Our Thanksgiving Table

I experienced a milestone in my life. Brian and I hosted our first Thanksgiving. When I say "hosted" that really just means that Brian's parents, grandma and aunt came to our house and made all the food in our kitchen. And I set the table (I also made pumpkin roll if that counts for anything).

I took my job of setting the table very seriously. I wanted something that wouldn't be too overwhelming but it still needed to be fun. I also wanted to stick to something very seasonal and festive for the Thanksgiving holiday.

My favorite part, hands-down, were the white pumpkin vases that displayed some fall bouquets of flowers. The flowers smelled heavenly. I used fake pumpkins that I found on super clearance at Hobby Lobby, spray painted them white, then carved the tops off.  

For our name cards, I made, well, name rocks. I wanted to do something different that would still be easy to create. These rocks were winners! The hardest part was the rock gathering. I didn't have any rocks in my yard that would work for this project, so I drove to First Dam to collect my rocks. Let me tell you, I'm sure the other families at the park were very alarmed to see a grown woman scavenging the ground for smooth rocks. I found them as quickly as I could, shoved them in my coat pockets, and left before anyone could have the time to question my sanity. I painted the rocks an orange-gold color. After the paint dried overnight, I mod podged everyone's names on their rock.

I stole the idea for the place mats from . . . several places, really. It's not at all an original idea but perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was fun to jot down things we were grateful for throughout the meal. Before we cleared the table, we went around and read the things off our lists.

Our Thanksgiving was filled with delicious food, laughter, love, puzzle-doing, and resting. I hope yours was too!