our first thanksgiving at home

Yesterday we had our first Thanksgiving at home. We planned a small gathering since it was just us four and my parents who are in town. Kind of last-minute, which is how things happen most of the time around here despite all my efforts to be organized {but that’s another story}, we invited over two foreign EF Academy students. The school places students that have no family or close friends for special occasions like these, with local families as part of their programs and as a way for students to experience American traditions. Ours it not exactly a typical American family but we are so grateful to be able to celebrate this important holiday and so we wanted to open our home and share our first Thanksgiving at home with them.

I had some green plates and cups so I decided to use them for our tablescape. The center piece was a real pumpkin I borrowed from the Entry Hall console, with some little fake gourds I had already. Fresh flowers placed in little mason jars with little tags. For place cards I used pieces of corrugated card stock and a Thanksgiving place card I found online. I tied the napkins with green ribbon and added some leafs from our yard, that L helped picked up.

As I mentioned yesterday my mom cooked a delicious Thanksgiving meal for all of us. I helped a little and took lots of notes {I may attempt to cook Thanksgiving dinner next year!}. While Nona cooked, L and I set up the table, Nono entertained G and M just hang out.

{I don’t have many pictures of our feast because well, I was busy eating!}

{I never got a change to take pictures of our Entry Hall Thanksgiving decor, just have these two pics from my iPhone. I made the sign and leaf pennant with my Silhouette Portrait machine}

After we ate, we just relax and watched some reruns of the Macy’s parade. G skipped his nap so he went to bed very, very early. After L and I watched a movie, and after both kids were in bed, the adults watched another movie. It was a simple, small but beautiful Thanksgiving Day!

happy thanksgiving!

This year we got to spend Thanksgiving Day with my parents who are visiting from Perú. And so this was our first Thanksgiving at home. And I loved it! It was a small, simple dinner but full of love. Thanks to my dear mom who prepared an amazing meal for us trying to follow the American traditions. She did an amazing job and we filled our bellies until we were all food comatose. Really, it was that good! We had a couple of guest over, too but more on that later.

Now I just want to take a moment before the day ends to say I’m very, very thankful for my amazing family. I feel truly blessed to have a compassionate husband, healthy, happy boys, supportive parents and loving siblings who love me no matter how crazy I get. You ALL are my life and I’m grateful for it.

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

thanksgiving decor

Last year from Halloween decor I jumped to Christmas decor. I completely skipped Thanksgiving. We were going to spend Thanksgiving in Boston, so it didn’t make sense {to me} to decorate if we were not going to be around.

This year is different. My parents are coming to visit and we’ll spend Thanksgiving together. We’re not sure about our plans yet but still I think it’ll be nice to have some Thanksgiving spirit going on. Especially since this is a Holiday we don’t celebrate in my home country. After 8 years in the United States I have learned to appreciate this celebration and understand its meaning and I’m sure my parents will like to learn more about the story and traditions behind it.

{image via blovelyevents}

{image via design, dining and diapers}

{image via paper crave}

{image via proverbs31girl}

{image via hgtv}

I tend to lean towards simple, modern, clean decor most of the time. I think a few details will be more than enough to commemorate this special day. I’ll work on it on the weekend, so it’s ready when Nona arrives. Let’s see what I come up with.