'Twas the Site by Three Sisters - 2022

It's Christmas Eve, and THAT means it's time for The Harris Sisters often imitated but never duplicated annual 2022 year-in-review in the form of a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas parody.

For new readers, this is a Harris Family tradition that dates back to the before-times (not quite when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but before helpful technology like computers, and blogs, and social media, and the interwebs). The original Harris Family Christmas parodies were written on paper with sharpened, lead-filled wood sticks (pencils) whilst sitting at the kitchen bar on Christmas Eve night.

So, to keep this grand old tradition alive, we still deliver these to you on Christmas Eve. (Just like jolly old St. Nick!)

We had lots of fun this year - and we always enjoy looking back and sharing the highlights with you! We're so glad we got to virtually "meet" some of our new friends and keep up with our old ones. We hope that you enjoyed reading along with us! If you're only following us on one social platform or the other, remember you can connect with us here on the blog, on Facebook, on Pinterest, and on Instagram. 

'Twas the Site by Three Sisters - 2022

'Twas the site by three sisters, Twenty Twenty-Two
We started off the year with a decor change-a-roo;
In February, we taught you tips and tricks right away,
To switch your Christmas tree to Valentine's Day.

As April rolled around, we could not keep silent,
Bringing gift ideas for a teen with a new license,
Ask your family members to submit and identify
Photos and advice to gift as this guide.

And then in June we just could not wait,
To tell you about our fun in The Volunteer State.
From antiquing to murals to a fun dinner cruise,
A garden tour and World's Fair Park - you've got nothing to lose!

In September, of course, we said a big cheers,
To celebrate The Harris Sisters blog – 10 years!
An anniversary photo we brought up-to-date,
And a big THANK YOU to help celebrate.

And then in December, we planned to make merry,
With the menu and décor for a Cousin Eddie Party,
More rapid than eagles the guests they came,
And we whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, EDDIE! now, CLARK! now, AUDREY and RUSTY!
On, RUBY SUE! on MARGO! on, TODD and BETHANY!
To the top of the RV! Photograph us all!
Now flash away! flash away! flash away all!"

As the first of Twenty Twenty-Three arrives,
We wanted to tell you how grateful we are for you guys,
To all who have followed, shared, commented, and liked,
"HARRIS CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!"

Merry Christmas from Misty, Donna, and Deanna! (And Daddy!) 

We're pictured here with custom National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation "Fun, Old Fashioned Harris Family Christmas" T-shirts. You can get custom T-shirts with your family name on them from Etsy. 

And you can read about our magical Christmas burn barrel tradition in this post about Harris Family Christmas Traditions, which also has the story about how the Christmas Eve parody started and scans of some of the original ones.

Make sure to take a look at our previous year's Christmas Eve parodies too!

Vegan Collard Greens

I wanted to share with you a new recipe for our family's traditional collard greens for our New Year's meal. It's a vegan recipe that's perfect for our family, which includes two vegetarians.

This recipe is perfect for if you have to consider a variety of dietary needs at your New Year's table. You can serve the traditional meat of ham separately for any meat eaters in your group.

We pair this Southern-style recipe with Vegan Hoppin' John and Sweet Honey Cornbread to start the new year off right!

Vegan Collard Greens

2 bunches fresh collard greens
olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth 
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon Liquid Smoke flavoring
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
black pepper (to taste)
balsamic vinegar (for serving, if desired)
hot sauce (for serving, if desired)

1. Remove bottom stalks of the collard green leaves and chop or tear into small pieces. 
2. Fill your sink or a large container with cold water, add chopped collard greens, and soak for at least 10 minutes. (Some people prefer to soak greens overnight.)
3. Remove the collard greens from the sink, place them in a colander, give them a good rinse, and drain. Complete this step in batches, if needed.
4. Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil.
5. Sauté onions over medium-low heat until they begin to brown and then add in garlic.
6. Cook until onions and garlic are fragrant, for another 2-3 minutes.
7. Add in vegetable broth.
8. Season broth with salt, Liquid Smoke, red pepper flakes, and black pepper (if desired).
9. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. 
10. Bring broth to a boil, then reduce to simmer.
11. Add in the greens, cover, and cook until greens are completely tender, about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
12. Check at the 30-minute mark to make sure there is still enough broth in the pot. Add more vegetable broth if needed.
13. Serve with hot sauce or balsamic vinegar, if desired.

