Thanksgiving Home Tour: Prepping for the Feast

Happy November! I’ve been anticipating November 2018 since last March because that’s when we found out Laura was pregnant and due in November. Since then the date has narrowed to the 14th which is my mother’s birthday. She will be 93! So Thanksgiving is taking a bit of a back seat this year to these two more important family events.  

I’m still prepping for Thanksgiving, just getting it all ready this weekend. My goal is to have it all ready and in the freezer by Monday.

Though my kitchen is remarkably clean in this photo it’s not that way when I cook and certainly not when our kids arrive. I’m so grateful we remodeled and doubled the size of this space eleven years ago for our growing, now almost 24, crew of grands.

So far I have made and frozen a double batch of spice cookies from Betty Crocker’s 1939 cookbook, three batches of my grandmother’s cornbread dressing and the gravy that goes with it, and a double recipe of our not-to-be-missed cheese grits. I’m working on a double batch of meatballs and gravy to be served over rice when needed. We don’t yet know when this sweet baby will arrive. Oh, and no one knows if it’s a boy or girl. Even Laura’s OB doc which heightens everyone’s excitement!

Yet to be made this weekend is my father’s favorite, raisin pie, which I still make in his honor though he is no longer with us. He was half Norwegian and half Swedish so he grew up with lots of dried fruit dishes, recipes his grandparents brought from Scandanavia. I hope I can teach one of the grands to like it and carry on the tradition! (Stay tuned for an email in a few weeks with more favorite recipes!)

This is one of our three kids’ bedrooms upstairs. Deborah and Laura resided here for many years with our baby bed against the wall where the bed now is and a much smaller bed on the opposite side. It had a yellow patterned wallpaper on the walls and toys all over the floor. The changing table was in the closet!

Today this is the preferred guest room when our kids come home. With a sleeping bag on the floor and the pack ‘n play in the corner, this tiny bedroom of ours seems to work well when they are back for Thanksgiving or other visits. I’ve tied up our in this house chalkboard on the bed for another little welcome hug after they trudge up the stairs with all their gear often late at night and very road weary.

I’ve also already added leaves to the table and decorated it simply with my favorites; white pumpkins, candles, Untie Your Story Memories*, our Gather Together Placemats and one note card at each place setting for everyone to write down 5 things they are thankful for. This is one of my favorite traditions as we go around the table and share the ways we’ve seen God working, answers to prayers or fun things that have happened in the last year. 

All of our crew would never fit around this table, but I love walking by everyday being reminded of Thanksgiving and all I have to be grateful for.

Found this metal lamp stand and discovered it makes a great holder for our In This Home chalkboard to spruce up my hodge podge front porch.

Because I tend to be cheap I have purchased twos of several kinds of artificial pumpkins over the years. Not enough of any one color to make a statement, so I tried using them all on my front hall table and I think it works. Our delicate maple leaf paper wreath, Leave Him Thanks, hangs on my mirror. With the Christmas names of Jesus tucked into its leaves it has remained a beautiful statement of His Reigning presence in our home all year long.

Thanksgiving will be very different this year. I’ll go celebrate my mom’s birthday with her early so I’m ready to drive to Memphis at any moment. If baby is late Thanksgiving may be delayed or hosted without me present. We just don’t know, but God does and it’s wonderfully comforting to rest in His all knowing smiling care of us. He has every single detail covered!

Thanksgiving is about giving thanks, and I choose to be found a grateful woman. I hope you feel the same.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sneak peek into my home. If you like what you’ve seen here, I would love for you to check out all of our products and prepare your home to bring Him thanks and praise this holiday season.

{Pictured above: His Christmas Names, In This Home Chalkboard, Leave Him Thanks Wreath and Gather Together Placemats. Untie Your Story will be available again Fall 2019.}