A Thankful Thanksgiving...

I am a lucky girl. I had all my favourite things squeezed into one weekend. Breaking bread with my little family and my parents, who travelled from New Brunswick to share Thanksgiving with us, and creating pretty things with my sweet girlie and mum (she's sweet, too). Toss in a few games of Scrabble with a dear friend and then my parents, and my sighs of happiness could be heard throughout my home. I am, indeed, a word nerd.

Our turkey dinner was beyond delicious, and we all took a part in making and serving the meal. I made a chocolate cake with "almost homemade butter-cream icing" with the recipe coming from Country Living magazine, and it is our new favourite icing recipe. Of course, we capped off our meal by pulling a few crackers, and Sophie enjoyed "winning" every time. Pulling crackers is a tradition we have enjoyed for as long as I can remember; and we have since extended the ritual beyond Christmas, to include Easter and Thanksgiving. We are used to looking goofy in the paper crowns, and everyone has to wear one while at the dinner table!!

What a difference a year makes! Last Thanksgiving, I was tortured by the pain of a dry socket from the removal of a wisdom tooth, and could have cared less about the holiday. I never got a chance to make the beautiful place cards Matthew Mead offered up as a free download on his website last fall. So, this year I vowed to finally make them:

Aren't they pretty?

After dinner, we finally placated Sophie, and began our annual Halloween craft. Lots of glitter, a few skeletons, stamps, and creativity and we ended up with some great decorations. They are still drying, so I will show you the end result soon. In fact, I think I will begin decorating for Halloween now that Thanksgiving is over.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends (and my family)!!