By Sun and Candlelight

Turkey Day Recap

Here's a little peek at our Thanksgiving Day ... 

With 17 coming for dinner, you have to get a little creative with the table arrangements, so we set up two tables for four in the family room ...

(That's EB and his Papa in the background - each with his own internet device, lol.)

In this room I used russet and olive tableclothes and two different sets of blue and white dishes ...

I made up little bouquets of orange, yellow and red mini carnations and set them in crystal vases filled with cranberries (and water).

Very simple, (inexpensive), and sweet.

In the dining room (which thanks to the flu last week is still under construction!) we set up our large dining table with seating for nine. 

I used a sage green tablecloth with a soft orange runner. Added some candles (ivory tapers and amber votives) and a cornucopia filled with vegetables, fruit and silk leaves. 

I couldn't be without my life-saving lists!

They're now crumpled and worn, but they really kept me in line!

Our pretty kitty ...

Some pretty candy ...

And lots of sunlight - it was such a nice day! 

Hors d'oeuvres were served in the sitting room, and that's the dessert "holding zone" in the right-hand corner:

Not much here yet - just a pie, a cake, various candies, and a spicy pudding in the crockpot. (And on the lower shelf hidden behind the table linen, we had more storage - as pies and things came in, they were placed here till after dinner.) 

And here we have peach salsa and chips, apples and brie, hot pepper jelly and cream cheese, assorted crackers and cheese straws.

More appetizers were served in the family room ...

Most notably, my cousin's fabulous shrimp dip!

The china cupboard was set up as a bar ...

The star of the "preshow" was our Thanksgiving cocktail!

 The Cranberry Daiquiri.

They were very refreshing and delicious - but rather potent! (I had about 3 sips, lol.)

Crackerjack enjoying his own "kid-friendly" cocktail: sparkling cider, Sprite and a little twist of lime.

Dinnertime arrived around 2:30 ...

The 25 lb. turkey took six hours too cook!

Alongside the turkey we had ...

two kinds of stuffing

(plain and cranberry/apple/sausage)

two kinds of potatoes

(traditional and cream cheese)

two kinds of cranberry sauce

(canned and homemade)

broccoli-cheese casserole

sweet potatoes with carmelized onions

butternut squash

corn

gravy

and

biscuits

(snowflake and herbed)

After a pause to digest (and clean up), desserts were set out ...

And "plenty" being the word of the day, we had:

pumpkin pie

pecan pie

apple pieS

cherry jubilee pie

maple walnut cake

Indian pudding

honey-yogurt loaf

mini cheesecakes

and ice cream!

Naturally, freshly brewed coffee was served also ...

I have such fun with paper goods. :)

It was a wonderful day ... filled with friends, food and family. I love hosting this holiday - it's my favorite day of the year!

But as much as I love all the planning and prep - not to mention the party itself - there's that final moment of the day, when the house is quiet, the fridge is full, and the memories are safely tucked away ...

It's such a lovely moment of ...

Well my friends, I hope you all had a lovely day too, and a happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate. Thanks so much for stopping by today ... I'm taking a little break for the weekend, but I'll be back here again very soon!

*❤*

 Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. ~ Native American Saying

We have a winner!

... and it's Valerie!

Congratulations, Valerie! You've won my extra copy of Jan Brett's Home for Christmas! I've sent you an email so we can arrange our mailing details. I do hope you enjoy the book - it's a lovely little tale.

And WOW, there were 104 names to draw from! Thank you all, SO much, for taking the time to answer Earlybird's cranberry question. Because of you all, we have lots of raw data with which to formulate our graph. :)

I was reading the responses as they came in, but honestly, with all the pre-holiday chaos preparations, I didn't keep track of which choice was winning out - canned or homemade. It seemed pretty even, I think! (And there were a startling number of readers who simply don't care for cranberry sauce to begin with, lol!)

Well, at our Thanksgiving table we will offer both canned and homemade today. My dad and my brother prefer good ol' canned Ocean Spray, but I really love to make my own - if for nothing else than for how amazing it smells as it cooks! So I whipped up some relish last night, a very easy recipe that called for fresh cranberries, plain sugar and orange juice ... only I snuck in a dash of ground cloves, too. ;)

(And if there's any leftover relish I plan to make this on Sunday - perfect for the first day of Advent, don't you think? Or maybe these - lovely for after-church brunch!)

Cranberries will also star in our our signature holiday cocktail ~ today we are serving up "Cranberry Daiquiris!" They will look so pretty in our cosmo glasses, and with berries, orange, lemon, cinnamon and rum, I think they'll taste pretty nice, too. I'll be sure to take pictures to show you. :)

Dear readers, this was so much fun! We'll be formulating our "cranberry" graph next week, and will share it as soon as it's ready. And please look for another poll/giveaway in a couple of weeks. We'll have some "early winter" questions for you ... ;)

~**❤**~

Well, allrighty ~ I'm going to finish this coffee and get myself moving! The big day is here at last, and my mum should be here very soon to help me put the (25 pound!) turkey in the oven. And there's still lots to do before our guests arrive in six or so hours ... 

