Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving! My heart is full thinking of the blessings in my life. Most years my family gathered at my brother's home in Austin, Texas, and we often drove through East Texas to pick up my parents in Lufkin for the trip. My sister's family also lived in Austin, so we got to be with both my siblings and their children.

We nearly always decorated with leaves and branches we found outside. So this year, although the setting was different and there was not a crowd, the "homemade" centerpiece was a natural. 
This year there were only my daughter and me at my table. But who can keep from getting nostalgic over the memories! There was joy and celebration and thankfulness! It doesn't have to be a turkey/dressing meal to be a celebration. We prepared tacos and pinto beans--a feast with very little kitchen duty. She helped me with my cell phone and tablet. (Here's a piece of advice for my peers--buy the same kind as your younger family members so they can troubleshoot.) She was working on a research paper and I was repairing a quilt. Kittens were trying to help us both.

I made these little pilgrim dolls more than 45 years ago and they bring back memories of my grandchildren and my great nieces pictured with them. The container is a turkey cookie jar that might be valuable if it didn't have a patched crack in it. But it's been passed down from my husband's family, so its a treasured part of our decorations.

Elizabeth and Tarbaby knocking off red berries