Still Thankful

OK, yes, I do realize that it is nearly the end of January and I am finally posting my Thanksgiving pictures. Sorry. I had technical difficulties with uploading photos and then there was that whole Christmas thing that always happens right after Thanksgiving that always seems to knock my routine for a loop. So here it is, finally - my Thanksgiving post.

But the important thing is that we are still thankful, right?

We really had a MAGNIIFICENT Thanksgiving this year - with all the necessary ingredients - food, family, more food, more family, and perfect weather. (OK, so I realize that folks in other parts of the country don't usually enjoy perfect weather on Thanksgiving day, for us here in the desert, a lovely, sunny but cool day is pretty much a given.)

The day was perfect - and that is why out celebrations were outside.

For fun, I brought my silver frame chalkboard outside, set out some chalk, wrote the words "We THANK Thee" and let everyone take turns writing things that they were thankful for. This is the same old frame that I got at a garage sale and spray-painted silver that I have used for our Young Women's New Beginnings (post here), and recently in the Risenmay Family photo shoot (here). I'm always thinking of ways to reuse my cool GS finds.

And believe it our not, our Thanksgiving celebration included a bounce house. Yep.

A few years back, my hubby rented a bunch of tables and chairs from a party rental place, and they threw in a great deal on a bounce house. At first I raised an eyebrow when they came and set up a big blown up castle in the backyard on Thanksgiving, but it turned out to be a great idea. It kept the kids busy, and everybody loved it. So we did it again this year!

SO thankful for cousins!!!

And while the kids played, I set the table. Man, how I love fall decor!

It all made for a beautiful dinner outside. I made these pumpkin cakes using mini-bundt pans.

I set up the desert table on this awesome (truly awesome!) old Habersham Plantation farmhouse table that I found for $50 at a garage sale the week before. I couldn't pass it up, even though I had no place for it, so I put it out on the back porch to use as our beautiful dessert table, and I loved it so much it stayed!

But the stuff ON the table was very pretty, and pretty yummy too! And there was SO much food (I counted 13 pies, not to mention the cakes and cupcakes, and my sister-in-law Jenny's famous snickers salad! Oh my. I'm feeling fat just thinking about it.)

But the thing that made this Thanksgiving truly special was all the family that we had here. We take turns every year having thanksgiving with his family one year, and my family the next. But this year we were hosting his family, but also invited my local family to join us, so we had the best of both worlds - one big happy family!

And, as it turned out, that big happy family brought A LOT of food!

OK, now, when I say, a lot, I mean A LOT! We had 2 turkeys, 2 hams, and, count them, 8 different potato dishes. (baked potatoes, funeral potatoes, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, other scalloped potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, yams with pineapple and marshmallow, and my famous sweet potato casserole - see? 8!) And of course we had all the other dishes such a feast requires.

No one was left hungry, that's for sure!

What a feast!

Surprisingly, we all found room for dessert, though we didn't manage to finish off all 13 pies, surprisingly.

That's another thing we are most grateful for - leftovers!