Notes:

Make sure you like the taste of the broth when you taste it at step 9, because this is how your greens will taste. Adjust seasonings at this step, if necessary. 

Remember that the heat from the red pepper flakes will increase as the greens cook and you can always add more heat by serving the collard greens with additional hot sauce.

Traditions & Superstitions: 

A long-held tradition in the South, collard greens are often served for New Year’s Day.  According to superstition, if you eat collard greens on New Year’s Day, then you will have financial success for the coming year.

• collard greens represent green backs (dollars), or cash 
• black-eyed peas represent coins (this is traditionally served with alongside collard greens on New Year's Day)
• cornbread represents gold (this is traditionally served with alongside collard greens on New Year's Day)

How to Make Ol' Roy Puppy Chow for a Christmas Vacation Party

Our family recently hosted a Christmas Vacation-themed party, and one menu item that we knew we had to include was Puppy Chow. You may also know these as Muddy Buddies. But of course, when it hit our party table, we labeled it Ol' Roy Puppy Chow. 

This was to pay homage to the scene in the movie where Cousin Eddie fills his entire shopping cart with nothing but dog food and then when Clark casually adds a package of lightbulbs, they get obliterated with a GIANT bag of . . . . you guessed it . . . Ol' Roy!

Harris Sister Misty brought this no-bake sweet treat to our party, and it was a hit. And, of course, she served it in a big stainless steel dog bowl to add to the effect. So, we recommend that too!

Cousin Eddie's Ol' Roy Puppy Chow

9 cups crispy rice cereal (Chex or Crispix)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate. Add peanut butter and mix until smooth. Remove from heat.
2. Place the cereal in a large bowl and pour the chocolate peanut butter mixture over the cereal. Stir GENTLY with a spatula until coated. Make sure you don’t break up the cereal, you want it to stay in whole pieces.
3. Pour powdered sugar into a large Ziploc bag, add coated cereal, seal the bag, and shake until well coated. 
4. Spread the puppy chow in a single layer so it can cool and not stick together. Let sit until the chocolate is hard.
5. Store in an airtight container.

Notes:

After the puppy chow is dry, you can put it in a large airtight container and store on the counter for up to 2 weeks. 

If your kitchen is warm, you can store the puppy chow in the refrigerator to make sure the chocolate doesn’t melt.

You can also put puppy chow into decorative Christmas tins or bags to give to friends, family, and neighbors for the holidays. It makes an easy homemade holiday gift, and it's one that the kiddos can help you make!

How to Make Aunt Bethany's Jello Mold from Christmas Vacation

Long-time readers of the blog know that we are BIG FANS of the movie Christmas Vacation. So, what better way to celebrate our all-time favorite Christmas movie than to make Aunt Bethany's jello mold for our Christmas Vacation-themed party this year.

For those of you who may not be as familiar with the movie, Aunt Bethany is the lovable older aunt in the movie. She enters with Uncle Lewis bearing wrapped Christmas presents, which are later revealed to be 1) her cat and 2) a lime jello mold.

When they serve the jello mold at Christmas Eve dinner, they reveal that it is topped with dry cat food!