So have a wonderful day ... and to my fellow Americans:

A Very Happy Thanksgiving to you!

To all my readers, thank you for taking the time to stop by and read. I am grateful for your visits ... for your kind words and all your wonderful support! Blogging has been such a blessing to me, and I'm thankful I'm able to do it!

See you all again very soon ...

:)

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Loaves of Thanksgiving

A few freshly baked breads for our friends around town!

 A small token of gratitude for all they do for our community - and us. :)

Learning about, and experiencing, our community is a big part of Earlybird's home education. And his favorite part of the week are the excursions we make here and there, meeting all kinds of folks on the way. Despite the fact he is autistic, he is an extraordinarily social child! (Autism affects each child so differently, and things like awareness and affection have never been an issue for EB. His challenges run more along sensitivity issues, impulsivity and developmental delays.)

What EB needs is guidance on how to conduct himself in public, and practice in speaking with those he meets. Consequently we spend a lot of time visiting the library, the grocery store, the post office, etc. EB is always full of questions and comments and has made some really nice connections with many of the people we see on a weekly basis. 

Happily, it's been our experience that people are generally very kind and encouraging when it's clear our EB is a special needs child. They respond to his outgoing nature, and are patient with him as he asks questions or makes comments. His speech delay can make him difficult to understand, and it touches my heart when I observe someone giving him the time he needs to finish his thought. And it thrills us to watch him grow in confidence and skill as he learns to socialize with people outside his own circle.

So at Thanksgiving we wanted to take a moment to think about the people we see regularly through the year and say thanks for being so friendly and helpful. To that end, I baked some quick breads this morning and we delivered them this afternoon when we ran out to do a few errands. 

I used the "mix-and-match quick bread" recipe in Frozen Assets (my good old standby) but I tinkered with the recipe a bit. I used less sugar, and added some white-wheat flour. I also used nutmeg and ginger as well as cinnamon. I used sweet potato and pumpkin puree for a nice autumn blend - so we call these "Thanksgiving Breads!"

(What I really love about this recipe is how flexible it is and that it makes two loaves in one try. Very convenient when you're baking with the seasons and making food gifts!)

When the breads were cool I wrapped them in parchment paper, and lengths of green-and-white baker's twine. I gave EB manilla leaf tags to color ... but truth be told, Crackerjack pitched in because EB told me he'd "done enough coloring this morning," lol. Good ole CJ, he may be a tween now, but he still loves to do crafts when I've got them set out. Of course, it may have something to do with the fact he can step away from his math for a while. ;)

So, on the tags we wrote why were thankful ...

For the farmstand because they grow good things for us to eat.

For the library because we LOVE to read!

For the post office because mail is such a fun part of our day!

I tucked the tags beneath the twine, and our "loaves of Thanksgiving" were ready to go! It was a quick and fun morning activity - plus, it felt really nice to make people smile. :)

And if I could, I'd bake a loaf for all my readers and the tag would say:

For the kind people who visit my blog and make me smile every day!

*❤*

Now, here we are ONE day before the BIG day, and there's so much to do on my list I can hardly think! Lol. It will all get done though - it always does! Unfortunately it is raining HARD here this morning, so that won't make food shopping so fun. (At least the forecast for tomorrow is bright sun so I really can't complain.)

Before I sign off, I'd like to thank you all for the wonderful response to our cranberry poll! I love reading your votes and particularly the reasons behind them. Please keep them coming - we'll be working on our chart later this week. And the poll will be open until I go to bed tonight - I will draw a winner in the morning!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, my friends ... I will see you all again very soon!

:)

What's your favorite autumn dessert?

Earlybird and I are working on "charts and graphs" this week, and I thought it would be fun to do a little poll on such a timely, tasty subject. If you have a moment, would you consider leaving your answer below? :)

And speaking of autumn desserts - today happens to be National Indian Pudding Day - and Indian pudding happens to be one of my favorite autumn desserts! In fact, I made some today, using the recipe found in Autumn from the Heart of the Home by Susan Branch ...

 It's really a perfect dish for this time of year! So autumnal, spicy and sweet ...

It's an easy recipe and not all that time-consuming. (It bakes for three hours, but the prep is pretty quick.) And it calls for things you most likely already have in your pantry (cornmeal, molasses, maple syrup, ginger and cinnamon). The only thing I had to buy was whole milk since we usually only have lowfat on hand.

This is how it looked just before I put it in the oven. It may not be the prettiest of desserts, but it sure does taste good ... and MY does the house smell heavenly as it bakes!

Here's how it looked coming out:

Personally, I think it's best served with vanilla ice cream or maybe a dollop of freshly whipped cream. :)

❤

As a native New Englander, I kind of grew up on Indian pudding - not that we had it all the time, but I remember it on many a family occasion. Here's a little more about the dish from Punchbowl.com:

"Celebrate National Indian Pudding Day! Indian pudding is a delicious custard made with molasses, cornmeal, milk, butter, spices, eggs, and sometimes apples. Once baked, Indian pudding looks like an inedible mush, but after one bite you'll be hooked!

