Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite holidays. I love the whole idea behind having a holiday that is based on a virtuous principle -- that of gratitude. There is something wonderful about gathering family and friends together to celebrate our appreciation for blessings received. In comparison to other holidays, I think Thanksgiving has, for the most part, been unsullied by commercialism. That's a point in its favor as well!I've been trying to come up with a simple centerpiece for Thanksgiving this year. I usually buy a fresh floral arrangement, but this year I was perusing my blog list and came upon this idea from "Deck the Halls of Home with Joy." I loved how Brenda took an idea and made it her own. I had seen some silver and gold holiday serving trays like the one she used on sale at Target in their holiday section, so I decided to give her idea a shot. When I got to Target I ended up buying a dark wooden serving tray instead. I thought it might be more practical for year-round use. I also bought some bags of small gourds and mini-pumpkins while I was there. Then I went over to Hobby Lobby to buy some candles and hurricane lamps. Even at 50% off, I didn't want to spend as much as it would have cost for three tall candles and three hurricane lamps, so I ended up buying one very large candle and a small floral urn to put it in -- both at 50% off -- and about half the price of the other.
It was time to put it all together... I've never had mad skilz when it comes to floral arranging. I always hand that chore off to someone else, rather than do it myself. Unfortunately my husband was hard at work, so I couldn't pawn the task off on him, and none of my daughters live at home anymore. It was up to me. Mores the pity. I took comfort in the fact that placing gourds in a tray shouldn't be that hard. I grabbed some twigs and leaves from my at home stash and went to work...
I like the fact that I can reuse this idea year after year and reuse the different items -- tray, vase, candle -- throughout the year. Plus, all said and done, it cost about as much as I would normally spend on a fresh floral arrangement. All in all a pretty sweet little score.