Aunt Bethany's Jello Mold

Non-stick cooking spray
1 standard sized Bundt pan
1/2 cup Cheerios
3 packs lime Jello (3 oz. size)
amount of water needed to prepare 3 packs of Jello, according to package directions

1. Spray the Bundt pan generously with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. 
2. Cut about 1/4 cup of your Cheerios in half. Mix with the remaining Cheerios.
3. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the whole and halved Cheerios into your sprayed Bundt pan. Keep the rest for later.
4. Prepare Jello according to package directions and pour into the prepared Bundt pan. If your Cheerios have moved around during the pouring process, you can use a spoon to redistribute them now. Refrigerate Bundt pan uncovered and allow Jello to set overnight.
5. The next day, remove the Bundt pan from the refrigerator and allow it to sit in a large bowl of warm water for 30 seconds to 1 minute. This will loosen up the Jello from the pan.
6. Remove from the bowl of water. Place a large plate on top of the pan and flip over.
7. Top off the Jello with remaining Cheerios. Refrigerate plated Jello mold until time for your party.

Notes:

If you have never made Jello before, it is most important to use boiling water and ice-cold water to ensure that it sets. (Make sure to actually boil a pot of water and then ladle it into a measuring cup to measure out the amount needed for the recipe.)

Make sure to set your Bundt pan on a level surface in the refrigerator or your Jello mold will set unevenly.

When dipping your Bundt pan into warm water to loosen, pay special attention to what the edges of the Jello look like. You will notice when it starts to come away from the sides of the Bundt pan and it should be ready to unmold then. The amount of time needed for this step will also depend on the temperature of water you use. So, the best indicator for this step is when the edges of Jello pull away from the Bundt pan.

Use a large plate for unmolding. If you've never unmolded a Jello mold before, this part may be tricky. We've had success by having one person hold the two handles on the Bundt pan and the plate together and the other person hold the bottom of the Bundt pan and flipping the whole thing simultaneously. (1, 2, 3, flip!) We also flipped the whole thing while standing over the sink "just in case."

If you have any melted Jello that makes its way onto your plate, you can easily clean that up with a wet paper towel for presentation purposes. (But remember, Aunt Bethany's jello mold was dripping out of her wrapped package when she arrived, so you don't need to clean it up too much!)

How to Plan a National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Themed Party

The Harris Sisters are getting ready for the holidays, and we wanted to bring you an idea for a National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Themed Party. We figured if you're going to host a party anyway, why not GO BIG and host a party based on a famous Christmas movie? We have all the details to make your movie-themed Christmas party a success!

Hip, Hip Hooray for Christmas Vacation

Start with an invitation that matches your Christmas Vacation theme. Because people's calendars tend to fill up around the holidays, make sure to send your invitations well in advance of your party date. If you'd like for guests to come dressed as one of the characters from the movie, add "dress in your Griswold best" to the invitations. (That will add to the fun of the party!) Where can you find Griswold-themed Christmas Vacation invitations? Check out Etsy for your best customizable options.

What to Wear to a National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Party

Your outfit will most likely be dependent on the character you choose to emulate. And remember that each of the main characters wore several different recognizable outfits throughout the movie, so you'll have your pick of what to wear.

Some costume pieces will be easy to find on Amazon or at Walmart. And other pieces and accessories will need to be hunted down at thrift stores, eBay, or Etsy to keep with the 1980s vintage look of the movie costumes.

Whatever costumes you or your guests choose, make sure to get lots of photos (big group photos, small group photos, individual shots, etc.) Get shots of groups that would have likely gone together in the movie. (Clark and Ellen, Clark and Bethany, Todd and Margo, Rusty and Audrey, as well as groups of Clarks and groups of Eddies - you will likely have more than one of each!)

Audrey and Rusty

Todd and Margo

Aunt Bethany and Clark

Cousin Eddie and Ruby Sue

Here's a list of characters in the movie broken down into a few categories:

Women:

• Ellen
• Nora (Clark's mom)
• Francis (Ellen's mom)
• Cousin Catherine
• Aunt Bethany
• Margo (neighbor)

Men:

• Clark
• Clark, Sr. (Clark's dad)
• Art (Ellen's dad)
• Cousin Eddie
• Uncle Lewis
• Todd (neighbor)

Cousin Eddie X2

Clark X3

Girls:

• Audrey
• Ruby Sue

Boys:

• Rusty
• Rocky

More unique choices (that are less likely to have duplicates):