This scrumptious recipe has been around for centuries. Early American colonists did not have the necessary ingredients to make plum pudding, so they created an alternative using cornmeal. Indian pudding is still a popular dessert around New England and other parts of the country. Celebrate your American heritage today and enjoy some Indian pudding on National Indian Pudding Day!"

I also found a recipe online for making Indian Pudding in the crockpot, and I think I'll make that version on Thanksgiving Day. For one thing, it won't take up oven space - on a day when oven space is at a premium! - and for another, the house will smell fantastic as our dinner guests arrive!

And continuing with the "autumn foods" theme, for tonight's Sunday supper, I'm serving "Cranberry Chicken" with salad and long grain/wild rice. I've never tried this dish before and though the ingredients seem kind of ... well, strange ... it got such rave online reviews, I figured I'd give it a go. It makes a whole lot, so I hope it's a hit! 

Well my friends, dinnertime is fast approaching, so I'd best get myself back in the kitchen. I hope you all had a lovely weekend, and as always, thanks so much for stopping by ... I'll see you all again very soon!

:)

Turkey Day Shopping

This past weekend I worked on our Thanksgiving Day "game plan" so I thought I'd write about that topic a little ...

(Or maybe a lot if I get carried away, as you all know I'm apt to do.)

But first, a word about food shopping in general ...

Because Earlybird doesn't do that well with multiple-stop shopping (though he's gotten SO much better with shopping overall), I usually run my weekly errands when Bill's home from work. Typically, this would be Saturday and/or Sunday. (I really prefer not to shop on Sundays, but sometimes it can't be helped.) To make the best use of my time (and our money) I try to have a menu plan in place for the coming week, my coupons all sorted, and a detailed shopping list broken down into an itinerary.**

So I set out Saturday morning to shop - list in hand, gas in tank, coffee in cup holder. It takes up a good chunk of my day, but I like getting most of it done in one fell swoop, and, to be honest, I kind of think of it as "me time," lol. (There are still a couple of quick marketing trips with EB through the week.)

In the case of Thanksgiving, however, I'm going to have to split things up a bit!

Thanksgiving, after all, is the biggest "family dinner" of the year. There's just so much to plan and prepare! We need to order a turkey! Do we want a farm-raised turkey? We'd better check the pantry! Do we have the spices that make the cranberry relish so good? Are we trying some new side dishes this year? And how about pies - what do we need for the pies? Are we making pies? Buying pies? Assigning pies? :)

These are all good things to think about this month - and for obvious reasons, it's preferable to think about them earlier in the month rather than later. Today is November 8th - I'd say it's time to think about them!

So, while I am still working on my menu (we're expecting 18 this year!), I have planned out my "Turkey Day" shopping itinerary. I have done this carefully, because for one thing, I am limited on time, and for another, I don't want to be out there when everyone else is out there, fighting for cranberries and yams. So after considering my rather lengthy list - and consulting with my mum - I determined I need to do a combination shop - stopping at the local farm, a Whole Foods market, as well as my regular supermarket.

So!

~ The boys and Mum and I will drive out to the farm one weekday morning next week (aka field trip!). Here we'll get keepers like local cranberries, apples, pears, squash and the like. We'll most likely pick up a few random "gourmet" items that catch our eye.

~ Our Whole Foods visit will take place the weekend before Thanksgiving. Very early that Saturday morning - I'm talking 7 a.m. - we'll head over to WF's and here we'll buy our natural food stuffs. A lot of what Earlybird can have I'll buy here - as well as special treats for the kids after-dinner. (Hammonds natural candy canes have become a post-turkey-dinner tradition. We might try pumpkin spice this year!)

~ The Tuesday before the big day, I'll pick up our free-range turkey from the farmstand down the street. They officially closed for the season on Halloween, but they open back up on this day to pass out the turkey orders. It feels good to support a local farmer and it's nice to know our turkey will have led a (relatively) long, happy life. :)

~ My regular market shopping (for basic dinner staples) will happen very early in the morning the day before Turkey Day (again, we're talking 7 a.m.!). Bill has that day off from work, so I'll run out bright and early to get the remaining things we need for our dinner. Then I'll head back home to bake ... and clean and cook and iron, etc.!

~ Also, I will send Bill out to the liquor store on this day to buy any spirits we'll need. We generally offer beer and wine at Thanksgiving dinner, but we also like to serve one "signature" cocktail for each holiday we host. Last Easter it was an "Easter Bunny Cocktail" and last Christmas we served "Candy Cane Cosmos." We haven't decided on this year's special drink yet ... but I'll be sure to let you all know!

Ok, so there are my notes and thoughts on holiday dinner shopping. This framework holds true for Easter and to a certain extent, Christmas, too. It might seem like a lot, but by thinking ahead and carefully planning out those lists, the shopping should be relatively quick and enjoyable. (Plus I'm keeping better track of my spending.) Generally speaking, if I'm not rushing about or fighting the crowds, I actually enjoy my marketing days!

