And Cue Holiday Music

When I was a child, November was for Thanksgiving. We used to decorate for it - Mom had beautiful ceramic decorations of pilgrims and cornocopias that she set about the house. Food preparation began well in advance (Mom would pre-roll the dough for her famous croissants and store them in the freezer). At school we cut out the shape of our hands to make paper turkeys and studied the contents of the first meal the Pilgrims shared with the American Indians (we didn't say Native Americans back then, although I say it now). Christmas was only a distant idea.

Now mainstream retail and media treats November as the pre-cursor to Christmas, preparing everyone for Christmas shopping, baking and decorating just as soon as the lights go off on Halloween. I'm as guilty as anyone, I guess, as I buy into the Black Friday hype, but I do still enjoy the idea and celebration of Thanksgiving.

This year I'm participating in the unofficial 30 Days of Thanks challenge that is circulating around Facebook. Everyday I post something I'm thankful for - some days it's super serious and other days it's lighter fare, but I think it's important to remember to be grateful for everything we have when there are so many that have so little. Today when I walked out the door to what we consider arctic air (it was supposedly 51, but I'm not buying it), I'm thankful that Florida is not as chilly as Canada.

I'm thankful for so many things.

I'm thankful for my faith (my niece Tabatha, kit used is Elfin Magic by Katie Pertiet)

I'm thankful for my husband (John and our cruise waiter a few years ago, kit used is Grapevine by DigiZines by Teri)

I'm thankful for family (Mom and Connor, kit used is Give Thanks by DigiZines by Teri)

I'm thankful for Disney (me with Bianca and Libby, kit used is Best Day EVER plus coordinating alpha by Sweet Spot Designs)

And I'm thankful for my country, the good old USA (me as a child, kit used is All American by GreenEyedLady Designs)

Why are you thankful?

Orange You Glad It's Almost Halloween?

Speaking of orange, I’m just glad we’re past another weekend of College Football and one win closer to the SEC Championship game. C’mon Gators, hang in there! The game against Mississippi State was a nail biter, much closer than it should have been. And I love my Gators, but even I think that one touchdown call they got could have gone either way. Next stop - Jacksonville, where we meet up with Georgia.

Lisa invited me to carve pumpkins with the kids on Saturday, remembering my comment that I hadn’t had the chance to carve a pumpkin in years. For some reason I got it in my head that we were going to a pumpkin patch to pick out the pumpkins. I’m really not sure why I thought that, maybe I’ve seen one too many pumpkin patch layouts posted in the ACOT gallery, lol. Anyway, just before I went over to Lisa’s house on Saturday she mentioned that she was at Wal-Mart and would be home shortly. But it wasn’t until I had parked in front of her house and was walking up to her door when it occurred to me that she had probably bought the pumpkins at Wal-Mart. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw 4 pumpkins sitting on her kitchen table. Hopefully I’m right about people not paying attention when I talk, because I know I told at least a few people that I was headed to the pumpkin patch, including John.

There were 4 pumpkins – one for each of the kids and one for me. First we had to cut off the tops and gut them, and we had a great time tormenting Lisa with the slimy mess of pumpkin guts as we mashed them down into the provided pans. Afterwards I had to separate the seeds out so Lisa could bake them for us to eat as our after-pumpkin-carving snack. The kids wanted me to make a pumpkin pie from the remaining pumpkin innards, but Lisa insisted that you have to buy special pumpkins to make pies. I’ve never heard of such a thing, but I didn’t have a recipe for pumpkin pie and she doesn’t have internet so I let her throw it all away.

We had a book of patterns to choose from when it came time to carve our pumpkins. Trinity chose a happy cat, Taylor chose a Goblin, Trevor chose a skull & crossbones, and I let Trinity pick my pattern out. She chose the Jack-O’Lantern for me, and I let her help me carve it after she was finished with her own. Trevor finished his first and went on to carve the back side, then headed over to play the Wii. Taylor took more time on her pumpkin, but also carved out both sides and joined Trevor in front of the TV. Trinity and I were the last to finish up. It drove the kids crazy that I took pictures of the finished pumpkins, but how could I resist those works of art? Here they are:

Supply List:
Kit – Falloween and Falloween Add On by Kay Eflin
Font - Memo

Lisa insisted I take my beautiful pumpkin home with me, so it’s sitting in front of our front door. And decomposing fast, I’m not sure if it’s going to make it to Halloween. I guess you need colder weather to preserve pumpkins. Lisa says their pumpkins aren’t faring much better.