• Mary (lingerie salesperson)
• Bonus Delivery Guy
• Frank Shirley (boss)
• Mrs. Shirley (boss's wife)
• Police Officers
• Griswold Family Christmas Tree
• Squirrel
• Snots the dog
• Aunt Bethany's Cat

The Squirrel

Frank Shirley and Cousin Eddie

What Music to Play at My Christmas Vacation Themed Party

Before your Griswold party, make a playlist with some of the classic Christmas songs from the movie. Here's a list to get you started:

1. Christmas Vacation - Mavis Staples (opening title sequence and end credits)
2. Hey, Santa Claus - The Moonglows (shopping sequence before Clark meets Mary, the salesgirl)
3. That Spirit of Christmas - Ray Charles (Clark watches old footage of past Christmases while trapped in the attic)
4. Mele Kalikimaka - Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters (Clark daydreams about his pool)
5. Here Comes Santa Claus - Gene Autry (SWAT Team invades the Griswold's house to rescue Mr. Shirley)

Other songs featured in the movie:

1. O Come All Ye Faithful (excerpt) - Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo (car ride to tree lot)
2. Deck the Halls (excerpt) - Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo (car ride to tree lot)
3. We Wish You a Merry Christmas (excerpt) - Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo (car ride to tree lot)
4. Joy to the World (excerpt) - Chevy Chase (Clark plugs in the lights and they don't work)
5. Hallelujah Chorus (excerpt) - (Clark plugs in lights and they DO work)
6. The Star-Spangled Banner - Christmas Vacation cast (Griswolds see the lights of the sewage treatment plant)

The song you'd think would be featured in the movie because it's featured in other Vacation movies (but it's not):

1. Holiday Road - Lindsay Buckingham

Since the movie was based in the 1980's, here's a list of 20 popular Christmas songs of that decade to round out your playlist:

1. Last Christmas - Wham!
2. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - John Cougar Mellencamp
3. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Johnny Mathis
4. Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC
5. Hard Candy Christmas - Dolly Parton
6. Winter Wonderland - Eurythmics
7. Put a Little Love in Your Heart - Al Green and Annie Lennox
8. Do You Hear What I Hear? - Whitney Houston
9. Thank God It's Christmas - Queen
10. Merry Christmas, Baby - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
11. Christmas in Dixie - Alabama
12. Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid
13. Santa Baby - Madonna
14. Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby & David Bowie
15. Run Rudolph Run - Bryan Adams
16. Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) - U2
17. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer - Elmo and Patsy
18. Silent Night - Stevie Nicks
19. Little Drummer Boy - Bob Seger
20. Same Old Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Party Menu

Since this is a themed party, you'll have the most fun planning your party menu with foods that correspond to the movie. We also labeled each item with a scene from the movie and creative titles that sometimes included lines from the movie. (Note: two of our party foods were actually from the original Vacation movie, but we figured since these folks are all related via Cousin Eddie, it all works out in the end.) 

Here's the menu we used for our Christmas Vacation Themed Party:

• Fried Pussycat Salami Sampler
• “Looks Great, Little Full, Lot of Sap” Griswold Family Tree Cheese and Fruit Sampler
• Aunt Edna’s “I’m sorry, we thought you enjoyed” Fruitcake
• Aunt Bethany's Jello Mold
• Cousin Eddie's Ol' Roy Puppy Chow
• Pepper Jelly of the Month Club
• "Late Bonus Delivery Guy" Veggie Wreath
• Sausage and Ham Biscuits Served on a Sled (with Non-Caloric Silicone-Based Kitchen Lubricant)
• Mele Kalikimaka Pineapple Baked Brie
• “Vicky, can I help with that Kool-Aid, please?” Punch
• “Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead” Eggnog

What Party Favors, Costume Prizes, and Gifts Can I Give at My Christmas Vacation Themed Party?

