How To Use Thanksmas Decor.

Decorating with Thanksmas Decor. Seriously, Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. Now that I'm aging....aren't we all? It's hard sometimes to pack everything in when it comes to switching the decorations. I've always LOVED decorating for Thanksgiving.

Since mom passed, I feel like my schedule got quite full with dad's care taking. And with Rich's work and the kids and school...it's just too hard to take ALL the Thanksgiving decorations down the day after turkey day. Then put ALL the Christmas decorations up. Plus, I want people to enjoy both decors over Thanksgiving when we have the family over. Get what I'm sayin? Enter Thanksmas Decor.

We began remodeling the house this year. Well, the main floor. Well, the floors really. We got new, gorgeous gray wood floors, a new beautiful couch, and remodeled the mantel. We are putting things on 'hold' with the rest of the house as of right now. We will continue to remodel and get the stairs done, kitchen cabinets, work on repainting some furniture, then hit the upstairs with all the gray floors as well. But in due time. There is NO reason to rush your home when remodeling. Room by room, a friend once said. And my husband mentioned. You never know when life will pop up and interrupt things 😉

I figured this year, I would start new. Start fresh. The decor now centers around the gray floors and white walls in the family room. So, the first thing I did was repaint all the CVS plastic pumpkins. Really, i used to be a CVS junky. It was so weird. I had a few decorations left and seriously, they look so much better now. They just match the room much better.

My mother had a few decorations that I brought home from my parents' house. We are selling their house soon.

My father moved into an assisted living community, and it's great. It's just so hard walking into their home still and I've spent the past several months there. Mom died in hospice at home. Lots of memories. And gone so quick. I could write another post on that. Or a book, in fact.

My point being, I have some of my mother's decorations that I repainted. Like faux plants she had, I painted the pots white. And I put up her garland and added LED lights to them, as well as painted the tips more white to accent the room. Her decor has really pulled the family room together. And I love that I can feel her warmth all around me with it.

Now, if you have not been to a Home Goods store, and you have wood floors with white walls, then you MUST go. The decorations they have are absolutely PERFECT for neutral settings. Not to mention the fact you can find anything there, along with prices that can't be beat. I found so many cute little items there, including a ceramic white tree and two wreaths that compliment my windows so well in the main traffic area of our home.

You can place white pumpkins next to white trees this time of year, and it looks gorgeous. Also, LED lights really accent all the decor and really pull in the colors. I find that mixing both seasons really will add to the warmth of Thanksgiving, yet the coming of Christmas.

Mom's favorite holiday was Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday as well. But we don't all get to see each other at Christmas time, my siblings and family. We have our own families to be with and our spouses have their gatherings. So, I think that Thanksgiving decor in our home, as long as well host, will be a mix of both. And I'm fine with that. I've always been afraid of it. Until now.

A natural element I add is eucalyptus. But not just any eucalyptus. I go for the baby blue. It's this beautiful, long stem with light green circle like leaves. And it smells fantastic. Baby blue eucalyptus can be tricky to find. I usually go to my local Kroger in town and close to Thanksgiving and Christmas, they put about 4 to 6 stems in water and wrap with plastic. These are also stuck in some of the arrangements, but for about 4$, they're sold alone in a pack. It's great. I snag those whenever I see them. Then I cut pieces of kitchen twine and cut about 4 inches of eucalyptus plant and stem. I slip those inside the twine, then tie up each white napkin with them. Sweet and quaint and so pretty! I also stick eucalyptus all over the table settings in each room. It makes the rooms smell outstanding and looks beautiful.

One thing that really pulls everything together is rustic and natural beauty. For instance, if you have branches in the yard (we had HUGE ones from a wind storm, then ice storm!), gather them up and let them dry for a couple of days. I painted a few of them white and they look awesome on the table settings! They fit well, look fall like and winter like with the white color, and just feel so warm. It's easy and cheap. No more buying twigs at the store for a few bucks each. Just use some in your back yard!

Our big thing for Thanksgiving is also putting up the Thankful Tree. If you google 'Thankful Tree', you'll find a ton that are simply smaller trees with no leaves and just branches. Then people decorate those. I think if you're gonna make a Thankful Tree, go all out! Get your Christmas up, and put up half the Christmas decor along with fall decor.

If you want your Christmas tree up early, but don't want to cover it with Christmas decor quite yet, use silver ball ornaments. The ones I got from my mother look like little pumpkins! Put them all over the tree. Then simply get leaves from outside and dry them between paper towels. Flatten them in a book for a day and you can write thankful phrases on them with silver marker. We have leaves up all over the tree that say things like 'family, friends, Heaven, Granny'.....and even the oh so famous 'IPad.'

Just ask your family what sorts of things they are thankful for, then write them on each leaf. You can use small paper clips and stretch them to make little hooks if you want. Then poke the top and hang the leaves like ornaments! You can even go to the dollar store and get fake, colorful leaves. Write on those and stick them up. And anything remaining, cut into smaller pieces and stick into the tree in different areas. It will make it look great. A perfect Thankful Tree for Thanksgiving!

One thing I'm really going to miss this year? Well two things: first, on Thanksgiving night. Around 10:30pm when the family has been gone for a bit (we start at like 4pm. Or earlier), my mom always calls. Every year since we've been hosting Thanksgiving at our home. She thanks us and tells us what a great party it was, how lovely the place looked and how good the food was. I always smile. She tells me she loves me more than anything, I hear it from my dad over the phone too, then they both head to bed.

The second thing is the phone call the next morning, when Grandma calls to ask the kids if Rainbow came. Rainbow is our Elf On The Shelf. She comes in the middle of the night after Thanksgiving. Their faces light up and they tell her where Rainbow was found, what time they woke up, that she got a new skirt, how Lucky dog and her probably played, and all the details. I can hear mom so excited on the other end in disbelief and joy. She would ask so many questions and you could just hear her excitement and smiles through the phone.

Those two things I'm gonna really miss. Along with many others. A couple of small, little moments that I'll keep in my heart forever. Do you have those? The moments you'll miss? I'd love to hear. The holidays will be rough at times, but I'm thankful for the things I have. And this life that's been given to me. And the family and friends that surround me. It can't get much better than that.

Happy Thanksgiving! ? And good luck with your Thanksmas Decor! Be sure to comment if you use Thanksmas Decor this year! And use the hashtag #glutenfreethyme on Instagram if you've got pictures! I'd love to see!