There's nothing like hosting Thanksgiving dinner to whip your house into shape. I took a break from indoor cleaning yesterday to do some pruning in the front yard. The desert willow, in particular, had grown especially unruly and threatened to poke the eye out of anyone strolling past our house. A snip here, a snip there, and what resulted was (I believe) a lovely centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner. My husband said it looked a bit like a tumbleweed...he'll come around. It takes vision to create no-cost decor! The best part of this centerpiece is that it serves a purpose: it is a "thanksgiving tree." I cut leaves out of construction paper and ran a tiny thread through a punched hole in each leaf. Each of my guests tomorrow will be encouraged to write what he or she is thankful for on a leaf and hang it from one of the branches of the tree. The leaves are in red, orange, yellow and brown. A little childish, but a lot bit whimsical. I'd love for "the tree" to be a tradition at our house. I imagine a grown Caleb inviting a friend home for Thanksgiving: "Just be prepared, my mom's gonna have this "tree" made out of scraggly branches she'll want you to hang stuff on...pretend you love it." Ha. My hope is that it will serve as a testimony and conversation piece about all the ways God has blessed us. Hopefully, no one will be impaled in the process.
The Thanksgiving Tree eagerly awaiting words of thanks. Branches are anchored in an antique crock filled with a Trader Joe's paper bag (there's always a use for one) and tumbled river rocks.
Following the "woodsy" theme, some glass faux bois candlesticks purchased from the clearance table at Anthropologie last year.
The dessert table's first guests: persimmons from my mother's tree in California.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving everyone!