(Oh, and the "**" above was to say, I have a follow-up post in the works about my overall menu planning and marketing routine. I hope to get that up sometime later this week.)

In the meantime, I hope you all have a nice Tuesday. The weather is going to be beautiful here in New England today - warm and sunny! - but we'll be taking things slow. I have a couple of kids fighting head colds, and one of them (my poor EB) was actually sick to his stomach this morning. So needless to say, I have a little extra laundry to do ...

I'll see you again soon, my friends ... stay well and be safe!

:)

Leaves of Light and Grace

Our gratitude banner is now underway! And it looks so pretty in the learning room windows.

At midday ...

... and just after dark ...

The original plan, if you remember, was to wait until Thanksgiving night to illuminate this banner. (Once all the "leaves of gratitude" had been hung.) Well, that was a nice idea and all, but ... we just couldn't wait! As soon as the sun started setting last night around 4 p.m., I decided we could use all the light we could get!

Now, funnily enough, it didn't really matter that I had gathered all the materials for this project in advance - we still got a late start!

Bill just got the string of lights up Saturday afternoon (after a little nagging nudging from me).

I just cut out our first five leaves Saturday night.

And then we had to catch up with the days we had already missed! 

(Originally, I planned to have a basket filled with paper leaves all ready to use, but I decided it would be far less taxing to just cut out a new leaf each night.)

And happily, we added our sixth leaf last night, so we seem to be on track. ;)

So see, plans are wonderful things - but "real life" always comes first and sometimes you need to tweak those wonderful plans a little so they fit your reality more, well, realistically. :)

And now for a quick step-by-step - not that this isn't a ridiculously easy and self-explanatory craft, but I took pictures as I made last evening's leaf, so I figure I'll share them!

First, I used that oak tag leaf shape as my template ...

(Though my favorite autumn tree is the sugar maple - for its vibrant orange and red foliage - I have a real soft spot for oak leaves. I think it's because they are usually paired with acorns, and goodness knows I love me some acorns! The shape of the oak leaf is very pleasing as well - large-sized and curvy - and they're sturdy. They don't rip as easily as do other tree's leaves.)

So our most recent leaf was cut from a piece of gray-blue cardstock. Now, blue might seem like an odd "autumnal" color, but really, this shade is like the perfect pale November sky - a kind of cadet blue, quite striking against the more traditional leaf colors.

I simply traced the template, then cut out the shape with my all-purpose scissors ...

Then I pierced the stem (serving as handle) with the point of my sharpest scissors, and threaded a length of twine (more rustic than yarn) through the resulting hole. (The stem was just a little too narrow for a hole-punch.)

Do you see the little tail in the background of the picture above?

Sweet, silly kitty.

Before a day's leaf is hung on the garland, we brainstorm the things we are grateful for on that particular day. I try to encourage the boys to focus on the little things, not just the big picture. And I absolutely love hearing what they have to say! I write down all our thoughts and then hang the leaf up on the light string, nestlng them in between the  glowing grapevine balls.

By Thanksgiving - if all goes according to plan - this whole window will be filled with pretty autumn leaves, celebrating our family's daily gratitude, and honoring how our lives are touched by Grace every day.

I just love the way soft lights like these shine through the darkness, both inside and out. And I love the idea that - symbolically speaking - we're making "our own light" to shine throughout the darkening world. Physically, we turn on those lights for all to see - and spiritually, we turn on our own inner lights, by acknowledging and sharing our gratitude. It's a really good feeling!

❤

Well, my friends ... I'm finishing this post up as I watch another lovely sunrise. Six a.m. sharp, and it's pretty dark in this house ... but just look at that beautiful light heading our way:

The gift of another day together - now that is something to truly be THANKFUL for!

And speaking of gratitude, thank you all so much for stopping by and spending some time here - I appreciate your time and your thoughts. I hope your week gets off to a great start ... 

So have a good day, everyone ~ I will see you all here again very soon.

:)

Thinking Ahead for Thankfulness

~ Making a Gratitude Banner ~

With a quick glance at my calendar, I see there are only 13 days till Halloween ~ which means ~ there only 14 days till November! And on November 1st we begin our annual gratitude project - so now's the time to get our materials together!

Every year we like to do something a little different for this project. I particularly like making "thankful trees," using bits and pieces of real nature - i.e. branches, waxed leaves and the like - but with a pair of mischievous kittens in the house this year, I think it will be best to keep things simple. Or at the very least, inedible.

So last weekend I bought some cardstock in pretty autumn shades, and I plan to cut out 24 leaves in a variety of colors, one for each night through Thanksgiving. Each square piece of paper should allow for two leaves, going by the size and shape of my template. (Which is just an oak leaf shape I drew and cut out from tag paper.) 

Now, the plan is this ... 

Every night at supper, we will take a leaf from our pile (neatly nestled in a pretty basket) and talk about what we are thankful for that day. I will write down all our responses and then hang that leaf on our "gratitude banner."

Our banner will be, very simply, a long string of grapevine ball lights. I'll have Bill hang it above the windows in the learning room.

