Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It’s because I absolutely love turkey, stuffing, root vegetables, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and staying home with family. And I have been captivated for years by the book Cranberry Thanksgiving.

Written in early seventies it dishes out plenty of vintage charm. While there is a main plot to the story, I was always more interested in the imagery and coziness of the book. Set in New England (I would assume in Cape Cod) Maggie and her grandmother live in an idyllic cedar shingled house at the edge of the sand dune. They invite two odd ball guests to their thanksgiving dinner and the beautifully sketched images that follow continue to capture my imagination: Maggie presenting the cooked turkey to the guests, Mr. Whisker’s half eaten turkey bone, and the black silhouettes of grandmother, Mr. Whisker’s and Maggie set against a roaring fire with the white whipped cream visible on top of the their pumpkin pie.

Images of a peach colored November sky with black trees, the ocean, turkey, pumpkin pie and home. Can’t you just smell Thanksgiving now? This book is the equivalent of The Night Before Christmas for Thanksgiving for me.

We borrowed our copy from the library. On Amazon it says that a used copy is $44! I guess the book it out of print right now. But it's still worth it to keep your eyes open.

thanksgiving

Thanksgiving took us to an Inn in Dorset, Vermont with the grandparents, after I ran a Turkey Trot 5K.

We played with puppets at the Inn.

And took a family photo (this is NOT so easy to get anymore).

Stopped by a Christmas tree farm to chop down our tree… This has been a longstanding tradition in my family to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving.

I have one grievance about the farm. All of the trees had been over pruned into perfect triangles. I was looking for a mangly Charlie Brown tree and the owners just laughed! I guess that's not the en vogue look for trees this year. Maybe next year.

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

pre-thanksgiving crafts

Owen is starting to craft and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve proudly displayed hand turkeys made by Owen in our kitchen. Owen says: “hANd Turkey.” (with an accent on the A and N that makes him sound British)

I have a crafting book for toddlers and I’ve learned that I have to start collecting and holding onto all kinds of crazy stuff that I would normally throw away to use for craft projects like: dried up markers, shoelaces, cork screws, bubble wrap, containers of all sorts, pasta (wagon wheels and rigatoni), white paper plates, cotton balls, the list goes on. If you know me, you know that I HATE to hold onto stuff, especially items that appear to be garbage, but if we want to craft, I have to be a pack rat. And then there are some crafting staples that I have to buy like, pipe cleaner, googley eyes, feathers, felt. I have a running list that I’m slowly chipping away at.

Then you need to organize all of this stuff. This is the only way I can keep my sanity. So, I had an excuse to go to Target for clear storage containers for craft organization.

So, Owen is 2 years and 3 months now and the crafting has been moving along at a faster pace, thanks to a kid sized table from babystyle that I had been obsessing about for awhile. Oh… I love this table because it's covered in polka dots, one of my most favorite things! and the chairs can support up to 200 lbs of an adult! or turkey, monster, whatever.

Here are a few favorite crafts right now. Painting….

threading rigatoni onto a thick string, this kept him occupied for awhile.

But this was the biggest hit of all. Something that I’d only do now because I enjoy life more and I sometimes throw my previous inhibitions out the window.

It's along the lines of ok, so Owen you want to go get ice cream, let’s go…jump on the bed before bedtime, I’ll hold your hand…. Want to draw on your face?! ok, I'll help you.....

Let’s make ourselves into CATS! Meowwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the look on his face—this was so worth it. Life is more fun when you’re impulsive.