Planning Thanksgiving Day at Pimperl Place

We will be hosting Thanksgiving Day at Pimperl Place this year for the entire extended families on both sides- mine and hubby's.  We hosted Christmas once before for the same crowd, and that's a lot of people to put in our house, but we did it.  I remember at one point, looking at the spiral staircase and seeing children sitting on the steps all the way to the top! I should have taken a pic, but I was a little busy!  Our family has changed since that last time when everyone was here.  We've lost my mom and I miss her terribly.  We've had some weddings and a new little one (who isn't so little anymore!) has been welcomed into the world.  And the family is still growing...we have a niece who is expecting twin boys, and could be on bed rest by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.  If she can't make it, then my sister and her family will stay home to share some turkey with my niece and her hubby...So, at this point, it's hard to say exactly how many we will have. What I do know is that it will be a house full and we are so excited and looking forward to sharing the holiday with the loved ones who do show up.  

So, for the gathering, I've been tweaking on my decorations around the house.  The powder room is always fun to do, because I have this wonderful shelf that is great fun to decorate. This year, I've pulled out some of my own original artwork.  

The large sunflowers piece to the left is a pastel, the pumpkin one at top right is a watercolor, and the bottom right one is charcoal.  I love to paint pumpkins- I've painted many.  I look forward to bringing them out each year, to appreciate them for just a couple of weeks, and then they go back into storage until pumpkin time the next year...

The walls in this room are blue, not purple.  It's hard to get a good pic because the room is tiny, the lighting is not good for photography, and the flash changes the colors when I try to use it...The actual color is more like the photo at the top.

  

I'm going to keep the living and dining rooms simple with just a few fall touches scattered about.  I shared my table decorations in the last post- the biscuit paddle with the little pumpkin and candles.  I still need to find my big turkey that's hanging out in a storage bin somewhere, and that will be it for decorating.  I'll try to take pics when it's all pulled together.

As a side note, as you are decorating and making menus and guest lists, let me encourage you to think about those around you who are not able to be with family, whether it's because they are working, studying, or serving in the military away from home.  It would mean so much to them to enjoy a hot meal and the company of a family.  My husband is retired from the US Air Force, and I remember way back when he was on active duty and we were living in a military town, I would always ask him to find out who wasn't going to make it home for the holidays. We would invite those individuals to our house where they became our family for that day. It creates memories and lasting friendships, and makes the holidays so much more meaningful when they're shared.  Friends, family and a warm home with good food to be shared- it's what I'm thankful for.

Judy

If you like what you see here, I would love to have you follow along.  To make sure that you don't miss anything, you can follow by e-mail.  Simply scroll down to the bottom of the page and put it in the space  provided, or you can enter it at the top of the sidebar.  I never share your  addresses  with anyone, so  you  can  feel at ease by sharing it with me.  Also, your first mail from me will most likely end up in  your spam folder, so you will need to go look for that one, then click on my e-mail address and save it to your address book.  That will assure that all future e-mails will go  to your e-mail folder so that you can   actually  see them.  I would be honored to have you follow along as I play!