Thanksgiving with Charlie Brown 2011

Whew! I've been absent from my blog for a while. I had an ear infection that slowly turned into a sinus infection. The process was so slow I didn't realize that I was really sick. I should have known something was wrong when just trying to think took a lot of effort.  I didn't have time to go to the doctor before Thanksgiving so I took a couple of my dad's leftover antibiotic medication. Yes, I know taking other people's medication is not responsible but I had over 30 guests coming and besides, it got me through Thanksgiving.  I just couldn't let something like an ear infection get in my way on Thanksgiving. To top the craziness my dad wanted family pictures which made the day a more stressful but we got through it. I give so much thanks to my husband and oldest son who really helped me in cleaning and getting ready for this day.

Now it seems Thanksgiving has come and gone in a flash and it's time to get ready for Christmas. But before I welcome in the season I want to post some Thanksgiving pics.

Here's a "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" cake that I made. The inspiration came from justjennrecipes.com's Snoopy cupcakes.  I really had fun making this cake.  The Charlie Brown theme seemed to strike a chord within the older generation as opposed to the younger ones at the party. It brought back so many memories for us.  When I was a kid we didn't have the luxury of having 24-hour cartoon networks. Cartoons were reserved for Saturday mornings and holidays specials like Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  And if you missed the show it was too bad - you had to wait until the next year to see it again. We would talk about it at school reminding each other to not forget to watch the show.  I think that's the reason why shows like Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer hold a special place in our hearts rather than this younger generation who can watch whatever they want whenever they want.

For the cake:  I used Petit Toasts (usually found in the deli section) and mini Jelly Bellys because they are the perfect size.  The Charlie Brown images are from various sites which I re-sized on Word.  I glued the images onto cardboard, cut them out and taped them to BBQ skewers.  This helps keep the images standing erect and  the more importantly the cardboard does not actually touch the cake.

Our Dessert Table

My sister made the pumpkin cake balls.

My husband got up at 3am to start smoking 2 briskets.

This is my "I Saw, I Pinned, I Actually Did It" section.  

My gorgeous niece helped me decorate the turkey cookies.

If someone told me how tedious and time consuming making these Gobble Gobble Oreo Turkey Cookies I would have never made them.  They are cute, but not worth the trouble.  I suggest making them a day ahead or enlisting as much help as you can.  I'm so glad my niece helped me because I was about to have a conniption fit.  The idea is from Cookies and Cups blog. She used chocolate Oreos and I used vanilla Oreos because my youngest son doesn't like chocolate.

Free Thanksgiving Coloring Pages

 Here is a link to free Crayola Thanksgiving coloring pages for the children's table during Thanksgiving meal.

This is an example of one of the many pages.

Fall Decorating & "Give Thanks" Banner Download

I saw a Christmas commercial the other day and it made me anxious. The holidays are fast approaching and I don't think I'm ready.  I am hosting Thanksgiving this year and since time is of essence I decided to skip decorating for Halloween and just do fall decorations.  I allow myself 1 box of fall decorations because I have 17 boxes of Christmas decorations and storage space is limited.  This is the best I could do with the one box of decorations and pumpkins & gourds. It's not grandiose, but I think I did alright.

I thought it looked better without the feather wreath.

I glittered these nuts last year and they are holding up well.  I will probably use them for Christmas too.

 

We got this giant corn cob 90% off last year.  No one else wanted it - can't remember why I bought it either.

My one Halloween decoration. That Kisses were gone within the day. 

This beautiful banner is from At Second Street Blog.

 GIVE THANKS Banner Download 

I take no credit for creating the download. I actually saw it on Pinterest.

The only thing I did was glitter the border for my own personal touch. 

I added glitter around the border with Stickles Cinnamon.

 

The white box near the ceiling is our doorbell box. It is ugly. It makes me think of something from the 70s.  

I covered the doorbell box with a free download from Squidoo.com.  It is a public domain picture.

another free domain pic

I used the leaves that broke off the garland and taped them to the wall using poster tape. Poster tape is able to hold up to 1/4 lb weight without damaging the walls.  However, the leaves kept falling off and it was driving me crazy.  I tried removing the plastic vein of the leaf and scoring the back but nothing worked. Then  I realized that the leaf material would not stick so I glued tissue paper to the back of the leaves to stick to the tape on the wall.  This really works and it is cheap.

Measure your tissue and tear to size.

Press down & squish tissue so it won't show on other side.

Now tissue is stuck to tape.

I'm not a big gardener. My husband planted these for me a couple of weeks ago. 

 I've already blogged about my skills at killing plants.  

Please excuse the wild overgrown bushes in the background and our ghetto pot that I fixed with Gorilla Glue.

This project was shared at the following sites. The bloggers invite you to share your projects as well.

DIY Fall Festival Friday

Happy Hour Projects

Where Nothing Good Comes Easy


RoCa and Company


Lovely Crafty Home


The Shabby Nest: Frugal Friday


Be Colorful Motivated Monday


Easy Peasy Grandma


All Things Fee


Clean and Scentsible


Couponing Reviewing in Texas

Autumn Splendor at the Dallas Arboretum

Fall is my favorite time of year! Every time I think of fall I break out in song in my head with Frank Sinatra singing along with big orchestra music "Love is a many splendored thing...love is nature's way of giving..."  and I feel like tap dancing or twirling. There's something about the cooling of the air and the vibrant colors of the red, orange, and yellow flowers and leaves that makes me feel refreshed and ready to accept hordes of people into my home for the holidays. Not really, but it helps.

We visited the Dallas Arboretum last Halloween. This was my first visit to the Arboretum even though I've had free entry tickets to this place for more than 18 years. Because my tickets didn't have an expiration date they still accepted them.  I received the tickets from Dale Groom "The Plant Bloom" whom I worked with at a local talk radio station. He'd probably be disappointed if he knew it took me 18 years to get to the Arboretum. But I digress.

In the fall the Arboretum sets up a Pumpkin Patch Village with houses made out of pumpkins. The pumpkin houses are inspired by storybooks that have a pumpkin in the story such as Cinderella and Sleepy Hollow. There are thousands of pumpkins everywhere. I never knew there were so many different types of pumpkins. It is really amazing. I would love to come back during Christmas time to see how the Arboretum displays the flowers and plants on the 66 acres of beautiful landscaping.

This is my favorite pic with the crepe myrtles. It makes me think of Lothlorien in Lord of the Rings.

Apple Gourds

See the storybook on the left?

This is Cinderella's house.

Afterwards we went to eat dinner at PF Changs. Our waiter looked similar to Orlando Bloom 

but I don't have a pic of him.

Random: These are some guys we met at the mall dressed for Halloween.