Our Thanksgiving table...

Belated Thanksgiving Greetings from our house! We spent another lovely holiday at home, sharing our Thanksgiving dinner with our dear friends, Chuck and Christine Sweeney. Once again, the holiday table was a mix of Margaret's cherished hunt china, the family silver, and seasonally colored decorations. In lieu of flowers in the center this year, we made use of two wine glasses we got while tasting wine in Temecula last April as part of our anniversary get-away. Little did we know when we got them - they are too tall for any cupboard in our kitchen. They'd been sitting on the kitchen table for months when it occurred to Margaret that they'd make good floating candle holders. The cranberries in the glasses had been in the freezer since last year! They were certainly too old to eat, but not too old to become part of our centerpiece.

Autumn florals...

...in preparation for Thanksgiving.

"In The Groove"...

Years ago Sassy decided that the pillow or pillows on the end of the couch were hers. When it became obvious to us that she would spend a good part of each day there, we decided that a cover over the pillows would keep them cleaner and smelling better. Despite being Christmasy, that flannel throw covers the pillows all the time now except when company is expected. Sassy sometimes snuggles herself between the pillows and the arm of the couch as you can see here - that's when she's prepared to do some really serious napping!

Earlier holiday blooms...

Some days ago we posted a picture of the first flowers on our winter Camellia "Noel". Decided we just had to post another as it looks now - much more bloomed out. It's doubtful that there will be much color left by Christmas, but it's still exciting to see the most buds and blossoms ever on that pretty little shrub.











The Christmas Cactus seem to want to be "Thanksgiving Cactus" this year, as well. And that's okay, too! Means that the seasonal color of the gourds and mini-pumpkins we've scattered around the front steps tie it all together.

Lunch to celebrate Jonathan's...

...eighth birthday! Jonathan and his family celebrated on his birthday last Friday with a trip to the LA Zoo. Today, we joined Heather and the four kids for lunch out and our chance to congratulate our big-boy on being eight years old. He seems to be quite thrilled with the "Heelies" his mom said he'd been wanting.

Fall fun...

Just received from Heather - the kids at a Pumpkin Patch, and all dressed for Halloween as characters from "The Wizard of Oz".