Saturday, November 01, 2008

Happy November, and a give-away!

Happy November - the month of my favorite holiday is here! I'm so looking forward to Thanksgiving - a wonderful day filled with family, tradition and amazing food! For the past several years, my cousin Patty and her husband Dave have been our hosts for our family celebration - such an important role for a favorite holiday! Patty cooks the all-important turkey among other things (her mom, my aunt Doodle, trained her well!)...the rest of the family brings appetizers, desserts and side dishes. They're nearly the same every year - John makes mom's mashed pototoes, I make sweet potatoes, Snooker brings peas and pies, Dimpy brings creamed onions and squash , and the list goes on. (Oh, and yes... my aunts really are called Doodle, Snooker and Dimpy, but that's a story for another time.)

But enough about the food - back to the host and hostess! Because it's such an important job, I thought it would be fitting to celebrate hosts and hostesses in my first give-away here on the blog. One lucky winner will be able to choose 2 sets of Artful Sentiments coasters, one to bring to your Thanksgiving host or hostess, and keep one for yourself! I'll even send along a hand block printed Turkey card, so that you can write a little note of Thanksgiving to your host or hostess.

Just leave a comment describing your favorite Thanksgiving food or tradition, and I'll randomly draw from all the entries! Wouldn't you like to bring a little something special to your host in thanks for a fabulous holiday dinner?

(I will choose the winner after 5PM, Friday November 14th.)

16 comments:

Erin Nowak, Designer and Illustrator said...

My favorite tradition is my "Thanksgiving Sandwich." I always make sure not to eat too much during Thanksgiving dinner or dessert, so that I can have a my special sandwich later that evening. Everything from dinner goes on it...turkey, corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes or yams (I'm not picky), a green veg if I'm feeling like it, maybe some creamed onions, and top it off with some cranberries and gravy.

Pile it all on some toasted bread or dinner rolls, add and pepper and I'm good to go. It's messy and my family thinks I'm crazy, but I LOVE it. A little late night treat and a moment of peace after all the hub-bub when I can really savor all those delicious home cooked flavors. Mmmmm...

Please Molly, before the month is out, do share the Doodle, Snooker and Dimpy story. Those names are just too good!

Metallyptica said...

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Portugal but I always love to see you all american girls enjoying this day so much...

I'm with erin... please share your aunts names' story!!

Anonymous said...

My mother usually hosts Thanksgiving at her house because she has a large house and invites pretty much everyone she knows. Two years ago, it just so happened we had a small crowd, so Dave and I offered to host our first Thanksgiving, even though we had three kids and had been married for 13 years at the time. So after a very pleasant dinner where my husband was in his glory making most of the food including smoking the turkey on the bbq, my two older boys were wrestling and the middle on hit his head on the front door and that was our first trip to the ER on Thanksgiving. And the last time we hosted it for a long while, I think.

{evy} said...

I love this giveaway! And I love that you're giving 2 sets, one to give, one to keep. So generous!

Thanksgiving is our families biggest holiday. We live in NY, NJ, CA & FL. So we had to pick one that everyone tries to get to. I love love love when we're all together for it. But that doesn't happen every year I'm so sad to say. My favorite part is really the night before - staying up late, drinking wine, laughing a lot and making pies: apple, pear - cranberry, pumpkin.
I also love after the meal, staying up late, drinking wine, laughing a lot, and eating leftovers.
The meal's not too bad either!

marzi said...

hi molly! thanks for the giveaway!

so honestly i'm not much of a thanksgiving food person. i'd have to say that dessert is my favorite. i LOVE me some pumpkin and apple pie!

my favorite tradition is simple. getting together with my large family for a wonderful meal and chatting for hours

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Thanksgiving and the best is the mashed potatoes which my husband's family doesn't usually make because they are true Texans and they make sweet potatoes. You my sweet Yankee mother always make a TON when its her turn to host Thanksgiving. She also used to make this totally gross jello mold with stuff in it and she was the only one who ate it (except my husband because he is a smart man and a total suck up)

Kelly H. said...

As a vegetarian, our holiday is a bit unconventional. It always consists of the usual mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, stuffing etc but for the main course we always make some sort of big vegetarian gesture. Some years it is a 'tofurkey' (yes they are really yummy) or a faux pot roast with potatoes, carrots and onions, or more recently I've developed a recipe for a vegetarian "chicken" pot pie which is just divine.

So even though we don't eat the turkey, our celebration is still very traditional. ;)

Anonymous said...

I just love the food, turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, apple pie! mmm! That's some good stuff. It's always nice just getting to spend time with the family too. We're going home over Thanksgiving this year instead of Christmas, so it will be extra special this year. thanks.
pposwaps(AT)gmail.com

sue bulmer said...

Oh, we don't celebrate thanksgiving in the UK, but it does sound like you have lots of very nice food. x

Julie said...

molly - how generous of you to host a giveaway! (and I could seriously use a set of coasters). I love, love, love Thanksgiving - way more than Christmas actually. We host dinner at our house every year and I spend hours decorating & setting the table. I spend the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving testing out new recipes (just "tested" a pumpkin pie yesterday - yum!). I do as much as I can ahead of time so that Thanksgiving morning, my husband and kids and I can relax for our annual tradition: We make coffee & hot cocoa and cinnamon rolls and all sit in our jammies and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We're usually still in our jammies at Noon when it's over! The kids (and my husband) argue over who's going to get the cinnamon roll in the middle (the gooiest). Then we all go for a walk outside before getting ready for company later on.

AtPlayWithFiber said...

Every Thanksgiving since 2003 we have gone to my Aunt's in Phoenix. The girls love to stay at the hotel and their favorite food is the Pumpkin pie. They told their Great Aunt that they wanted whip cream with their pumpkin pie this year!

Funky Finds said...

I absolutely love pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream! Yum. :)

Jessica
info(at)funkyfinds(dot)us

Anonymous said...

My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is the desserts. My grandma only makes certain desserts for the holidays and Thanksgiving is the first time I see them all year!

jamieislovelyATgmail.com

Jill Jones said...

I am hosting Thanksgiving this year and about half of my siblings are coming in for it. My favorite thing about this holiday is the gathering of loved ones. It's a very traditional day for us full of food, football and conversation.

Jill Jones
Bidwell Botanicals

Unknown said...

Before breast cancer I used to host our family dinners. My sister has since taken over that task and what is left of the family brings one of their favorite holiday dishes and we enjoy the company as much as the food. Then on Friday the diehards gather again to turn the left overs into 'turkey sloppies'. Anything left from the night before goes on them and I LOVE that more than the actual formal meal!

Dale Anne Potter said...

Our Thanksgiving here in Canada is in October.
My favourite food is pumpkin pie....!!!

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