Pretty Pumpkins.

Thanksgiving is later than normal this year, and while we still have a pumpkin sitting out on our porch, we're also excited about the next holiday. There seem to be two types of people in this world... ones who decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving and ones who wait until after Thanksgiving to get ready for Christmas. In our house we definitely are ones who decorate before Thanksgiving but wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate our live tree. 

As we think about Thanksgiving, we make lists of all the good things in our life. We're thankful for each one of you who support our small business and encourage us along the way, whether it's simply following us on Instagram, liking our pictures, sharing our work, and reaching out to us through messages, each interaction with you is greatly appreciated.  We're thankful for the growth our family has made over the past year and a half since we've moved back to the Myrtle Beach area. Thankful for all the people we've met and the positive impact they have had on our lives. We're very thankful for friends we knew before we left and the strong support system they continue to give us even after the years we were gone from the area, they are the reminder of why we chose to move back to this area. And finally, we look ahead with excitement to what's in store for us in the coming year. We're so grateful for new doors that are opening for us and we step out in faith and boldness. 

Happy Thanksgiving to each one of you! We hope you get to eat a slice of your favorite pie. 

Pampas Grass & Pink Pumpkins.

This year our fall centerpiece contains a mix of pink and white pumpkins, pink carnations, baby's breath, and pampas grass. We love the fullness that pampas grass provides. We started off by laying down the pampas grass for our base. Then we started layering the baby's breath at random intervals among the pampas grass. 

We took the mini pumpkins that we had painted pink and the white pumpkins and placed them in the center of our arrangement. Painting orange pumpkins pink was a simple procedure of applying just a couple coats. We kept the white pumpkins their original color and I love their natural stem adding color to the centerpiece. 

Pink carnations finished off the look of our centerpiece, which we tucked into the arrangement in random places. The flowers were the perfect filler for any holes to help make the arrangement fuller.

The Secret To The Perfect Pumpkin Pie.

It's probably a tale as old as time, but when you discover the truth for yourself, you can't help but shout it from the rooftops... or blog about it so your readers can take full advantage of your discovery for their Thanksgiving holiday meal! 

Fifteen years of baking a pumpkin pie every Thanksgiving, and I've finally learned to treat the filling as a custard while I'm baking it. Which means lowering the oven temperature and baking the pie low and slow for it to come out of the oven with no cracks on the top. This year, I also pre-baked the pie crust for the first time, so ensure that the crust was not soggy and remained crisp and flakey. 

These two tips have forever changed my pumpkin pie baking days for years to come! 

American Thanksgiving In China.

I'm all about celebrating holidays even if the holidays are from another country other than the one we are living in. After-all, it's all about the traditions you're familiar with. We ordered our full turkey meal in from a chef in Beijing, which worked out beautifully after having worked a full day. There was no need to stand over a stove, I simply dressed the table with a simple place setting and invited our Hong Kong/Beijing family over for our weekly family dinner night. 

Just Add Glitter.

Just add glitter. That seems to be my mantra lately, much to the chagrin of my family. A couple weeks before we celebrated American Thanksgiving I found myself in the toy shop with my two children. Although they knew they were not going to be purchasing anything that day, I decided that the bag of plastic animals needed to come home with me so I could cover them in gold glitter and add them to my Thanksgiving tablescape.

To cover the animals in glitter, we simply painted glue on to the animal and then sprinkled glitter all over them until they were completely drench in the shimmery stuff. We let them dry, and it was a quick, simple, and cost effective decoration.

Thanksgiving On The Patio.

Here in Hong Kong the weather has not cooled down but the humidity has lessened and our patio was the perfect location to celebrate American Thanksgiving. This year our Thanksgiving table came together quickly after a quick trip to the craft district in Hong Kong. We purchased what was left of the blue checked bolt of fabric choosing it for the durability of the cloth. The price point of a couple US dollars helped as well. I had picked up a bag of cheap plastic animals from the toy store, which I then covered in gold glitter. Miniature white pumpkins that were leftover from Halloween also got a coating of gold glitter. Another trip to the Flower Market down the road from us, where we picked out orange ranunculus and miniature decorative cabbages for our floral centerpieces. We added a few feathers to the floral arrangements as well as incorporating them into the name tags at each place setting.

A Simple Thanksgiving Table.

As soon as I saw the miniature white pumpkins in the grocery store, I knew what the tablescape for our {American} Thanksgiving dinner would look like. We kept the decor simple using white as our primary color.

As a result of relocating our family to Hong Kong from the United States, we left everything in storage back in Myrtle Beach. I'm having to build up my supply of party decorations and dishes. We purchased additional dishes, cutlery, and stemware for our guests to eat off of. The majority of our decorations were items we already had in our home.

The weather was beautiful, so we set our dinner table up outside on our patio. It was the perfect setting for a Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm Thankful For {Free} Thanksgiving Printables.

 

When I was planning out our Thanksgiving dinner, I found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest for free printable decorations. We printed out several pictures that we framed and placed on our drink bar and on the bar we used to hold the food. The adorable Thanksgiving menu printable and the "Count Your Blessings" printable were designed by Designer Blogs and can be found right here. The "Give Thanks" printable was designed by Living Well Spending Less and can be found right by clicking here. I originally came across a link to the Living Well Spending Less from Christina's Adventures. Christina has compiled a great list of free holiday printables for you.

I saved glass mason jars from spaghetti sauce to hold additional cutlery in. We tied some twine around the tops and added a little label to each jar.

For the children that attended our Thanksgiving dinner, we printed off free coloring sheets and these cute colored pencil holders to keep them entertained throughout dinner. We purchased the colored pencils from Ikea. You can find the adorable holder printables from the blog A Girl With A Glue Gun by clicking right here. The coloring sheets we used for our little guests came from 123 Homeschool 4 Me.