Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It evokes such great memories and feelings. It doesn’t hurt that it involves good food, time with loved ones and rest. Well, rest for some of us at least. Thanksgiving Day naps are some of the best are they not? Stuffed full of good food with a little background football noise and kids off playing with their cousins or hopefully just leaving you alone for a minute. Ha!
When I was a kid I loved going to my grandparents house and seeing all my cousins, aunts and uncles. We didn’t live close to them so it was special to see them on holidays. When I got to be about 10 or so I started to see a trend in Thanksgiving celebrations at my dad’s parents house…they would usually give me my birthday presents. This is NOT why I loved Thanksgiving but it certainly didn’t hurt its case. My grandma used to store my birthday presents on top of their hutch and as I got older I always looked to see if a present was “hiding” up there.
Thanksgiving sure changes as we go through different season of life!
After Greg and I got married we decided for a long time to always stay put for Thanksgiving and travel at Christmas time. Of course we always wanted people to come visit and share our gratitude with them. I remember my first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving if something didn’t go wrong right? At least it is fun to laugh about it later. My first year we were sitting down to eat in our small two bedroom apartment and my parents were with us. We were enjoying our dinner and I felt like something was missing. The rolls had been in the over for quite a while and let’s just say we didn’t need rolls that Thanksgiving. But I got a great picture of the “buns” in the oven to use for a future pregnancy announcement!!
When we lived in Texas where Greg served his first call we loved having all the other “non-Texans” over for Thanksgiving. We’d invite other local Pastors and their families and other transplants to join us for dinner. What a great time we had and so many relationships were formed, strengthened and solidified.
Making Things Special Without Breaking the Bank
I love to design and set up a pretty and different tablescape each year. Honestly how many times a year do we really take the time to set days apart and make them special or different? As my kids started getting older they got in on the action and usually made name cards or menus for everyone.
Having a limited budget, I love the challenge of making things look pretty, comfortable and inviting without breaking my bank. I started making printables as a way to do just this. It’s a way to have a cohesive look to the tablescape without going broke. The printables I created for this year are my favorite by far. I love the simple, subtle colors and the cohesive look of all the items that can grace your table this year and in the future if you’d like.
Printables Make Budget Decorating Easy!
This Thanksgiving bundle includes a menu where you can write out all the goodies you’ll be serving. There are name cards to show Uncle Jim that he needs to sit by Aunt Dorothy and not by Roger. There are some cute and versatile napkin rings but really you could do a lot of different things with that file.
There is also a sheet of pumpkins that you could print on sticker paper and let the kids decorate some butcher paper to cover your table or just give them some paper, crayons and stickers to keep them busy while food is being prepared. If you don’t want to print it on sticker paper you could just as easily print it on cardstock and use them as cupcake picks or just to scatter around your table.
I also includes a free download of “Thankful for” leaves that you can have each person fill out at your gathering or use them all month to keep a gentle reminder of the blessings we have throughout the month. These downloads can be used in many different ways, use your creativity to make your table and gathering beautiful.
I would love to see how you use them so use the hashtag #purejoycreative or send me some photos so I can see how these help you celebrate this amazing holiday with simplicity and beauty.
Don’t forget to pin this to your Thanksgiving boards!
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