tougher and gamier than chicken. I feel the same about the turkey from the deli. So we'll have something else for our Christmas celebration with my parents. I'm putting my husband to work. He'll be making a paella. A delicious, mouth watering paella. Oh I cannot wait!

Yesterday Daddy and I headed out for a few hours. We poked around Home Goods and came home with two gorgeous white decorative pillows for our bed. The bedroom gets repainted this week. I've picked a Benajmin Moore color called Azure. Like the Cote D'Azur of my childhood summers in France. It's a stunning color. We'll need new bedding and it will have to go with our new paint color and my new pillows!

From there we hit Target and attempted to make a dent in the kid's Christmas gifts. And a dent we did make! I brought along the kids Christmas lists. Clearly written was that Christopher wanted a Cannon aqua digital camera. We found it. On sale! I got a big tub of pretty plastic gold ornaments and some gold ribbon so I can decorate the stair case in the foyer! I'm so excited to do this! We also stocked up on board games for all three. Alexander is getting a Leapster even though he didn't ask for it. He always feels left out when the other two are on their Nintendo DS machines. This way he'll have something too. We got all our stocking stuffers... toothbrushes, lip balms, hair accessories, cards, Lindt chocolate balls... Our stockings are never fancy. Just practical items that the children need anyway! Rebecca's big gift is a collectible baby doll that looks life like. It's been impossible to track down. It's insane what this doll costs. When we get it I'll head to Target and BabyGap (right to the sale section!) and find some newborn clothes. She wants a skateboard too. A skateboard and a doll! Makes me chuckle. I'll be headed to Angela Moore and Lilly. I want to get Rebecca a couple of AM charms and the Lilly pencils for her stocking. And maybe a dress to put under the tree. And some wrapping paper to cover the initials I will be hanging on her wall. We're well under way. Our purchases were snuck in and are safely tucked away in the basement. I hope to get all wrapped this week!

And the painters start today. I've decided on all my colors except for the kitchen. I've totally changed my mind and will try to get out to the Benjamin Moore store today! I hope it won't take more than a week to get the painting all done. Then I'll be able to have everything ready for the holidays. I'm so happy... I'm giddy with excitement. I just love this time of the year. I just love it!


Deitrich's like Alex P Keaton... loves to get dressed up!



Where the children can be neither seen nor heard... they must have gone in to the theater!



My cousin Alexandra and her son Noah... I covet her blouse and cardi!
How cute is Noah in his suit?!!!



My aunt's amazing food....




This place card is over 30 years old! Replicas have been made for the newer members of the family!


Can you see these magnificent carrots? My aunt found them at a local farmer's market. They are stunning!


Two of the newest members of the family with their Daddies...



My beautiful aunt and my cousin...


My aunt cooking and my uncle opening the wine... we drank this year's Beaujolais Nouveau. Complimented our turkey perfectly!


Mimi is 100 years old! She wasn't really sleeping here... these days her life amounts to eating, sleeping and drinking! (Sounds good to me!)

Molly and her Angela Moore doggie collar...



and another picture of Noah... totally want to gobble him up! (Pun intended!!)

Deck the Halls with Handmade Ornaments!

I want to take out all of our ornaments, soldiers, nutcrackers... our candles and bells and all the goodies that come out this time of year but the painters start on Monday (yippee!) so I will have to wait another week... But we decided that we could still make ornaments after all. Christopher found a new home for his smaller pieces of sea glass and some beautiful pink Bermuda sand we've had lying around for over 10 years. We were very inspired by these ornaments. We had to try them ourselves!

I found a slight problem however. Some of the sea glass got buried in the pink sand when the ornament was inadvertently shaken. And the ornament, filled about halfway with sand, is most likely too heavy to hang from a tree. Nevertheless we will find a home for it and put it to use!

It is pretty, don't you think?


We also made the painted glass ornaments... simple, elegant and sophisticated and yet easy enough for your preschooler to master. And what a great gift for a child to give a parent, grandparent or teacher! And what fun they are to make. I plan on making a few to give as hostess gifts.

Christopher made this ornament... shown from 3 views... Spectacular, don't you think?!

I made this one, using white, gold and silver paint...
unfortunately the photograph doesn't do it justice.

To make these painted glass ornaments you'll need:

Some glass balls (about $1 a piece)
Some poster paints
Some Scotch tape
Some pretty ribbon
Scissors

Directions:

* Take the metal hook off of the ornament and squeeze desired amounts paints directly into the ornament, as many or as few colors as you desire.

* Apply a piece of tape over the ornament's opening and shake. (If doing this with a preschooler you may want to help them shake the ornament!) Shake until the entire ball is covered.

* The paint will naturally make beautiful patterns and no two will be alike!