If you'd like to make your own DIY Christmas Vacation gifts to give out as party favors and/or to the guest with the best costume, here are a few ideas for you:

Mr. Shirley L-Shaped Gifts

We do this every year for Daddy and he gets a big kick out of it. For a few bucks and a couple of minutes of your time to wrap it "just so," you can have a gift that matches the gift that Clark gave his boss, Mr. Shirley, in the movie. What the heck do we make these gifts out of and how do we wrap them? We've got a full tutorial here.

How to Wrap Christmas Vacation Themed Presents

Here's another idea for how to wrap Christmas Vacation themed presents. If you're exchanging gifts with everyone at your party, why not label the gifts with photos of the recipient in their costume? If this is an annual party, you can use photos from previous years. Or when you buy your costume pieces, simply try on everything (to make sure it fits) and snap a photo at that time!

Jelly of the Month Club - Jars of Homemade Jelly

If you're the crafty type, in the months leading up to the party you can devote some time to making homemade jellies and jams and labeling them with creative labels. BONUS! If you make pepper jellies, you can also use them as part of your menu for the day of the party. We used the Habanero Pepper Jelly, Pineapple Pepper Jelly, and Ghost Pepper Jelly as a party appetizer with cream cheese and crackers, and gifted the Spiced Christmas Jam to party guests. 

Habanero Pepper Jelly

Here are the recipes:

• Habanero Pepper Jelly - Hotter Than Uncle Lewis' Stogie
• Pineapple Habanero Jelly - Mele Kalikimaka
• Ghost Pepper Jelly - Hotter Than Aunt Bethany's Cat
• Spiced Christmas Jam - Jelly of the Month Club

Spiced Christmas Jam

Pineapple Habanero Pepper Jelly

Ghost Pepper Jelly

I hope we've inspired you to plan your own Christmas Vacation themed party. For ideas on hosting a vintage-themed Christmas party, make sure to check out How to Plan a Retro 1950s Christmas Party.

The Harris Sisters send you warmest holiday wishes and hopes for a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

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Non-Alcoholic Homemade Eggnog

'Tis the season for holiday parties, and if you've got a whole group of eggnog drinkers, you might want to try making a batch of homemade eggnog.

This classic, old-fashioned, cooked eggnog recipe will impress your friends and family at your next Christmas party. The recipe (as written) is non-alcoholic, so kiddos can drink it too. But, if you'd like to make an adults-only version, you can also serve this beverage alongside brandy, rum, bourbon, or whiskey, and let each guest at your party spike their eggnog to taste.

Non-Alcoholic Homemade Eggnog

12 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
4 cups whole milk
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
dash of cinnamon (for topping)

1. Whisk together the eggs and the sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy. (Make sure the bowl is large enough to add five cups of additional liquid.)
2. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the milk, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir constantly and heat until the mixture reaches a simmer. (Do not let this mixture boil.) Remove from heat.
3. Place a kitchen towel underneath the bowl that contains the egg mixture to prevent it from slipping while you work. Start whisking the egg mixture with your dominant hand while you grab a ladle of the hot milk with the other hand. Slowly drizzle a steady stream of hot milk into the bowl of eggs. Make sure to keep whisking the entire time! Constant whisking will keep the eggs moving, raising the temperature of the eggs slowly enough to prevent them from cooking. Follow this process until all the milk has been added to the egg mixture.
4. Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place it back on the stove.
5. Heat on medium-low heat and constantly whisk until the mixture reaches 160 degrees on a candy thermometer and is slightly thickened. (It will thicken more as it cools.)
6. Remove from the heat and then stir in the heavy cream, salt, and vanilla extract.
7. Store in the mixture in the refrigerator overnight until chilled and thickened.
8. Serve topped with fresh whipped cream and additional cinnamon if you prefer.

Notes:

You have to be very careful when heating milk and eggs. During both heating steps, remember to stir and whisk constantly to ensure that you don't end up with scalded milk or scrambled eggs.

Another part of the process that ensures your eggnog comes out correctly is heating over medium-low heat and heating slowly. If you increase the temperature to try to speed up the recipe, you may end up with lumpy eggnog.

