Awwww….Wouldn’t you just love some cute little pilgrims–like this, on your own Thanksgiving table?
Or maybe you’d prefer–a handsome devil like this? Trust me…it’s simple. All you have to do is:
Print out the pattern–at the bottom of the page and cut out the pieces.
Using the pattern, cut out enough pilgrim pieces for each member of your family.
Roll the black rectangle and staple it in place.
Wrap the white collar around the black tube–and staple.
Using embroidery scissors–cut along the line on the pilgrims bonnet.
Print out pictures of your family–I made them all about 2-1/2 inches tall. Cut them out.
Glue the pilgrim hat on the boy pilgrim’s head. Slide the girl photos into the white caps.
Now you’re ready to put your pilgrim together. Oh, and for the babies bodies, I trimmed the black body pieces about 1-1/2 inches–so they were shorter.
Slide the heads between the black piece and the white collar and glue lightly in place. Let them dry for about 30 minutes and they’ll be set for your feasting table.
No need to write anyone’s name on these guys because the kids will love finding themselves on the plate!
For the Personal Pilgrim Place Card Pattern–simply click on the link below.
How wonderful it would be if we could help our children and grandchildren to learn thanksgiving at an early age. Thanksgiving opens the doors. It changes a child’s personality. A child is resentful, negative—or thankful. Thankful children want to give, they radiate happiness, they draw people.
Around here–if it’s going to be rainy and cold outside there aren’t really a ton of choices. You either cook…
or sew. Looking at my pretty little fabric stash–sewing won, hands down.
I did a bit of exploring online and found some really pretty apron patterns–for free. And since it is the season for playing around in the kitchen it seemed like the perfect thing–Thanksgiving aprons. Ahhhh….
I chose the “Child’s Apron” pattern from Skip To My Lou first thing. It was just simple and girly enough to suit the mood.
Seriously, it took about an hour and a half from rummaging through the fabric to actual Apron.
The trick–for me, any way–is to keep an iron set up and handy as I sew. It comes together much more quickly and there are fewer hitches.
Now, to find a pretty little lady who wants to help me in the kitchen.
The tradition at our house has always been that the day after Halloween, we can pull out the Christmas music. Not the movies or the decorations–none of that–but the music is on! We are quite faithful in our focus of the Thanksgiving holiday because it is so lovely to spend so much time thinking of how greatly we are blessed. It’s just that at our house we prepare for Thanksgiving—while listening to Christmas music.
The first year I was married we had no Christmas music at all. Nothing.
Then my sweet childhood friend Mary Jo asked if we would store a few things for her–as she was moving back to California. In the things to store that she generously said we could use, was her stereo system and a pile of LPs–record albums–in case you didn’t know. One of them–to my utter joy, was called “Merry Christmas–36 Great Favorite Songs-36 Great Artists.” Silly name. Fabulous music.
But finding out that my time with this set up was about to end and that a friend was coming to pick up all her things way before Christmastime, I devised a plan. Scurrying around, I found an old cassette recorder and a blank tape and decided to record whatever songs I could before the friend pulled up in the driveway. Now please realize that this was long before the “plug in this and that and push a couple of buttons and now it’s all perfect,” days. I had to play the music and put the tiny little microphone right up against the stereo speakers to get the best sound. I was in such a hurry that I didn’t even know some of the songs that I was recording–but it would be something for our Christmas atmosphere anyway. It ended up taping the last song filling one side of that cassette before the guys knocked on the door. I felt pretty pleased with myself.
Little did we know at the time that that silly little bootlegged tape would become the family favorite for all my children and the very first thing they want to hear when they wake on November 1st. One year they each received their own copy of the tape in their Christmas stocking. They love it.
So, as silly as it may seem to play a little Christmas music for you–I’d really like to share the sound that has thrilled my family for over 30 years now–and quite frankly, still does. Oh, and if anyone knows the secret to getting a cassette tape–in this case, a priceless one–transferred to a cd–would you kindly share the info with me? Tapes don’t last forever and we want to keep this one.
I hope you’ll humor me and listen–just this once. Thanks–and here it is…
I don’t really have a simple caption for this one—other than sweet baby Beckham looking in a mirror. But I love the intensity of his dear little face as he stares into his own eyes.
Kinda makes me want to grab a mirror and look at myself just a bit more closely. Not so that I can find more wrinkles to cover–THAT could go on forever! But more so, to have an honest look at myself to decide if I am who I really want to be in this life. If not–why not? If not now–when?
I personally don’t mind a nudge forward from such a beloved source. Makes reflection much easier.
Aren’t babies and their innocence just so good for the soul?