* When the ornament is complete remove the tape and secure the metal hook back in place.

* Find a pretty ribbon, tie it on to the ornament and trim the ends as needed.

* Set aside in a safe place.

NB... I was just informed by the fabulously talented and crafty Pink & Green Mama that you should leave the ornaments uncovered and set to dry for about 2 weeks!

Giveaway Winner!!!

I am happy to announce the winner of my Christmas book giveaway.... I used random.org and plugged in the number of entries each participant got and the number chosen was 85 and the lucky person to have that number is .... Preppy Cricket! Congratulations my friend!!!

(Stay tuned for more... the next giveaway is for current followers only and it's a Beaut!!)

Getting Ready to Give Thanks!

(recipes over at the Entertaining Kitchen)

I'm not hosting this year. We're headed off to my aunt and uncle's house where we will meet up with my parents, my cousins their spouses and all the grandkids... all 11 1/2 of them! I spent the day preparing goodies to give as hostess gifts over the weekend. Yummy gifts... of course we had to sample everything we baked! It's now 6:00pm and I am about to pour myself a glass of Merlot... I'm still in my pajamas and Rebecca and I are trying to decide what Christmas movie we'll watch next... We saw the remake of Miracle on 34th Street that was directed by John Hughes and it was hilarious! A new favorite to add to my list of Christmas favorites!

It's been a year of questions and uncertainty. A year of obstacles and roadblocks. A year of challenges and scares. And a year, for some, of sadness. My thoughts and prayers are with those in need this holiday season. I am grateful for my family, our health and for all that we do have. This is the time to not think about our wants, desires and what we do not have, but focus on all that we do have... and we are, indeed, terribly fortunate, and we indeed do have a lot to be thankful for this year!

I wish you all, my friends new and old, a wonderful Thanksgiving... I'll be announcing the winner of my great giveaway... There's still a little time to enter. Don't fret if you are not the lucky winner... I have a few more up my sleeve!

Decorating for The Holidays with Mother Nature

If you've been reading my blog for a while now you know that I love to bring the outside inside. I love to use nature as a tool and an inspiration to my decorating. It's beautiful and it is free!

A couple of years ago I made this centerpiece. I gathered pine cones in assorted sizes, as well as acorns and painted them gold, silver and white using regular poster paint. I then took a few really cheap plastic apple ornaments that frankly were quite ugly. (My mother is famous for giving me everything she wants to, but cannot toss!) I painted them lightly with a coat of the gold poster paint as well. And finally added a few of the smallest ball ornaments I could find lying around the ornament boxes in the basement.


A few pine cones have broken over the past few years but there were still plenty enough to create a new centerpiece!

If you want to recreate this at home you will need:

* One or two foam paint brushes. These are disposable. I don't want to ruin a good brush on the pine cones.
* A bucket filled with pine cones and acorns of assorted shapes and sizes
* Newspaper to work on
* Gold, silver, white or whatever color paint you desire

Paint your objects and let dry several hours on newspaper.

Find a pretty bowl, platter or large plate and arrange your items to your liking.

And, for my fabulous southern and coastal friends, fear not! I have a delightfully wonderful ornament for you!

This brilliant idea came from my friend Maya at Completely Coastal. I adore her blog and have to see what great things she has on there daily! Maya, in turn, got the idea from The Stories of A to Z... a new discovery for me... I'll be back for more!



I just love this ornament! I have some small pieces of sea glass that my 8 year old collected in Maine last summer. This will be his project for certain!

In order to make this ornament you will need a plain glass ornament, some sand, some shells or beach glass and a funnel to use to pour the sand in to the ornament. It doesn't get easier or prettier than that! (I'm thinking a pretty pink or lavender bow to tie on to the tree!)

Now I am waiting for Maya to come back to me with a creative way to use my 30+ oversized clam shells the kids collected in Newport this past summer! No pressure Maya... I'll wait... and wait and wait and wait! ;)

Don't forget to enter my Holiday Giveaway in the post below!

It's Ornamental! 5 Minute Holiday Decorating Tips AND a Give Away!

Even though Thanksgiving is still less than a week away, I am ready for the Christmas Carols. I am ready to deck my halls! Every year on Black Friday I head out to the basement and take out all our Christmas treasures. I adore it so!

This year I will have to wait before I bring out most of my loot. The painters are scheduled to arrive the Monday after Thanksgiving and they will be painting the three rooms that get used the most: Family Room, Kitchen, Bathroom off the Kitchen, and the Master Bedroom.

There is no reason why I cannot start decorating in the Dining and Living Rooms though!