I'm sure you can guess why I say "above" the windows and not "around."

Scamps.

Each leaf will be hung from the garland - but! - the lights will not actually be lit till Thanksgiving night. (On Turkey Day we'll add our final leaf and ask our dinner guests to join us in expressing our gratitude for all that we have.)

I think it's sort of nicely symbolic to wait till the banner is full - of blessings and gratitude - before lighting it up. We'll let thankfulness fill our hearts (and our windows) and on Thankgiving night - as we head into the darkest nights of the year - our banner will shine all the more brightly. 

So this is the plan and the prep (save for the cutting which I'll work on this week - and the light-stringing which I'll nag ask Bill to do over Halloween weekend). I'll post about the execution stage of the project on the first (or maybe the second) of November!

Now, speaking of gratitude projects, I must point you all to this lovely article over at Parents.com - a collection of 20 cute crafts to say "thanks" with your kids. In fact, one of the projects might seem a little familiar to some of my readers ~ our "Gratitude Seeds" from last year is idea #10. :)

Well, I hope you all had a nice Tuesday! Our day began cool and raw and I was wondering where the anticipated "lukewarm" weather could be ... but just after lunchtime the skies cleared up and the sun shone strongly. The temps did indeed rise to near 70. Such a treat!

And I did get my 2011 holiday planner assembled today - and of course I took plenty of pictures! - so I will post all about it in another day or two. For now, I must be off ... but I will see you all again very soon!

:)

Thanksgiving at Our House

Another Thanksgiving come and gone? And Advent upon us this Sunday? How time is flying ... 

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday! We had a very nice holiday with our family - we hosted* an afternoon dinner here at our home. The day was clear and cold, just right for a New England Thanksgiving. The Patriots played (and won!) so we had a TV set up down in the playroom for those who didn't want to miss the big game. We moved the Wii into the older boys' bedroom (much to their dismay, lol). Food was served buffet-style from the kitchen island, and dinner seating was set up in the living room, dining room and family room. It all worked out very nicely. :)

Our Thanksgiving menu this year included ...

~Appetizers~

Baked artichoke dip with French bread

A variety of cheeses, red grapes, fig jam and crackers

 Mango salsa with tortilla chips

***

~Beverages~

Red and white wine (including apple and pear wine from a local orchard)

Beer, cider and soda

***

~Dinner~

Roast turkey (a free range bird from a local farm)

Herbed Sausage stuffing

Gravy

Mashed potatoes

Sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping

Roasted autumn vegetables

Cranberry-apple relish

(as well as good ole canned cranberry sauce!)

Maple carrots

Baked macaroni and cheese

Crusty sourdough rolls

***

~Dessert~

Apple pies (traditional and crumb)

Pumpkin pie

Lemon meringue pie

Spice cake served with whipped cream (for my mum's birthday)

Pecan bars

Triple layer brownies

Gingersnap cookies

Freshly brewed coffee (we like Jim's Organic these days)

*Note: I would never have been able to pull off even a TENTH of this day were it not for my mum. She planned with me, shopped with me, cleaned with me and cooked with me! Working together made it all so doable - not to mention all the more fun. :)

Here are a few pics I took before the day really got underway ...

Seating for eight in the dining room ...

The kids' table in the family room ...

Seating for five in the living room ...

The desserts in their "holding" zone; beverages keeping cold on the deck ... 

Some of the appetizers (and the turkey behind in the bottom oven!) ...

As you can probably guess, there were lots of leftovers! Today was spent putting chairs and china away and running the dishwasher a time or two. Bill worked a half day and now we're winding down, glad to have a (relatively) quiet weekend before us.

I hope you all had a nice week, wherever you live and however you celebrate. Thanks for stopping by today ~ hope to see you again soon. :)

Happy Thanksgiving ...

... and blessings to all my readers today, on this beautiful American holiday!

Our "Seeds of Gratitude" Tree

 

After lunch yesterday, Earlybird and I scoured the backyard for a branch just right for this year's Thanksgiving tree. We finally settled on a rather large red oak branch ~ it was lying on the ground just waiting to be put to good use!

Back inside, I anchored the branch in an earthenware pitcher (filled with coins for stability and weight) and placed it at the head of our dining/work table.

Next was figuring out what symbol to use (size, shape and medium), to represent the "thanks" we'll give this November. 

I really liked the idea of using acorns instead of leaves, so I scoured online for a template. Once I found one I liked, I printed out 25 copies (an acorn a day leading up to Thanksgiving). For a bit of extra color and texture, I attached a couple of pretty silk leaves to my paper cutouts ~ and tied the whole thing together with a bit of autumnal yarn:

At supper each night this month, we'll talk about what things we were thankful for that day - the big and the small - and write them down on the back of an acorn. 

Update ~ I just took a picture of our very first acorn:

By Turkey Day our tree will be filled with many Seeds of Gratitude!

Happy November, my friends ~ I hope you have a wonderful week! :)

Happy Advent!

I just love this time of year ...

