Ruby Red Thanksgiving!

When you've lost three of the people who were always seated at your Thanksgiving Dinner table, it gets harder to enjoy the holiday. When you have a seven year old, you have to keep going as if nobody is missing so you can create important memories and keep traditions alive. The method to my "Ruby Red Thanksgiving" madness was to do things differently enough, that some of those painful memories stayed in the background of the day for my daughter and me. I think it worked! We sure missed Papa Joe, Old Papa Jim and Old Grandma Doris ... but the day was a good one.

The Ruby Red theme started with this red satin pumpkin place mat! I found them at Ross' right before Halloween and since I already had a blue theme going for Halloween, I just set them aside! As I started remembering some red pumpkins I had in storage, I began pondering the red tablescape.

Then I met this guy! Hobby Lobby finally put him on sale, so I could afford to add him to my collection of turkeys and the silver and "Ruby Red" tablescape started to unfold.  I am really traditional and have a big collection of  ceramic turkeys, many of which were painted by my daughter when she was a youngster, but this year, I left them in storage. I'm glad I did.

The centerpiece was compiled of lots of other things that Phoebe and I found while shopping at our favorite junk store! The red satin pumpkin, the small silver ceramic pumpkins and the cluster of red apples and berries came from "Miss Judy's shop". The glittery squash came from a box we found in our storage! The silver turkeys, metal pumpkin and silver braches studded with red gems ... all came from HL at some point! The red mercury glass was a new find!

There were other important parts of the tablescape! Red velvet napkins from Miss Judy's and silver napkin rings!

Red Waterford crystal glasses and a red crystal beverage decanter added to the theme!

Cambridge turkey flatware has graced our table for ten years!

 

Thanksgiving was a good day and our menu was delicious!

Sausage and Cheese Balls to get us Started!

Ambrosia with Orange Cream Sauce

Cranberry Sauce

Turkey and Dressing with Giblet Gravy

Fried Corn with Smoked Sausage

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Pecans and Dried Cherries

Hot Rolls and Butter

Mashed Potatoes

Candied Yams

Pumpkin Pie

Raisin Pie

I'll be sharing my post with a few parties and hope you think it is unique and wonderful!  Please make sure you click through to see the other party posts!

Masterpiece Monday   Homemaking Mondays

Creatively Living for Monday  Funday Party 

The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday 

Dwellings-Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday 

Table It!    Treasure Box Tuesday

Our Home Away From Home for Tuesdays @ Our Home 
We Call it Junkin!   Inspire Me Tuesday  

Thrifty Party   Home Sweet Home - Thursday  

Grace at Home - Thursday Simple and Sweet Fridays 

Fabulously Creative Friday  Show and Tell Friday   

 Pink Saturday  

Free Cream of Mushroom Soup from Thanksgiving Leftovers!

Thanksgiving leftovers used to make me a lot happier than they do at this point in my life! When I was working and feeding a family, I enjoyed having quick turkey and dressing in the freezer. I could come home and pop a casserole in the microwave and we had a good meal ... fast! Now, I don't have a reason to worry about that, and this year I planned to have as little food left as possible!

After sending a care package home with my daughter's family, I had this left: 2 cups of wild rice, 1 cup of mashed potatoes, half a box of fresh mushrooms that I didn't use, 3 cups of really good gravy, some turkey and 3 scoops of dressing! I froze the dressing to have with another meal; froze the turkey to make turkey salad sandwich spread later in December; froze half of the gravy poured over the wild rice for a soup pot in January; and the rest went into Cream of Mushroom Soup!

It was delicious and easy. I sauteed a 1/2 cup of chopped onion, a 1/2 cup of chopped celery, and a 1/2 cup of chopped carrots in a little butter and canola oil ... until they were tender. Then I added the mushrooms (sliced) and the gravy. I let all that simmer together; added the mashed potatoes for thickening ... and a couple cups of Half and Half. Because the gravy was well seasoned, I added just a little more salt and pepper ... and a sprig of thyme. This makes great soup! At my house, it won't last long, but if you cook for one, you can freeze small portions. Thaw/heat in the microwave for a quick lunch! This soup is "free" because it came from leftovers!

I'll be sharing this recipe with a few parties. Make sure you click through to see the other posts. 

Mix It Up Monday   

Homemaking Mondays

The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Monday 

Table It!
Simple Supper Tuesday

Thrifty Party

Home Sweet Home - Thursday  

Full Plate Thursday-Miz Helen's Country Cottage