Last year, our first Christmas in this house, we decided we would have two trees. I have always wanted two Christmas trees! The Christmas tree in the family room is a casual, fun tree filled with the children's ornaments and antique toys. It has a playful feel to it. The tree in the Living Room is formal by contrast. It's all white, silver and gold with a few glass and crystal ornaments as well. It's spectacular!

Last year, unsure as to how many ornaments we would need for our formal tree I sent Daddy and the kids to Target to get a few fillers. He bought so many that we had two spare boxes. Yesterday I found those boxes "hidden" under the tea cart that houses the my great grandmother's sterling tea and coffee set.

So I decided to have a little fun. I used a glass cake stand without the lid and $15 worth of ornaments. I love that the colors, white and gold, go well together and I love the different textures, shapes and sizes of the ornaments. What's more is that this looks lovely on the buffet in the dining room! Don't you think so?




I saw this idea below and fell in love!
I will be doing this on the stairs in our foyer. I'll keep to a simple color scheme here and I will look for plastic balls in case some Certain Four Year Old Boy decides to see if they can bounce!




And the nature, recycling side of me loves the simplicity of the wooden snowflake below... I would paint the sticks white or silver or gold, however, and turn it into a gift tag... A project to try with the kids today!


And I must, simply MUST do this to my front door! (Different initial though!)



How simple and lovely these oranges are... I love the bow and the bells... Ahhh, the Christmas decorating possibilities are endless!



And now, the best part of this post... This fabulous Christmas Entertaining book I found! I loved it so much I picked up two copies! This book is filled with mouthwatering recipes, desserts, appetizers, cocktails and crafts so you can add your perfect, personal touch for the Holidays! Luckily winner will also receive a package of Spode paper napkins to use for her little get together!





You all know how I feel about Mulled Wine!



Put those cranberries to use before the season ends! Chin-Chin!!!

To enter leave a comment...
You'll get TWO entries if you are a follower
You'll get TWO entries if you BECOME a follower
You'll get TWO more entries if you follow me on Twitter
AND
You'll get TWO more entries if you ALREADY follow me on Twitter ;)
So, so far you all earn 4 entries... mention me on your blog or side bar and I will throw in an extra entry!

Giveaway will be announced on Thanksgiving!!

Memory Board Tutorial

Because you asked!

This is kind of like the blind leading the blind, except I now have one tucked under my belt for experience! I bought a cork board when our local Blue Tulip was going out of business. (Luckily Swoozie's now occupies the space!) I think I paid $2.50 for it! It sat in the basement for over 6 months until I picked it up one day this past summer and painted it pink with white polka dots. She loved it. But I did not. The pink was too bright for her walls. So I let it dry and tucked it back down into the bowels of the basement until yesterday, when I resurrected it to try to think of something better to do with it.

I grabbed all my grosgrain ribbons, some fabric swatches that I picked up at AC Moore, my Mod Podge, my glue gun, some push pins, scissors, and the Lilly Originals postcards that I hadn't wanted to toss!

I played around with the design on the cork board to see what looked best where... I did it all freehand, though in retrospect should have used a ruler and done a little measuring!

Once I figured out where the fabric swatches and postcards were going to be, I secured them down with glue. The Mod Podge did not work so well and caused the post cards to curl up. I used the glue gun instead. Perfect!

Then I measured some wide grosgrain ribbon to cover the ugly metal frame. I made sure to cut too much so that the ends could be trimmed at the end. Here the glue gun did not work, and here is where I brushed on the Mod Podge. I brushed the glue on to the metal frame and then carefully applied the ribbon. When the ribbon was on and secured onto all 4 sides, I trimmed the ends. I happened to have a few silk flowers and glued (with hot glue) them on to the corners. I removed the push pins and applied then to where the ribbons met, crossed.

Then I took thinner strips of grosgrain ribbon and measured length-wise and cut three strips.
I took the end of each strip and carefully tucked it under the wider ribbon at each end, then I secured the ribbon using push pins. I did this three times. And again from top to bottom. I found a few iron on flowers and a wooden alligator that I secured on randomly with the hot glue gun.

There are a few bare spots that I will fill, then I will wrap the board and place it under the tree!

The background of the memory board can be anything really that matches the decor of the room where it will be placed. You can use post cards, material remnants, wall paper remnants, wrapping paper... the possibilities are endless... add a few personal embellishments and your memory board is done!

Seeing Red... and a Lilly inspired memory board

I went in for one of these... just because there is no better feeling than holding a Red Cup in your hands!

And then I saw this on the shelf!


so I snatched it up! Christmas Blend in the morning makes me even happier than a Red Cup!
and then I whipped out my Red card to pay...



and asked if I wanted one of these for free!!

So I went in for this



and got all of this!!!