 

There is something especially beautiful about winter sunrises, don't you think? It's almost as if the sky is doing it's own holiday decorating! Or maybe giving  us a bit of cheer on these bitter early mornings. Scientifically speaking, it must have something to do with the weather conditions at this time of year - cold, frosty, dry - but almost daily it seems (unless it's raining) - the sunrise is startlingly intense and varied. I think I take pictures almost every day ...

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! Ours was wonderful - bustling, happy and homey. Lots of good food, family and friends ... and lots of leftovers to indulge in this week!

Right now I am working on a December "plans" post (hoping to post mid-or-late-week), but for today I'd like to share some photos from the past month or so ...

 

One Saturday Bill was breaking down the yard toys and we found this little fella (a salamander) hiding in the folds of the bouncy house! Isn't he gorgeous? We deposited him safely under an old log by the compost pile. Hopefully he'll curl up and enjoy a long winter's nap.

 

The Blue Jays have been especially active this fall. This picture was actually a tree filled with a band of birds, but the best shot was this guy in the middle.

The following few pictures were taken on a recent Nature Club activity - we learned about a local watershed and did some percolation experiments. It was a cool, gray day ...

 

 

 

I really love the woods at this time of year - everything seems so bleak and done-for, so the tiny bits of color really stand out all the more. A flash of blue feathers, a bright ray or light, the punch of a red berry ...

 

Boston on (yet another) cloudy day ... on our way into the Science Museum.

 

Crackerjack and Bookworm making "their" pie on Thanksgiving eve - a lime jello cool whip variety. :)

 

I made the one above - a "Holiday Fruit Pie" filled with cranberries (dried and fresh), orange peel and golden raisins. I thought it came out pretty well. :)

 

And a little taste of Advent preparations underway ... more on the tags and ribbons (etc.) to come later this week!

Have a wonderful week, my friends ~ and Hurray for December tomorrow!

Be back just as soon as I can ...  

A Very Happy Thanksgiving to You!

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson  

I am thankful for so many blessings this year ~ and I count my friends here among them. I hope you all enjoy a day filled with peace, joy and love. (And lots of good food, too!) I'm off to start cooking! :)

Turkey Day is on its way ...

I'm sorry I've been out of touch the last few days, it's been one crazy-busy weekend around here! Lots of running around: dropping things off, picking things up and cleaning the house top to bottom. Moving furniture, making room in the fridge, shampooing rugs - those kinds of things. But we made time for fun, too! First of all, I got to shop with my mum, which is always nice (we treated ourselves to holiday coffees while we were out) and I also went to a movie Saturday night with my girlfriends. (Loved it, by the way, and ridiculously happy to hear they're making the sequel!) And yesterday Bill and the boys went to a semi-pro hockey game with friends. Needless to say, they had a blast. :)

So here we are Monday morning, and it's already Thankgiving week! Did I mention we're hosting dinner again this year - and we expect 22 people? Give or take? :)

So lots more to do today (and tomorrow and the next day) ... but for right now I'd better get going. I have boys, cats and birds to feed, and that's just the start of the list. I'll be back to post more Turkey Day details soon!

Thanksgiving comes but once a year,
But when it comes it brings good cheer.
For in my storehouse on this day
Are piles of good things hid away.
Each day I've worked from early morn
To gather acorns, nuts, and corn,
Till now I've plenty and to spare
Without a worry or a care.
So light of heart the whole day long,
I'll sing a glad Thanksgiving song.

       ~ Thornton Burgess

~*This Year's Gratitude Tree*~

I'm sure many of you are doing some variation of this Thanksgiving activity with your children this month ~ it's a fun and thoughtful tradition. :) Last year, you might recall, my boys made acorn blessings for the windowpanes, and the year before that it was a handprint tree.

This year, I decided to change things up a bit - same theme, new materials.

I took a small amount of clean aquarium pebbles (you can also find river pebbles at the craft store) and filled a small glass to the top. One afternoon while the boys played outside, I gathered some branches from a tree that grows just behind our fence. Snipping them to size, I "planted" the branches snugly in the cup of pebbles.

I happened to have a small pad of scrapbook paper in autumn shades and a ball of similiarly hued yarn. Using an oakleaf shaped cookie cutter I stenciled a shape on several pieces of paper. Cut them out, hole punched the top and threaded each shape through with a short length of yarn. I placed the "leaves" in a basket an placed it next to the "tree." Each night at suppertime we ask ourselves what made us feel grateful that day - I write each of our blessings on a leaf, date the leaf and hang it on the tree ...

Before long it will be filled with an abundance of blessings!

Speakng of gratitude, I'd like to say thanks once again for all your kind comments and support. Thank you, too, to the folks who nominated me for a Homeschool Blog Award. I am honored you feel my blog is worthy of an award. :)

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

~*A Book Display for Thanksgiving*~

Well, I finally got around to cleaning out the front window and packing away the Halloween decorations. OK, that's only partly true. I did clean out the window (dusting it thoroughly and wiping away the dead ladybugs) and I did remove the pumpkin lights and glow-in-the-dark skeleton - but I'll leave the packing up part to Bill. He can be a bit particular about how things get stored and where ... ;)

Once the window was all clean and shiny, I set up a new book display for the month of November. Now, our front window sits at the head of our homelearning worktable, so I feel completely justified in filling it with children's books and other happy, child-friendly things. Though I've long admired the fancy silk flower arrangements I spy in my neighbors' front windows - (OK, maybe I coveted them a bit) - books and branches and other homey kinds of things will do for us for now.

