Thanksgiving 2012

Hello from your long lost blog friend!  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  I'm sorry for my little blog absence last week; I totally took advantage of the holiday weekend and spent lots of time catching up on the million things on my to-do list playing and resting.  Back to reality today! (Well, for three weeks until Christmas break - it's a hard life, but some one has to live it!)

I've had all kinds of trouble getting this post published; first, because I ran out of Google photo storage (who knew you could do that?), and second because I realized I have hardly any photos of our actual Thanksgiving (and ya'll, Sam looked SO cute... I am totally bummed!)

Anyway, I finally got at least one of those issues worked out; so, here goes nothing...

This was my table on Wednesday afternoon when I first set it up:

I used this "tutorial" from O Happy Day! for my paper runner and as inspiration for the rest of the table.  The name of my game this year was "simple," and I think that was accomplished.  My goal was to spend no more than $20.00 total, which was easily accomplished by making my table runner and using dishes, napkins, etc. that I already had.  I did buy the two little votives in the center - I liked the "sparkle" that they added, and - of course - the flowers (which were mostly dead by Thursday afternoon).  Another time and money saver was simply writing names directly onto the runner instead of worrying about fancy place cards.

Crafty I am not, but the runner was super easy to make - I just bought a roll of craft paper at Michaels, one small container of white paint, and a little round spongy brush.  It took all of five minutes, and it turned out pretty cute.  (If I do say so myself.) *Unlike the tutorial, I only cut my paper on the ends and just let them roll up naturally.  I didn't trust myself cutting in a straight line.

I called my table the "kids table," even though the youngest (besides Sam) was 25.  Whatever, we had a blast. And, as an added bonus, the paper runner provided some entertainment after the meal when I whipped out the sharpies. :) People LOVED it.

I would definitely use this idea again --- I think it would be perfect for birthday parties, showers, and all sorts of other occasions.

We didn't vote on a "winner' this year, but here's my mom's table too:

As always, it was beautiful!

Moving on...

Contrary to what this post sounds like so far, the most important part of my day was not my table. :)  The day was full of food and sweet reminders of how much I have to be thankful for...

What, doesn't everyone run with coffee?

We spent the morning participating in our town's annual Drumstick Dash to support The Rescue Mission with 16,000 of our closest friends. (Mostly we just walked and talked and ran into people with Sam's stroller.)

Then, in the afternoon, we had an awesome feast with so many of the people we love - both friends and family.  We played games, and laughed hard, and ate until our bellies hurt.  It was just right.  I am blessed.

Other things I did over the break:

- Saw "Breaking Dawn" in theaters.
- Pulled out all of my Christmas decorations.
- Black Friday/Cyber Monday Friday from the comfort of my couch.
- Gave a house tour to the original owners (more to come on that).
- Made the official switch to all Christmas music all the time.
- Reclaimed my guest room (with the help of my sister, you can actually see the floor in there again)
- Saw friends in from out of town.
- "Watched" football.
- Over ate.
- Graded massive stacks of papers.
- Over ate.

Ok, I think that about catches us up.  See you tomorrow!! :)