I'm Thankful For...

Thanksgiving could be my favorite holiday. I think the only reason that it isn't is that it's kind of the kick-off to a very busy, sometimes hectic, over-commercialized Christmas. I LOVE Christmas, don't get me wrong! I love the music, the decorations, the festive spirit everyone has. I love giving and getting and traditions. I can't wait to set up a tree for the first time in 3 years, and I'm looking forward to NOT traveling this Christmas so we can be home to enjoy it. 

But this was about Thanksgiving! Well, I love Thanksgiving because it's pure. You can't do much to take away from the meaning of it, the beautiful, historical significance, the focus on family and abundance instead of commercialized pressure to have more and get more. My one complaint about Thanksgiving is that it's crammed between Halloween and Christmas. You know? Couldn't it be on it's own so it gets some attention?!

So in my universe, we'd skip Halloween altogether (soapbox, so I'm not getting into it unless you ask!) and have Thanksgiving in October before the Christmas rush. Then we'd get to focus on Thankfulness and have plenty of time to get ready for Christmas after that!

Anyway, this year for Thanksgiving we're headed to my in-law's in Missouri. They are hosting Thanksgiving Dinner at their church for families who don't have much to be thankful for. Isn't that beautiful?! Instead of sitting in their comfortable house, eating too much food and probably taking the warm house and delicious, abundant food for granted, we'll be working hard to make sure others have a happy Thanksgiving! I love it! I can say that because it wasn't my idea.

My family is bringing sweet potatoes from our garden. We had a bumper crop this year and they're delicious! I'm also bringing the centerpieces for about 15 tables.

This is it:

Canning jar candle holders!

I selected a random assortment of canning jars, jelly jars and baby food jars, added about an inch of rocks to the bottom, dropped a votive candle on top of the rocks, then added some twine and a dried leaf. 

My inspiration was a Real Simple magazine about 4 years ago. They used sand in their jars, but it was expensive to buy at the store! I looked for decorative rocks and just didn't like the selection, so I went to the pet section and got aquarium rocks!

Since then, I've been known to use dried split peas and other beans. Because I'm doing so many jars for the church's Thanksgiving Dinner, I'll probably use a combination of the rocks and dried beans. You could use rice or whatever (nonflammable) filler you have around.

The centerpieces at the church will be smaller too--I just don't have that many jars and I want to help in more ways than spending an hour lighting the candles!

I'm thankful for being able to GIVE this Thanksgiving!

I'm participating in this party: