New week. New month.
It’s the first Monday in November. That means it’s time for me to . . .
Once November hits, I start looking forward to Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday . . . Good food. People I love. Pie. I like the low-key feel of the day — with so much less pressure than the December holidays. We keep our Thanksgiving meal pretty relaxed. After all, it’s essentially the same menu year after year (with a few tweaks here and there).
But I still like to do a few little things to make the dinner feel festive and special.
Last week, I was watching a gardening webinar from Margaret Roach and Ken Druse (I have been taking part in their Virtual Garden Club program for several years now), and Ken had just taken part in some kind of “gourd workshop.” He shared a lot of photos of “gourd art” and various things one could do with small gourds. I was inspired . . . so I grabbed some screen shots to share with you.
It made me wish I’d grown some small gourds! (Idea for next year, maybe?) Or, at least, picked some up at the farmer’s market earlier in the season!
Ken showed us one of his “gourd workshop” projects — turning little pumpkin gourds into tea light holders. And now I’m obsessed with the idea of making some for my own Thanksgiving table! Wouldn’t it be fun to have one at each table setting?
It seems like a simple process . . . just hollow out a little gourd, and pop in a tea light. I’m game! I think it would be pretty easy to figure out the how-to on your own, but just in case, I did find these step-by-step instructions for making gourd candle holders if you’d like to try this for yourself.
It’s November!
Try some festive fun accents for your holiday table (for Thanksgiving dinner or any other fall celebration).
Start Your Engines!
I woke up (too early of course) and was thinking about starting the process of making the house ready for the holidays. This post comes at the perfect time. Thanks
We haven’t hosted a holiday meal for a few years, so my table decorating skills are a bit rusty. I love those photos … the idea of gourd candleholders sounds (and looks) so warm, seasonal, inviting … and I wonder if they really are that easy to make?! (I wonder if the boys might like to try?!)
I love this time of year and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday too. What I don’t like is the huge rush to move from Halloween to Christmas. November is a month that I try to take slowly, quietly, and thoughtfully. My sister and I work together on our Thanksgiving meal for our family and friends. It always feels relaxing in spite of the work, maybe because we are never rushed, dinner will be ready when it is ready. It is such a good feeling to be seated at the table with people we love!
Smith brought home a bunch of small pumpkin gourds from the garden yesterday! Maybe I can embellish my T-day table with 3-4! Thank you!
Gourd tea lights! I’m in….that looks really fun.
I enjoy Thanksgiving more now that we’ve simplified it a bit. Instead of turkey, we’ve agreed on Cornish game hens (there’s only 3 of us). All the usual trimmings will go well with them.
I feel the same way about November and Thanksgiving and am quite looking forward to it. I bought some cranberries and will make some cranberry orange relish this week. I’ll just have to make sure I don’t eat it all in the next couple of weeks. If I can find some little gourds there may even be candleholders!
Those gourd tea lights are adorable…even though we do not host, I may need to make some of them. They would make a very cute hostess gift! I’m ready to snuggle under a blanket and enjoy November (except that it is warm here…and was all weekend!_)
Gourdgeous 🙂
Truly! I hope you create them and show us!
So funny you shared that here today–just this morning I was looking at my dining room sideboard, which I keep pretty simple, and I thought, ‘A pile of gourds is what’s missing here.’ And then I wondered if stores will be wise enough to hold onto them another week or two (even though they’ve [mostly] moved on to Christmas? I’ll bet we can still find some.
Have fun!
I feel much the same way about Thanksgiving, it’s about gathering with special people and eating great food but also keeping things simple. Those little pumpkin tea light holders will be a wonderful addition to your table.
Those are Too.Cute! What a fun idea! (and I bet you could still find a gourd or two out there!) Happy November!
I too love Thanksgiving. It’s nice to have a reason to be together with our loved ones, sharing good food, without any religious observances or other demands on our time. We’ll be hosting dinner this year because my mother feels her house is too cramped, but she’s still doing most of the cooking (she loves doing it and doesn’t want to give it up!). She always sets a beautiful table, though, so I’m going to have to up my game a bit. If I can find some gourds, perhaps we will have gourd tea lights!
I love those little candle holders!
Love the gourd tea light candles! Writing a note to myself to remember this for next Thanksgiving. Not as time consuming as knitting the little mini pumpkins I’m working on this year. Since I’m using stash it’s making me smile and they are cute.
I too look forward to November. The little gourd tea light candles are charming. If you make any, let us know how it goes. Are gourd’s as hard to cut as other squash?
Love the idea! (And the “Gourdgeous” pun. Never thought of that!). I think even one tealight can be effective if scraping out is not your thing.
I resist making holiday dinners simply because it is a lot of work. And now that our sons both live a distance away, I have an excuse. Smokey doesn’t care much for turkey, and all I want is the stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Many years we and another couple or two partake of the *free* Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners hosted by various local churches or service organizations. In this case *free* means “free will donations”, which is only fair. It is a good solution for us.