A Wintry Thanksgiving

Have you ever had a Wintry Thanksgiving?  It doesn’t happen very often here in UT, but I certainly remember one occasion that it did.  We had not lived in our Highland home very long.  I was getting a head start on my stuffing the night before as I always do.  I get it ready so that in the morning I just add my liquids and it saves so much time.

Alas, I ran out of sage!  Stuffing isn’t stuffing without the perfect amount of sage.  I called my sister, Julie to see if she had some I could borrow.  She lived about 7 miles away.  Closer than any grocery store at the time. 

Hubby drove me to her house and it was snowing and blowing so hard that we could barely see our way to get there.  But just like the mailman,  “No Rain, No Sleet, Nor Snow”  could stop us!

The mail must be delivered. Thanksgiving Day must go on!

Last summer I was walking down the dish isle at our local thrift.  I spied some plates that I immediately knew were Johnson Bros.  I have a Johnson Bros. pitcher “friendly village’ that I found last Fall at the same thrift.  I was hoping these matched.  They didn’t, but I could see that they were Thanksgiving plates.

Notice the snow topped farmhouse, the horse drawn wagon, and the turkey all traipsing in snow?  They are called ‘Thanksgiving Frozen Up’.  Perfect reminder of that snowy Thanksgiving.  There were 7 plates.  I kept 4 and my sis, Jeanne took 3 to go in a plate holder she has in her kitchen.  Yes, we both loved them and decided to share.

There will be 20 of us for Thanksgiving so I won’t be using these.  But they’re so fun for a November dinner.

 To capture the feeling of snow I used my ruffled white linen table cloth

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For the centerpiece I corralled a few items together in a white washed tray.  Trays are perfect for creating vignettes.  A rusty cornucopia overflowing with pumpkins and squash.  One little white bumpy pumpkin atop a small urn, and a single dried Hydrangea.

I made this wind blown tree for Fall.  I simply cut leaves out of book pages and hot glued them to a branch.  I love touches of Nature so I picked some pods off of my hot wings maple tree and added them also.

 

  I like some height on a table, but when having dinner you don’t want to block people from seeing others. Perfect for a Wintry Thanksgiving!

 

I used red chargers and my everyday silverware.  I love the touches of blue in the plates.

 Great opportunity to show off some of my blue Pyrex collection.

Assorted designs and shades of blue.

 

A set of two ‘Butterprint’ bowls.  I filled one with nuts and acorns to compliment the acorn border on the plates.   I don’t know the name of the bowl with the diamonds.  Someone told me once that it was a rare piece of Pyrex.

Notice the cute fruit mugs?  They are a recent find by Avon called, “Sweet Country Harvest”.   I am planning on opening an etsy soon.  These will be listed.  If you are interested in them now, just let me know.  $10 for the set of 4, plus shipping.  They are in perfect condition.

I placed my dollar store snowflake goblets on top of an acorn coaster.  I normally only use these for Winter.  Just seemed to work for this ‘Wintry Thanksgiving”.

I sat an old postcard in a vintage floral frog at each place setting.  I now have a collection of 8 frogs.  They’re so fun and can be used in so many ways.

I usually just hang these berry wreaths on my chairs.  I saw the idea of draping a dish towel over the back on Amber’s blog,  Junkaholics Unanimous.  I thought it was a clever idea.

Now I just need to make a chicken pot pie!

I wanted to show you a couple of cute ideas for hostess gifts if you are going to someone else’s house for Thanksgiving.

I got these from my hairdresser, Shalona.

A bundle of tapers all prettied up with a paper doily and a strip of  torn book page.  Tie it with pretty ribbon and a vintage graphic.

Or this cute little bag of ingredients perfect for a  November simmer.  Cut a slit in a little cutie pie orange and insert two bay leaves.  Place cinnamon, whole cloves, and cranberries into the bottom of the bag and place the orange on top.  YUM!

Or for all of you crocheters out there, look at this cute pumpkin pie hot pad my friend, Beth made for me.  It even has a dollop of whipped cream.  The S&P are another thrift find.

I couldn’t end this post without this final wintry Thanksgiving story.  A lot of people think that this is a Christmas poem or story.  But it was originally written for Thanksgiving.

I googled and thought you might find this bit of history interesting.

Over the River and Through the Wood" is a Thanksgiving song by Lydia Maria Child. Written originally as a poem, it appeared in her Flowers for Children, Volume 2, in 1844. The original title of the poem is, "A Boy's Thanksgiving Day".^[1] It celebrates her childhood memories of visiting her Grandfather's House. Lydia Maria Child was a novelist, journalist, teacher, and wrote extensively about the need to eliminate slavery.^[2]

It is sometimes presented with lines about Christmas, rather than Thanksgiving. For instance, the line "Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!" becomes "Hurrah for Christmas Day!". As a Christmas song, it has been recorded as "A Merry Christmas at Grandmother's". Although the modern Thanksgiving holiday is not normally associated with snow, New England in the early 19th century was enduring the Little Ice Age, a colder era with earlier winters

What version of the song did you learn?

I’m hoping that we don’t have a ‘Wintry Thanksgiving’ this year.  The last few years it has been so nice that the grands have played outside afterwards.  After Thanksgiving, Let it Snow!  Oh how it puts me in the Christmas mood!

hugs,

Jann

This post was featured at Simple and Sweet Friday.  Thank you Jody!

I will be joining these parties:

Knick of Time Tuesday

We Call it Olde

Cozy Little House for Tweak it Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow

Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Weds.

Lavender Garden Cottage for Cottage Style Party

A Delightsome Life for Home and Garden Thursday

Common Ground for Be Inspired

The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays

Thrifty Things Friday

The Dedicated House for Anything Blue Friday

How Sweet the Sound

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