To decrease the cooking time (slightly), you can measure your milk and cream and leave them out with a dozen eggs for one hour before starting your recipe. Because these are dairy products, it is not recommended to leave them out for a very long time before starting the recipe.

If you are new to tempering eggs (step 3), you might want to consider asking another person to help you. It's easier for one person to whisk the eggs while the other person ladles and streams milk.

Store leftover eggnog in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-7 days. If it separates during that time, give it a spin in the blender before serving.

"Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere, leave you for dead?"

We served this at our Christmas Vacation-themed party, and it was a hit. The Cousin Eddies sure seemed to enjoy it!

Spiced Christmas Jam

'Tis the season for fresh cranberries to hit grocery store shelves near you. And since they're so readily available, here's a quick and easy jam recipe that also makes a lot of jars at once (so it's perfect for Christmas gift-giving).

This particular recipe is a mix of strawberries, cranberries, and spices, and it tastes so good slathered on a warm biscuit, fresh from the oven. (And, here's another secret about this recipe, you can make it with frozen cranberries and it will taste just as good!)

If you have never used a water bath canning method to can jams or jellies before, you'll want to read the complete instructions online before you start making your Spiced Christmas Jam.

Spiced Christmas Jam

40 ounces frozen unsweetened strawberries

1 pound fresh or frozen cranberries

5 pounds sugar

2  liquid fruit pectin packets, 3 ounces each

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

15 half pint (8 oz.) glass preserving jars with lids and bands

1. Pulse strawberries and cranberries in a food processor and then place prepared fruit into an 8 quart pot. Add sugar and spices and stir. Bring to a full rolling boil; boil for 1 minute, stir.
2. Remove from the heat; stir in the liquid pectin and return to a full rolling boil. Boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. 
3. Remove from the heat. Skim off any foam with a spoon.
4. Ladle the jam mixture into sterilized jars.
5. Follow water bath canning directions to complete the canning process.  Process Spiced Christmas jam 10 minutes. 
6. Recipe yields 15 half pint jelly jars.

Notes:

Jam and jelly recipes are finicky, so these types of things can cause your recipe not to set:

• Doubling the recipe.
• Measuring less than the full amount of sugar listed in the recipe or using a sugar substitute. If you want to use less sugar, use a recipe specifically developed for low sugar. 

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Vintage Thanksgiving Decorating Ideas

As the holidays approach, you might be looking for some simple ways to decorate for Thanksgiving. In our family, we always decorate BIG for Halloween and Christmas. And with only 3 weeks to take down all of the Halloween decorations and put up Thanksgiving decorations (before Christmas decorations go up), we want to make sure that we keep those decorations simple, since these decorations are short-lived. But of course we wouldn't want to overlook this important holiday!

However, since we only gather together to celebrate Thanksgiving for one day (rather than an entire season with multiple celebrations), any decorations that we plan for Thanksgiving need to be:

1. Easy to put up
2. Easy to take down 
3. Easy to store

Using this criteria, I mainly only decorate my dining room, since that's the room that sees most of the Thanksgiving day "action." 

Vintage Honeycomb Turkeys and Vintage Thanksgiving Die Cuts

These just might be the easiest Thanksgiving decorations ever! You can often find them at thrift stores starting around the end of September (usually around the same time you're scouring the aisles for vintage Halloween items). Or if you'd like to buy several at a time, you can purchase them in lots on eBay or Etsy. Look for brand names like Beistle, Eureka, and Hallmark.

And the best part about these decorations is that the honeycomb pieces fold flat for storage, but they make a big impact when grouped together for a display. I've displayed them here with some hodgepodge Pyrex bowls (that will be filled on Thanksgiving day with side dishes).

Here are some close-ups of these vintage Thanksgiving decorations. The adults in your group will surely appreciate the nostalgia of these decorations, and the kiddos will love the bright colors.

Vintage Linens

The other items I always use for Thanksgiving decorations are vintage linens. 

