Happy Thanksgiving!

All the Best to you and your loved ones

this Thanksgiving holiday.

May God grant travelling mercies

to those who leave home to gather elsewhere.

Tablescape Tuesday – Brown Transferware

Tablescape Tuesday is sponsored by Susan of Between Naps on the Porch.

For Thanksgiving this year I have little to do other than shop for some of the groceries to take with me, since my mother and I will travel to be with other family members. So I just had fun setting the table with my brown and white dishes. I’ll be setting up the Christmas holiday table once I get back from the Thanksgiving weekend.

The linen placemats are in a paisley design with green, blue, and brown on white.
The large cloth napkins (22 inches square) with hand-worked border and main corner are off-white with some brown threads. I found them last week at a local consignment shop - six for $10.00. The napkin rings are wood with brown ridges.



For the centerpiece I used my by-now-familiar large covered pumpkin dish set on a white ceramic stand. Tucked under the stand are brown hydrangea stems with white and green sprays tucked in. Two matching smaller pumpkins are at each end as are two dark wood spiral candlesticks. Underneath are two of the napkins.


I started out with a white tablecloth underneath, but decided I wanted the polished table to show instead. Don't you agree that it looks better?

The dinner plates and berry dishes are Royal China "Wellesley" made in USA. The pattern is unusual with its stylized flowers. In the same "Wellesley" pattern, but made in England by Woods & Sons, is a covered butter dish - brown base and printed top and one 8.25" serving bowl. Wedgwood Queensware Ivy embossed bread and butter plates have "Wellesley" berry bowls set in them. The silverplated flatware is in different patterns that I have gotten from my mother and from thrift stores.

I used two different glasses -- "Virginia" goblets in brown by Fostoria, and clear "Vendange" goblets by J.G. Durand from France.

The other items include clear glass gravy boat and ladle, white embossed footed square plate, and four different salt and pepper sets.


The salad/dessert plates in brown and white transferware are by Royal Stafford, England.

I enjoy using placemats on the bare dining table and letting the rich brown set off the place settings.

For more delightful table settings please see the list of participants at Susan’s blog.

Announcing Holiday Giveaway

Here’s another giveaway for you to check out. Carola Nativity Gallery is having a Holiday Giveaway. Items include a vintage blue and white nativity collector plate and an Advent calendar. Two winners for the two prizes.

The giveaway runs until Wednesday November 26 at 10 p.m. Eastern Time

Click on the link above or on the button in my sidebar to read all about it. Please let all our friends know about this.
clipart DoverPublications.com

Friday Show and Tell – Vintage Mirror

Wendy at Ivory Spring made a comment about the mirror in my Trim the Tree post yesterday. That gave me the idea to post about it for today’s Show and Tell Friday, sponsored by Kelli at There is No Place Like Home.

The mirror was a gift from my mother when I had bought a dresser in a local antique shop. It is dark polished wood and has pierced embellishment at the top. The entire mirror is curved and enhanced with applied molding. [Please excuse the dust.]


The curved top

Closeup of the left side

The curved bottom

The mirror is a bit darker than the mahagony dresser. I may be able to have the mirror refinished to match the dresser, but in the meantime it works out fine.

Thank you for letting me share my mirror. Do visit more Show and Tell at Kelli’s house at There is No Place Like Home.

Trim the Tree Thursday – Cream and Gold

Trim the Tree Thursday is sponsored by Brett at The Southern Hostess. Last weeks entries were quite a treat.


I’d like to share the ivory and cream decorations that I use on my bedroom dresser. A 2’10" fir tree sits on the dresser in front of the mirror. It is decorated with clear mini lights, pearl garland, cream and gold glass balls, and porcelain Renaissance Angels and the matching the nativity ornaments by Lenox.

The mirror has a garland trimmed in white and gold ribbon and white and gold glass balls and angel ornaments.

Here are the ornaments with Mary and Jesus, Joseph, and Wise Men.

Also on the dresser is a five-piece nativity set with figures dressed in ivory gauze and gilt accents.

For more Trim the Tree posts see the list at Brettinsky’s blog, now named The Southern Hostess.

ABCs of the Word - R

Pam at Grey Like Snuffie hosts ABC’s of the Word to focus on a scripture in which the week’s letter is highlighted.

This week’s letter is R

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
John 11:25

The Christian’s hope is in the resurrection set to take place upon Christ’s return. Christ’s resurrection from the dead assures our own.

For more ABC’s of the Word visit Pam at Grey Like Snuffie.

WordFilled Wednesday – Exodus 20:16

"You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor."
Exodus 20:16 NKJV

The use of the internet as sounding board for thousands and thousands means that a lot of information is shared every hour. At the same time, however, the computer is used to spread rumor, slander and other negative things about others.

Each person needs to consider that the command to desist from bearing false witness includes doing so in an online format as much as directly in person.

