A Good Thanksgiving Day!

We had a good Thanksgiving Day and I hope you did too!!

I always think it is fun to share the fun times we have had so.....

For me part of making a holiday a holiday is doing something special. One of my favorite things is decorating. The kids love to have a part in that as well and Ken is a good appreciator!

Aaron was wanting to help decorate and wanted to use a balloon so we came up with this fat Mr. Turkey. He had a fun time making it and had plans for using it to greet all the guests.

One of the parts of decorating or just making an event special in any way that I really enjoy is the challenge of doing it using stuff we already have and keeping it frugal. If you start thinking about it and working on it you would be amazed at what fun things you can do with items that you already have and that are free!

Place cards are always fun ( And Ken enjoys them as they remind him of going to his Grandmother's). Mara learned how to make these little pumpkins in class at church and she decided to make several for us to use on our table. She made 5 which ended up being enough for the males that were to be at supper.

I had seen this simple idea in a magazine (I believe) and thought it was cute so I made these up for the girls.

Another part of our day, that didn't really have anything to do with the holiday was cutting Mara's hair. She had very long hair and wanted to donate it to "Locks of Love" (or somewhere for wigs) and so we had been waiting for it to get really long so that it wouldn't be to short when we cut it. Well, we have been having trouble lately with lots of knots in her hair and so has trouble brushing it or wanting me to brush it. We decided it needed to be cut now! When Keren came over in the afternoon I asked her if she wanted to tackle it and she was willing. She was able to get the amount needed for donating and now Mara has much more manageable hair.

After the hair cutting we also got Keren to talk a family photo.

We had our big meal in the evening. Thanksgiving is always fun to prepare for because in a sense we have been preparing for it all year. We think about the abundance that God has blessed us with and we serve a lot of stuff that has come from our gardens, etc.

Our menu was:

• Turkey (we did not raise it but we were blessed with it being given to us by some friends when they were moving.)
• Fluffy mashed potatoes (we gleaned from the fields)
• Gravy (homemade of course from the turkey broth)
• Dressing/stuffing (Mom made it from homemade breads and celery which she is growing and chicken broth from their chickens)
• Corn
• Cabbage salad (from my parents garden)
• Homemade Rolls ( I made using wheat that I got from the grainery and ground and pumpkin from my parents)
• Fruit salad (using some of the berries we picked this summer and whipped cream from the farm)
• A Malaysian Jello (A friend from there brought the mix as a gift. We had fun molding it with fruits inside)

We also had lots of dessert!!

Mom brought Apple pie, I made pumpkin (actually squash as it has way better flavor!), mince and peanut butter pie and my sister Keren made Turkey cookies, our friend Pei Lin brought special Malaysian cornflake cookies and Mara and Jonathan had made ginger cookies in class on Wednesday night which they saved specially for Thanksgiving.

We had fun eating by candlelight. Along with the candles I had fun using linens from my grandmas, pumpkins and leaves and fake fruit for decorations.
Eating by candlelight makes something special very easily!

Some of my favorite memories of the day were:
~ having fun decorating with my children. ~ Good conversations with family and friends. ~ Having fun working together on the meal with Keren, Irindee and Pei Lin. ~ Playing games. ~ Hearing Mom and Dad read to the kids and have fun with them. ~ Praying together to tell God "Thank you".

What made your day special?