The majority of these heirloom aprons were handmade by The Harris Sisters' Grandma Elizabeth, and a few of them were handmade by our Mama. They, too, provide a splash of color that mimic the turkeys. They are the perfect thing to display for a holiday that involves a lot of cooking. I usually keep these on display right through Christmas.

And the other vintage linen item that I add to my Thanksgiving display is a vintage tea towel that was a gift from Harris Sister Misty. While it probably didn't start out life as a Thanksgiving decoration, it certainly fits the bill with its prayer and harvest of fruits and vegetables.

The aprons adorn the upper left corner of our dining room Hoosier cabinet, and the tea towel is displayed on the countertop.

Because all of these pieces are vintage, you can find them at yard sales, thrift stores, antique stores, flea markets, estate sales, or maybe even your own attic. 

I hope this post gives you a few ideas for how to display vintage pieces in a new and different way for Thanksgiving decor. 

A Tribute to The King: Our Elvis Presley Family Halloween Costumes

With the recent release of Baz Luhrmann's biographical musical, Elvis, we knew this would be the PERFECT year to choose Elvis costumes for our group Halloween costume. Well, which one of us would get to be Elvis, you ask? All of us! Some long time blog readers might remember that this is not the first year that our entire family has dressed as Elvis Presley for Halloween. We actually chose this as our Halloween costume theme way back in 2007, when Aidyn was only 2 years old and Jaxon hadn't yet been born. So this costume idea was definitely "new to them."

FUN FACT: Our boys are getting older, and they were actually on team "not dressing up for Halloween this year." I told them that Ryan and I were still going to dress up to hand out candy. So, when I mentioned to Ryan that I thought we should pull out our old Elvis costumes this year, Aidyn immediately said, "Wait! You're dressing up as Elvis? I want to be Jailhouse Rock Elvis!" And of course, since Aidyn was dressing up, Jaxon wanted to join in on the fun. He wanted to dress up as "Jumpsuit Elvis."

Well, you ain't gotta ask THIS Elvis fan twice (A Little Less Conversation, a Little More Action Please). I was on it like pink on a Cadillac!

Viva Las Vegas

When it comes to Elvis costumes, nothing is as recognizable as the bedazzled jumpsuits that he was known for wearing in his later "Vegas residency" years. Both Jaxon and I ended up with this style of costume. Jaxon is wearing my costume from 2007, and I'm wearing a new Elvis jumpsuit costume this year. This is because I couldn't find a new costume to fit both Jaxon's height and weight. So, since he is so thin, I let him wear my old costume, which fit him better than any new costume we found.

I found that a men's size small costume fit my height almost perfectly and then tailored it to make it small enough to fit me. I am still wearing heeled boots to make it fit length-wise.

We accessorized these Vegas Elvis costumes with big sunglasses, as many rings as we could find in my jewelry box, and a child-sized acoustic guitar.

Jailhouse Rock

Another popular Elvis costume is Jailhouse Rock. Both of these costumes are pieced together rather than store-bought. Ryan is wearing his original costume from 2007, and Aidyn is wearing a new costume. 

A Jailhouse Rock Elvis costume is easy to make yourself. You'll need a pair of black pants, a black collared jacket, a black and white striped shirt, black shoes, and white socks. For Ryan's costume, I used fabric paint to paint on stitching and the "prisoner number" 6240. For Aidyn's costume, we skipped these details, but you can still tell he's Elvis in a group of other Elvises. For Aidyn's costume, we repurposed the shirt from his Jean Valjean Broadway's Back costume.

If you have a short haircut like Ryan, make sure to purchase an Elvis wig to complete your costume. With a little bit of styling with a flat iron and some hairspray, you'll have the signature Elvis look.

Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters

The Walkush Boys are live in concert down at the end of Lonely Street . . . or I guess Elvis Presley Boulevard . . . for one night only, October 31st!

Elvis Has Left the Building

That's a wrap on Halloween 2022. Happy Halloween from The Walkush Family. 

Thank you . . . thankyouverymuch.

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