The cornucopia, of course, is a timeless symbol of Thanksgiving, and ours is overflowing with the an abundance of pumpkins we harvested from our garden this year. It is surrounded by a few of our favorite holiday books:

• Happy Thanksgiving!
• The Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving
• The Story of the Pilgrims
• Arthur's Thanksgiving
• Turkeys, Pilgrims and Indian Corn: The Story of the Thanksgiving Symbols
• A Holiday Book: Thanksgiving
• The First Thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving is ...
• Thanksgiving Day at Our House: Poems for the Very Young

(Not on display, because it's part of the Nature Shelf this month, is my favorite Thanksgiving book of all, A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting.)

You know, people often ask me if we own all the books I show at my blog, and the answer is - yes, mostly - though I think we do make excellent use of the library. (Case in point, there are two library books in the picture above.) Sure I've bought a lot of books over time, but I've been a mother for 13 years and a home educator for nine. Books are kind of my stock and trade.

And I've always loved collecting children's books, even before I had kids of my own. I often dreamed of writing children's book reviews like you find in Chinaberry, or maybe owning a little bookshop one day. I even thought about becoming a children's librarian at one point. And so this is where the large book collection - and the urge to set up fun little displays - comes from. ;)

I must point out, hanging above our display, barely noticeable unless the light hits it right, is this adorable jingle-bell-turkey-angel-ornament (for lack of a better description):

He makes me think of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. :)

By the way, thank you for all the lovely comments after my Learning Room post! I know there were several questions tucked in there and I will do my best to get to them just as soon as I can. But right now there are three boys awaiting their breakfast (ooh, look at the time, make that lunch), so I'd better be going ...

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

Rhubarb, the First Fruit of the Year

Though technically rhubarb is a vegetable, when it's baked up all tender and sweet, and smothered in crust and whipped cream, it really doesn't matter what you call it. :) Famously paired up with the next fruit on the seasonal timetable - the strawberry of June - rhubarb is really very good on its own. In fact, I'd almost be willing to say I prefer it on its own.

My grandfather grew rhubarb in his backyard and I remember sitting on the back step, dipping stalks of freshly cut rhubarb in a dixie cup of sugar. Oh goodness, that was a treat! I also remember the rhubarb he'd stew and tuck between layers of impossibly perfect pie crust, the top lightly dusted with cinnamon and sugar. I've never been very good at making pastry, so it is my summer goal to learn how to make his crust. To my mind, there's no better way to keep up with the delicious summer produce than with a parade of pies and turnovers. And how great it would be to stock the freezer with a supply of homemade pastry? What a great way to get a head start on your Thanksgiving pies!

But let me get to the point of this post which is to share the recipe for the scrumptious rhubarb dessert pictured above. It is actually called a grunt (which made my boys giggle), and I found it in How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking by Nigella Lawson. It seemed too impossibly easy, but it came out so, so good. A keeper for sure.

Rhubarb Grunt

• For the filling:
  • About 1 1/2 pounds fresh rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 3/4 to 1 cup sugar depending upon preference and sourness of fruit
  • scant 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces, plus more for greasing dish
• For the topping:
  • 1 cup cake flour
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream, whipped

Preheat the oven to 375 F. and place a baking sheet inside. Spread chopped rhubarb over bottom of an 8 x 12, buttered baking dish - sprinkle with sugar, coating evenly and dot with butter. For the topping, sift the flour, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Gently stir in the cream, making a sticky dough. Spread this mixture over the fruit in handfuls, covering the top evenly. Place dish on sheet and bake for 45 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling.

I served it with whipped cream; it would also be great with vanilla ice cream. (Especially, this kind.)

So don't forget to check the produce section at your local grocer's for those long red stalks. Even better if you can get them from a local farmer - or your own backyard!

Our Thanksgiving Day

Like most of America yesterday, our day started veeerrry early in the morning. Of course our days always start early, but generally the first few hours of the day are spent sitting comfortably and caffeinating thoroughly. There's not usually so much vegetable peeling, furniture moving and floor mopping. Not before 9, anyway.

And you know what? Scratch that first statement. Really, our day started several days before! Multiple shopping trips - last minute shopping trips! - cleaning, planning, cooking, etc. But the holidays are just the best and despite the serious lack of sitting and caffeine (two things of which I am especially fond) I am so so grateful for every bit of it!

So what follows is a brief(ish) recap of our day ... :)

As the first strains of the Macy's Parade began in the other room, my mum sat down to tackle the mounds of autumn flowers we purchased for today's centerpieces. She has a great eye, and her arrangements, whether done in flora or oil paints, are always beautiful. The boys offered to help add a bit of "punch" to the bouquets (small jolts of color, as Nana explained). (You can see the final results in the following pictures, particularly the sixth one down.)

