Decorating for Autumn: Thanksgiving Tablescape

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I felt like it was high time to share another tablescape with you.  And you got it- just in time for Turkey Day, it's my Thanksgiving tablescape for 2015.   Actually, the whole dining room transforms this time of year.  I'm talking pumpkins, leaves, and turkeys galore.  Here's the high level overview pic for you.  

And here's more of a bird's eye view down on the table itself.  

But as always, let's take a closer look at the details.  Each place setting has four plates at it.  I layer them because I like the look.  Too much of the turkey plates is overkill, but layered with my light aqua plates, now that breaks it up nicely and pulls it all together.  I also add our Irish linen placemats at each setting, along with a covered turkey soup bowl. 

Here's another look at the place setting in action.

And here's the centerpiece.  It takes up a good chunk of the table!  But I do love it.  Large varying sized candles, flanked with two huge hurricane globes at each end.  Add in some fall floral and a gigantic turkey, and there you have it.  :)

Here's a straight on photo of the centerpiece.  No room for food on this table.  No worries, we usually serve from the kitchen anyway.  It's a good thing!

 And just for my favorite father-in-law, who always (jokingly) complains of the lack of spoons around our house...  This is a vintage spoon holder.  I always point it out to him.  But seriously, I swoon every time I see it.  It's just so lovely.

Here's a look at our hutch all decked out for the season.  It sits in our dining room, and graciously holds my collection of vintage table linens and silver pieces, collected over the years.  It once belonged to my husband's grandmother.  Lots of love and history here. 

Here's another look.  Such a pretty piece.

And here's a close up of some of the items adorning it.  This cow creamer is new this year.  It's part of the Pioneer Woman collection that was recently launched this year.  I promise, promise, promise to tell you more about that soon, in case you still need details.  This particular pattern on the creamer is part of her "Flea Market" collection.  I loved the pattern so much to start with but when I discovered the name of the collection, I loved it EVEN more!

Since the table isn't fully set yet, I am "storing" my turkey shaped napkin rings in my vintage gravy boat.  Non-traditional, but I like the look.

Now for a vintage creamer.  This turkey shaped cream and sugar set once belonged to my mother-in-law.  She paired down her collection years ago, and these beauties now reside with us.

 More from our hutch...  Lots of floral, oversized acorns, and such...

This is the very first turkey I ever purchased.  Bought six years ago when we hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner at our house.  The décor was a little more minimal, shall we say, back then.  The butter dish in the foreground is vintage.  Add some seasonal gourds and this shelf is all set.

One more corner to share this go round.  I bought this ceramic pumpkin years ago, initially at Halloween time, but I've always used it as part of my fall/ Thanksgiving decorations instead.  The turkey platter is old.  We found it in an antique shop years ago.  The cow-shaped soup tureen is new to me as of this year.   I purchased her at an estate sale over the summer.  Now cows don't typically scream Thanksgiving, but the colors are perfect.  And I love her so much.  I was just waiting patiently to take her for a spin.  That's the fun part of decorating.  There are no rules.  It's what you like and what works for you.  And this works for me. 

2017 Facebook Live Thanksgiving Tablescape Dining Room Tour

For those of you who missed it when it originally aired, I've included the full Thanksgiving Dining Room Tour video.

Make sure to take a peek to catch the bonus Thanksgiving decor that we feature in the video. And you don't want to miss the tips and tricks for:

• layering new and vintage pieces to create a unique look in your home
• where to find vintage and retro looking Thanksgiving pieces
• displaying and grouping your Thanksgiving pieces
• how to fit roosters into your Thanksgiving decor
• and more!

And of course, we also have tips for Preparing Your Home for Holiday Guests or if you've been assigned a dish to bring to a Thanksgiving get together and you need a new recipe, check out our Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup. Make sure to pop over to check out those tips!

As I sit here typing this very minute, my little 18 month old babe is gobbling at me. "Gobble, gobble!"  There is so, So, SO much to be thankful for.  It's the little things.  Let's all celebrate this wonderful season with a heart filled with thanksgiving.  Here's to the happiest of happy holidays to you and your family!

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Old-Fashioned Cornbread

I ran across this recipe recently and gave it a try. Let me tell you - it will be a wonderful recipe to try for Thanksgiving dinner if you're looking for something new.

Now, I know there are a lot of dyed-in-the-wool folks out there who will only serve the same cornbread recipe that they've served since the beginning of time. That's OK. You can Pin this recipe for later. You'll want to do that because it's so good!

