{Blessed Thanksgiving}

I wrote this post the day after Thanksgiving, but I had left my camera at my parents' house---yes, my brain is in full Christmas mode, i.e., FORGETFUL! SO, even though Thanksgiving is over, here are a few highlights of our lovely day.

Ahhhhh, there's nothing like family, food and football---and mostly in that order!! We gathered at my parents house for Thanksgiving this year. My sister and her family drove in to town and we had two other friends who didn't have a place to spend Thanksgiving. One should definitely have the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving day with a family--even if it's not your own, so we started inviting students to Thanksgiving when we began to have Thanksgiving at our home---it's a lovely tradition. We actually try to do it for most family holidays.

We had the usual foods to eat---but my mama always makes everyone's favorite pie---so, for the 13 people we had at the dinner, there were 7 pies---YES, seven...that's my mom!!! Can you believe I forgot to take a picture of the pies? We were all zombies by then---struck with the mythological Tryptophan. So, you will have to imagine 1 pecan, 1 banana cream, 1 coconut cream, 1 cracker, 1 buttermilk, & 2 chocolate pies---all of them are amazing. Recipes upon request!!!

Wednesday morning I got up and decided that I had to make a Thanksgiving menu and place cards. I had intended to do this for a long time, but it just never happened in the midst of the Christmas Scrapbook and Christmas gifts I'm working on. So, with only a few hours before we were to go to my parents house I pulled up to the table and began cutting paper!
This is what I came up with. I was strongly influenced by Debbie Olson, one of my Stamping Idols from her post here. Joshua wanted his table art in the picture, too---so, there it is!

I have decided that anyone can papercraft---it's all about the right tools....so, I just keep buying "tools" because they make me look good! ; } I started with some Kraft cardstock and First Fruits patterened paper from PaperTrey Ink. This made it so fast and easy! I love this pineapple paper, so I used it to dress up the place cards before attaching the image. I stamped some fall leaves and the pineapple from First Fruits onto Vintage Cream cardstock using the rock and roll technique. Because of time, I punched out the leaves with the Giga Marvy oval punch, and layered it with the Giga Scallop Oval punch. I used my nestabilities dies for the pineapple. I was going to use the pineapple on my nametags, but it was so large that it seemed to overwhelm them, so I just used the leaf instead. For the name tags, I simply printed the names onto Very Vanilla cardstock and ran them through my cuttlebug using the ribbon tag dies from Spellbinders. I threaded some saddle stitch ribbon through them and used redline tape on the back to hold them in place. I wanted to ink up the edges, but I just didn't have time before we left.

For the menu, I printed it out in brown ink and glued it onto Kraft cardstock. This was really a fast table embellishment and it made me happy!

Oh, and did I forget football? Of course, football was on all day long after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Some pro games were on, but my little family really doesn't care about professional football. (My dad does---this is why it was on all day!!) But we LOVE College football. My husband and oldest daughter will watch ANY college football game. But at 8:00pm EST, one of the biggest game in our family every year came on---University of Texas vs. Texas A&M. BIG game!!! SO, we really enjoyed that game---since UT won!! We haven't really enjoyed it quite so much the last few years!! I won't go on about the mourning for UT after the BSC polls came out on Sunday, although I could---but I digress into places that most of you care nothing about.

Before our family ate, my dad had us sit at the table and he told us of a quote he read years ago by a theologian. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was something about this theologian writing about his "last chapter" of his life being his best. So, my dad proceeded to tell us of all the different chapters in his life--comparing them to those around the table---telling us about his life at the age of 7, as a teenager, at 19, in his forties, etc. Then he talked about the chapter he's in now---his "final chapter" and how he knew that it would be his best---because that's just the way the Lord is. He doesn't leave us because we grow old, or lose our job, or get sick, or whatever "bad" thing is going on in our lives. My dad has had a hard time with retirement---he's felt unfulfilled and sometimes useless---what a blessing that he is starting to see that this chapter, his "final chapter" can be his best. I hope his final chapter is a LONG and fulfilling chapter for him. This left me thinking that whatever chapter we are in, we should strive to make it our best chapter. To remember whom we serve and that HE is able to make our chapter the best. I hope you will make this day a great day, remembering how blessed you are.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (ESV)

Hugs~
Kathleen

Placecard/Menu stuff:
Stamps: First Fruits (PTI)
Paper: Kraft, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado, Vintage Cream, First Fruits Patterned Paper (PTI), Pumpkin Pie (SU!)
Ink: Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate
Tools: Cuttlebug (Provocraft), Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders), Giga oval and scallop oval punches (Marvy), Corner Rounder (SU!)
Accessories: Ripe Avocado Saddle Stitch ribbon