Understandably I didn't do much photographing while I was elbow deep in cranberries and sweet potatoes, but I did snap this shot of my Bookworm's most favorite and requested casserole just after it went into the oven ...

Just before dinnertime, things calmed down a bit, and I reached for my camera. The sun was just coming out! It was a strange weather day - mild and wet for the most part but a weak sun managed to break through.

Brief as it was, the sunlight highlighted the tables just as we sat down to dinner. Here's our dining room set up to seat 14 ...

And the living room sat six. The keyboard might look a bit strange at the head of the table, but when you're hosting a large party, all kinds of household items are pressed into service for seating ~ hope chests, folding chairs and even keyboard benches!

This may sound trivial, but one of the reasons I love Thanksgiving, is I just love all the autumn colors! Set against linens of auburn, sage and plum, the flowers and candles were placed in glass or crystal. They caught the sunlight and candle-glow so nicely.

The below shot might seem an odd thing to share with you, but I share it for two reason. First of all, it's my trusty clipboard in action! It did me proud yesterday - holding recipes and keeping the day's timetable at my fingertips. But the other thing is this ~ do you see all that writing there? Most of it's mine but some of it is my mum's. I enjoyed looking back over it last evening and remembering all the planning we did together this past week. This sheet will be saved in my journal. I think it will be fun to look back at (not to mention practical at the holidays) years later.

After Bookworm said grace, we all dug into our dinner. In the blink of an eye it seemed it was time to start the coffee and set out desserts!

Oh, I didn't share our menu with you yet, did I? Well, then, here it is:

Before Dinner ...

• veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, hot pepper-jelly over cream cheese
• this year's cocktail: Amaretto-Cranberry Kiss

Dinner ...

• roast turkey and gravy (natch)
• stuffing (homemade, cornbread)
• mashed (Yukon) potatoes
• butternut squash
• peas
• corn
• sugar glazed pearl onions
• sweet potato bake
• homemade cranberry relish - plus canned for the purists ;)
• soft white and oatmeal rolls
• Asti Spumante

Dessert ...

• blueberry pie
• rhubarb cream pie
• apple crumb pie
• pumpkin pie
• cherry jubilee pie
• marshmallow & nut chocolate fudge
• Cranberry Bog Frogs
• apple strudel
• chocolate-peppermint cake
• vanilla ice cream and homemade whipped cream
• coffee, eggnog, mulled cider (which btw, I did in the crockpot - so easy!)

It was such a very good day, and not just because of all that food. Oh, the meal was delicious to be sure! But the best part of all was visiting with my family. And that my grandmother was able to be with us (after a scare last month) was a the best blessing of the day ...

My dearest wish for next year (you get wishes at Thanksgiving, don't you?) is that we'll all be together again. Remember those "acorn blessings" we made for our windows? It's no surprise most of them say "family." Each year (each day!) we have together is a gift. 

Wel, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and I wish you a Friday filled with the remains of The Day ~ yummy leftovers, fond memories, and not too many dishes to clean! Are you heading out to shop Black Friday specials - or resolutely staying home on Buy Nothing Day? ;)

As for me, well, a little of both! Right after I finish this vat cup of coffee, I'm heading over to the craft store to stock up on some Christmas supplies. I'll be back before long to report on all that. :)

Happy Friday!

Wishing you ...

I hope you have a beautiful holiday ... I'll see you in a day or two!

November Surprises

We had our first snowfall yesterday and that's two weeks earlier than last year! It was just a dusting and it didn't snow for very long ~ but it was enough to get us excited about the (hopefully) snowy season ahead.

And doesn't that table look like gingerbread with powdered sugar on top? Much like the cake I usually bake on the first "snow day" of the year, but we were (are) all busily wrapped up in Thanksgiving prep here so I pulled out these fellas instead, a sweet surprise for my boys ...

Our requisite cups of "snow cocoa" will wait until tomorrow. Probably just after lunch when I bring out the paper acorns to work on. (This year, instead of a grateful tree, we're hanging acorn blessings in all of our windows!)

Another surprise ~ a new bird at the feeder! He was SO hard to photograph - very very aware of the windows. I'm not sure if he could hear me or see me or sense the camera or what, but boy was he cautious!

Finally I got a sort-of decent shot, and we think he is a red-bellied woodpecker ...

Or he could be a northern flicker, but I don't think so. (Do you?) He sure likes the suet, that's for sure.

Well, I've got to dash ... today we'll be cleaning (some more), making those acorns (enough for guests too) and cooking some cranberry relish. But I'm going to find time later this afternoon to sit down with a hot cup of Holiday Tea and think about what I'm grateful for this year. There's an awful lot, so it should be a nice quiet hour or so (if I can get the boys to cooperate, lol).

Have a wonderful day!

Hold the gravy, please ...

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Oridnary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You're the glue that holds everyone together.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

H/T ~ Theresa and Jennifer!