But, if you ARE looking to try something new for Thanksgiving, give this one a try. It's moist because it incorporates both sour cream and actual corn in the ingredients list! Yum!

Old-Fashioned Cornbread

8 oz sour cream

2 eggs

1 cup corn meal

1/3 cup vegetable oil

14.75 oz can cream style corn

1 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9 x 9 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together all ingredients until well blended.
3. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. Cool for 15 minutes in pan before cutting and serving.

Notes:

For this old-fashioned cornbread recipe, it is important to wait the 15 minutes before cutting. This will allow this moist cornbread time to "set" before serving.

If you're interested in other favorite Harris Sisters' Cornbread Recipes, give these a try:

Sweet Honey Cornbread

Cheesy Cowboy Cornbread

Cornbread Waffles

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come for You?

Well, a little late posting, but I would not EVER leave you without knowing what the Walkush family Halloween costume choice was for 2015. This year, the boys wanted to be police officers. And considering we had recently added a German Shepherd to our family, we felt like we already had a built in K-9 officer! SCORE!

2015 Walkush Family in hot pursuit of an escaped prisoner - wanted for disemboweling stuffed animals and three known dog beds.

Aidyn - age 10

Jaxon - age 7

Smitty - age 7

In hot pursuit of the escaped prisoner.

Got him! (Chance - age 1)

Be advised that the prisoner is in custody. Over.

Time to celebrate with doughnuts!

Patrolling the neighborhood.

Notes:

Even though we had planned for our German Shepherd Chance to be our K-9 officer, when Smitty's costume arrived in the mail, it was larger than the size we ordered. We had to make a last-minute change-a-roo with their costumes. The K-9 costume that we had ordered for Chance was made of a stretchy material, so even though it was still a little big on Smitty, it ended up fitting him much better than the prisoner costume.

Krispy Kreme will serve you a free doughnut if you visit on Halloween day in your costume. This was the perfect photo op for our boys in their police officer costumes. (And really, the perfect treat for Halloween afternoon for any little spook!)

The police cruiser was courtesy of one of our neighbors. Make sure to use your resources for Halloween photo ops! This particular vehicle is always parked in the same spot in this driveway in the neighborhood every day, so we knew we would swing by on our trick-or-treat route. Super easy to stop for a photo.

If you're looking to buy police officer costumes for members of your family, these are my tips. 

1. We opted only to buy costume shirts and a few accessories. We paired these with plain black pants and black belts. We already had aviator sunglasses, toy guns, holsters, and walkie talkies at home.
2. They sell men's shirts as "one size fits all" - these are intended for men. I bought one for myself thinking that I might be able to fit into one because Halloween costumes tend to run small. I tried one of them on and found it fit like a very large dress. These run large even for men. It was even a bit baggy on my 6'2" husband. We kept one for my husband and returned mine.
3. They sell boys' shirts sized "up to age 10." Both boys are wearing that size shirt. I also tried on one of their shirts to see if there was any way that one of those might fit me. The shirt actually fit fine in the shoulders and waist. However, you would have to have absolutely no chest whatsoever to get one of these shirts to fit you buttoned as an actual police officer shirt. These shirts would also be good options for girls who want to be police officers but don't want to wear the dress style costumes. 
4. They sell "sassy police officer" shirts for women, which look nothing like the boys' or men's shirts. They are low cut and have black leather accents. I passed on this look, so I have no idea how this fits.
5. They sell "police officer dress" for women, which was the most similar to the boys' and men's shirts. The only difference is that it is a dress (which police officers do not wear), the buttons are not gold tone, and the patches on the sleeves are not embroidered. The dress cost $5.00 more than the men's shirt.

Below are photos of me in the "dress" - I was going to attempt to wear it with leggings and tall boots, but it was also a bit large on me. So, I opted to cut the bottom part of it to shirt length and wear it with a pair of black pants. Voila! My costume matched the rest of my family, and I actually had one little girl as me if I was a police officer (highly unlikely with the other options),

Hope your family had a happy Halloween! (And I hope some of these costume tips helped - there are a TON of police costumes out there.) 

Please make sure to check out our previous year's Halloween costumes here. Many good group ideas and links to DIY tutorials:

2005 - 2011 - Halloween: The Early Years

2012 - Back to the Eighties

2013 - You Are What You Eat

2014 - Shine Bright Like a (MineCraft) Diamond