Thanksgiving Odds and Ends

Out of the last 327 days of the year so far, I've probably spent 319 of them trying to convince Dave that it is time for us to move into a house.  Thus far, unfortunately, I have remained unsuccessful.  But on Thanksgiving Day it is actually quite fortunate, because it means that I'm not the chef.  A relatively small apartment means that instead of having guests over, you are the guests.

That doesn't mean I don't want to help.  This year, actually, I'm in charge of the Thanksgiving decor.    Just in case you are the host or hostess, you don't have to do everything yourself.  Chances are you're going to be doing the bulk of the cooking.  So might as well ask for some help on the side dishes, decorations, etc. Here are a few of the things I've been working on:

Gratitude Tree 

Kind of like what we did in our house this month, except with real branches.  I printed off a leaf design, cut it out, and used it to trace other ones onto scrapbook paper.  I'm going to have a tin of these leaves for people to write what they're grateful for and hang them up.  Hopefully it will be a little more full by the time we're done!

I seriously love them.  I was going to do them on real-looking leaves, but they were out of that type of scrapbook paper at the craft store.  So I chose this cute plaid, and I love how they turned out.

Place Cards

Pretty easy . . . I just got some tan card stock, glued on a little ribbon (only $1 at Hobby Lobby!) and then used white card stock for the names.  Ta da!

A personal place card at your seat always makes you feel special.

I'm pretty sure Kate won't appreciate it this year, but I still had fun making it.

And finally,

Oreo Turkeys

 Image from Alana's Recipes

Cute little guys, aren't they?  I haven't actually made them, I'm just bringing all the stuff for all of the kids to make them.  I figure it will be a good distraction so they don't go crazy while they wait for dinner!

Fun Fall Creations

Decorating always gets me in the spirit of the holiday.  You can do something big or little, but somehow it always makes the holiday more fun if you take that extra little step.  Thanksgiving is only a week away!  Hooray!

If you're looking for some more fun fall projects, click here.

The Gratitude Tree

Please don't judge my pathetic artwork.

The other night we started a new family tradition called "The Gratitude Tree."  I've seen a few things that are similar, but most recommend it as something for Thanksgiving Day guests.  I thought, however, that it would be much cooler to do in the month leading up to Thanksgiving.

Here's what we did: I drew a tree.  I taped it to our front door (the inside part).  Then I cut out some leaves from some fall-ish colors.  We talked about gratitude for a few minutes, and then we each got three leaves on which to write down some things we are grateful for.  From now until Thanksgiving, we are each trying to add at least one leaf of gratitude each day.

For now, as you'll notice, our tree looks a little sparse.  There are only two of us really participating (although I should add some things that Kate is grateful for, like grapes, and Curious George), so maybe I should have made the tree a little smaller, or the leaves a little bigger.  Oh well, I guess it'll motivate us to be really grateful.  We can't have a pathetic looking gratitude tree!

As I'm sure you've noticed, the leaves are so small they make your handwriting sloppy!