And I finally got motivated to start Rebecca's memory board. The same one she has been begging me for for months! And I went at it freehand... (perhaps next time I'll use a ruler and be more precise!) But I'm pleased so far... just a little more to add... It's totally Lilly inspired. Can you see what I used with the swatches? She loves all things Lilly... I'm going to add a few more things, find some pictures of her friends, add one of my cartoons and wrap it up and put it under the tree!

this one is really for the birds...

I saw a bird feeder kit in some fancy toy or gardening magazine last week... and upon looking closely the tube looked like a toilet paper roll! What a scam! So I thought we would replicate the craft ourselves, save a few pennies and use items already lying around. I had to buy a bag of backyard bird feed that cost $3 at most!

We used two paper towel rolls and I think they came out really well!






Anyone can make these bird feeders. All you need is a paper towel or toilet paper roll, a few thin sticks from the back yard, some peanut butter (soy bean butter can be substituted for those with nut allergies) and some bird seed.

You'll need to make 4 holes in your tube. 2 at the top through which you will thread something to tie the bird feeder on to the tree, and 2 in the middle through which you can thread your stick to serve as a perch for your little birdies!



Then all you will have to do is apply the peanut butter with a knife. This is very easy to do. And gently apply the birdseed to the peanut butter. Believe it or not peanut butter is very nutritious and there are quite a few birds that do eat it.


I think there is more peanut butter on Alexander's sweater than on the feeder!


Christopher is my bird guy... he'll watch with binoculars from his bedroom for hours. I bought him a New England bird reference book recently and was amazed by the fact that he sat right down to read it cover to cover.

We do have the most amazing birds on our property. Hopefully he'll be able to capture some for Christmas after he gets his digital camera! (Shhhhhh!!!)


We placed all the feeders on the back of the house so that we will be able to watch when we are in the family room or kitchen.

is there anything quite so perfect?

I love cranberries! I love the look, feel, smell and taste of them! They are perfect in so many ways. I love cooking with them, baking with them, tossing them into drinks for a lively and lovely festive effect. I love snacking on them (dried and sweetened) and I love decorating with them. Their color is perfect to carry you from the fall to the winter festivities. What's more is that cranberries are so good for you.

Admittedly, I might have overdone the pumpkin a bit this year. I'm not saying I won't return, but for now we're shifting to the perfect little cranberry!

Photos and ideas courtesy Better Homes and Gardens

The Frozen Cranberry Margaritos, photo and recipe courtesy Southern Living

Cranberry Bog Cocktail, photo and recipe courtesy Food Network and Gail Gand

Pear and Cranberry Bellini, photo and recipe courtesy Martha Stewart

Cranberry, Tangerine and Pomegranate Punch, photo and recipe courtesy Martha Stewart

Did you know that the cranberry is a cousin of the blueberry? These tart, bright berries can still be found growing on shrubs, but when cultivated, are grown on low trailing vines in great sandy bogs. The American cranberry, the variety most cultivated in the northern United States and southern Canada, produces a larger berry than the wild cranberry or the European variety.

Fresh cranberries, which contain the highest levels of beneficial nutrients, are at their peak from October through December, just in time to add their festive hue, tart tangy flavor and numerous health protective effects to your holiday meals. The cranberry season is short, so stock up and toss a bunch in your freezer! When the season passes and you have run out of these fresh berries, you can still enjoy cranberry juice and dried or frozen cranberries both of which have still have many of the wonderful health benefit that the fresh berry contains.

It was the Native Americans who first took advantage of cranberries. They mixed deer meat and mashed cranberries to make pemmicana-survival food. The Native Americans also believed in the medicinal value of cranberries. The utilized the berries and the leaves to create their own antibiotic medicines. Medicine men would use cranberries in poultices to draw poison from arrow wounds. They also used the rich red juice of the cranberry as a natural dye for rugs, blankets and clothing. Legend has it that the Pilgrims served cranberries at the first Thanksgiving. The tradition still continues today. Sailors used cranberries as a source of vitamin C to prevent scurvy.

We now know that cranberries are full of Vitamin C, and full of antioxidants that help cleanse and purify the body. Cranberries have long been valued for their ability to help prevent and treat urinary tract infections. Now, recent studies suggest that this native American berry may also promote gastrointestinal and oral health, prevent the formation of kidney stones, lower LDL and raise HDL (good) cholesterol, aid in recovery from stroke, and even help prevent cancer.

So Bon Appetit and Chin Chin! Enjoy your cranberries this Holiday Season!

Cranberry, Apple and Maple Phylo

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

and Cranberry Lemon Squares,
all courtesy Martha Stewart


For more Cranberry recipe ideas visit Ocean Spray and The Entertaining Kitchen, where cranberry recipes are being added daily!