We need to diligently research the facts behind any allegation before we pass it on. In that way, we avoid going against God’s will for His followers.

For more Word-Filled Wednesday please visit Amydeanne.

Holiday Show And Share – Christmas Collections II - Snowpeople

This is the second week that The American Homemaker is sponsoring the feature, Holiday Show & Share: "The holidays are quickly coming upon us. Do you have a favorite holiday tradition? A favorite holiday recipe? A great holiday party idea? A holiday decoration you’d love to show off? How about a favorite holiday picture of your family? Let’s show and share our favorites. Each Tuesday from November 4th until December 23rd blog about something you love about the holidays and add your link to Mr. Linky."

For my entry today I will share the snowman collection I started last year. Here is a quote from my December 6, 2007 post where I introduced the new collection.
"As I was getting things together for Christmas decorating I found what turned out to be the last Christmas card I received from my brother who passed in April 2006. I can remember him calling me in December 2005 and asking for family addresses so he could send out his Christmas cards. This is the card I received from him:

"I remember thinking it was a lovely card. The snowmen are cutout and raised off the background, and have glitter on them. I had never collected snowflakes, icicles or other items with snow motifs. But taking out the card a few weeks ago, I got the urge to collect snowman items. A few hours later, in the Family Dollar store I spotted a pair of salt and pepper shakers. They were so endearing and cost one dollar. Then the next day at a thrift store I found a carved wood style snowlady wearing a top hat with a flower, a candle snowman and a wood photo frame with a snowman painted on."

"Then I found the 2003 Christmas card I received from my Dad who passed in November 2005. For many years my first Christmas card was from Dad. This particular one has snowmen as the motif. So I decided to frame it and the one from my brother."

Here are photos of the collection displayed on top the refridgerator and on the kitchen counter:

As the season went on and after the holidays I found many snowmen figures, such as Fitz and Floyd salt and pepper shakers.

In this thrift store frame I made a little sign:

I also had my three sisters pick out from my pieces so they could share the remembrance of our beloved oldest brother. Here is one of them, chosen by my sister in Florida:

See Angie’s blog for more holiday posts.

Tablescape Tuesday – Thanksgiving 2006

Tablescape Tuesday is sponsored by Susan of Between Naps on the Porch.

Today I am sharing a few photos of Thanksgiving at my sisters’s house in 2006. The table was set with warm fall colors.



She loves flowers -- as seen in the framed print, the silk flowers and the drapery swags which she had just completed sewing before Thanksgiving Day. The satin draperies were from JC Penney.

She has large floral arrangements all over her home, each of which she has made herself. This one is in a corner of the dining room.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my baby sister’s lovely décor.

For more table settings please see the list of participants at Susan’s blog.

Hopeful Friday – A Morning Prayer

Cielo at The House in the Roses is sponsoring Hopeful Friday to give blogger friends another opportunity to " celebrate God, to celebrate His mercy and unconditional love, but also a day to celebrate positive thoughts. We need hope to replace our restlessness, we need courage to replace our fear, and we need faith to replace our doubt."

Here is a prayer which expresses a desire to do good and not harm. How important it is to cast light in each others path each day.

A Morning Prayer

Let me today do something that will take
A little sadness from the world’s vast store,
And may I be so favored as to make
Of joy’s too scanty sum a little more.

Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed
Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend.
Nor would I pass unseeing worthy need,
Or sin by silence when I should defend.

However meager by my worldly wealth.
Let me give something that shall aid my kind—
A word of courage, or a thought of health
Dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to find.

Let me tonight look back across the span
Twixt dawn and dark, and to my conscience say—
Because of some good act to beast or man—
"The world is better that I lived today."

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I trust this will be our experience today. Happy Hopeful Friday!

To see more of today’s "chain of positive thoughts and inspirational messages" please go here for Cielo’s list.

Trim the Tree Thursday – Angel Tree

Trim the Tree Thursday is sponsored by Brett at The Hostess With the Mostess. Brett is amazing at planning and organizing for entertaining.

For this week’s post I will show my angel tree, which I did for many years. It stood in front of the window in the living room. It is a 7-foot tall artificial tree with wide full branches. It is lit with clear mini lights - a 140-string set with programmed flashing, and a 100-string with steady lights. Gold bead garlands are crisscrossed over the branches. The angel ornaments are supplemented with ivory, peasant blue and peach glass ball ornaments. The colors pick up those in the draperies and upholstery.

Under the tree is a large ceramic nativity scene.

Over the years I had collected many different angel ornaments. I gathered quite a number of Renaissance type angels made of plastic with cloth garments.

I bought several each in blue robes, in red, in ivory, in blue green, and one each in gold and purple. These angels were placed strategically across the tree to give it visual rhythm. Other angels were filled in throughout the branches.

Thank you for letting me share one of my favorite trees. For more Trim the Tree posts see the list at Brettinsky’s blog.