Thanksgiving, Gravy, Jays, and Home Decor...How's That for a Post Title?

Our first Thanksgiving was the feast at church. I was blessed to be able to help with it and I truly had a great time (my only complaint was my poor choice of footwear)! The preparation started Saturday morning. The women on the hostess committee gathered to begin cooking and decorating. My favorite part of the whole day was getting to know some of the older women a little bit better. I asked the woman making giblet gravy how many times she thought she had made it. She thought and finally said, "Well, I was married in '48, so I'd say at least 65 times, but probably more." I was blown away! So, I sat and listened while she explained the process got after chopping up those livers, gizzards and turkey necks!

The gravy lady working away!

The table arrangements.

Our Thanksgiving was a lot of fun! We were able to see family and some good friends and of course eat tons of great food!

We headed out Wednesday afternoon and got home late Sunday night.

Here are some pictures from our trip...
My mother's beautiful Thanksgiving table setting! There's something about coming home and eating at the dinner table of your childhood, you know?

My grandma (l) and our good family friend, Dude. We've had every Thanksgiving since I can remember with Dude and Jack and their family. My dad's cousin married Dude's daughter, so in some ways they really are family!

We were able to spend some really good quality time with some of our best friends, Aaron and Jill, and Aaron's twin brother and sister, Caleb and Cara. We try our best to play games almost every time we are in Uvalde over at their house. This time, we were playing Charoodles. If you've never played, it is SO MUCH FUN! Here is Aaron cracking up as he acts something out.
All the girls...Kathy, Cara, Jill, me, and Sami! We had such a good time and it was so good to spend time with these great girls. I LAUGHED SO HARD that I literally wore myself out and slept so well that night! Sami just had a baby girl in October; doesn't she look so great in that hot pink?

My parents live out in the country and have lots of birdfeeders in the front yard. One of the walls in their living room is all windows, so we sit and watch the birds all of the time. It is so peaceful. Anyway, this year as we were birdwatching, we noticed this very unusual bird. Upon further inspection and some asking around, we learned the bird is a Green Jay (like a Blue Jay). The unique and interesting thing about them is they rarely, if ever, have been seen this far North. Most of the time they don't come very far into Texas from the Mexican border in deep South Texas. So, they were a few hundred miles off course and no one really knows why. All I do know is they were BEAUTIFUL and I was completely enamored. I couldn't get enough of them and just took picture after picture. Here are a few of the best I got of them.
I also managed to get some pictures of other birds in the yard. Here's a cardinal, all puffed up, sitting on the fence.

If you look hard, you can pick out a couple of whitewing doves in the shrubbery around the outside of the yard.

And finally, here are a couple of pics that have nothing to do with Thanksgiving other than I put these up just before the break. These are from the company, Uppercase Living and I just love them. I must admit, because of our textured walls it was quite a workout putting them up, but it was totally worth the final outcome!

In the entryway...

In the living room above my new-ish iron piece. I LOVE THIS!!!

To all my fellow Panhandlers...BUNDLE UP, IT'S GONNA BE A COLD ONE TOMORROW!