Mom's turn: Thankful for...

Well – this year I must say I’m thankful for life and health! The past few holidays have been riddled with death, funerals, and surgeries. I’m definitely ready for a change! So this year I was excited to cook for my sister-in-law and her family; although serving her husband, who is a fabulous gourmet chef, was a bit intimidating!!! SOOOOOO – where are the pictures and recipes for this fantastic dinner????? Good question. I got so wrapped up in preparing for it that I forgot to take pictures of the final thing :-/ To top it off, most of my recipes seemed to have disappeared, presumably into the garbage. I was a little aggressive on the “clean-up” part afterwards. I did capture a few things, however:

our new scarecrow for a whimsical greeting

several pinecones for various projects...this required some lovely family walks around the neighborhood. That's why I enjoy crafts!

Hmmm - not the holiday polish I had in mind

beading...I thought this was Teeny's craft!?!?!?! She was kind enough to share all of her beads and ideas, though. LOTS of coffee is necessary for this venture.
two down - several more to go

what exactly did I get myself into??

the finished product - how beautiful, and oh so worth the effort! It was surrounded by all of the desserts on the buffet when things were set up.

a game - that required more family walks. This time around the LSU campus and lakes. What a beautiful time of year for it, too.

a jar full of different sized acorns

the game was to guess how many were in there, 182...the reward was a highly prized iTunes card.

the winner - my nephew. No picture, but he looks like the squirrel on top of the jar ;-)

OKAY - let's see what else we can do!!!

Teeny and I had a blast with these...and the kids, both family and nieghborhood, loved them!

and for the adults...TRYING to be healthy. I made a fruit turkey - he was quite photogenic with his bright red snood. He was very yummy and went fast, too. Hopefully he helped make up for my HH's delicious blackberry breadpudding...you can see the ingredients next to him: butter, blackberries, butter, bread, sugar, and did I mention butter?????
here is where the AHHH factor comes in for me...the finished table is set with China that I received from Great-Great, who passed away this year. It was a wonderful way for her memory to carry on with us during this holiday season.

TOOOO MUCH TURKEY - Samson said it was nap time!

After all of the festivities, my DD still found the energy to go to the movies with friends. Ahhh - to be young again.