thankful for you

Our 2022 Thanksgiving Crew!

Dean . Lynn . Chris . Ryan

Helen . Levi . Kelly . Selah . Lisa . Linda . Melanie . Joe

Jael . Reagan . Olivia . Emma . Emma L

Davis' are missing from photo

We are thankful for these peeps

We hosted the great day of gluttony and football, which I enjoy. It gives me motivation to really clean and usually do a couple little projects around the house that have made it from the "to-do" list to the "procrastination" list. Chris has said before multiple events, "you aren't repainting a room!" So I may have done that in the past. I try to keep the projects on the smaller side now. This year it may seem like I redid my fire place for thanksgiving. In actuality, I planned that project about 2 years ago and we finally got it started this November. There are a few things that need tweeked but for the most part I love it! You can kind of see it in one of the pictures. 

I am thankful for the clean house and revamped fireplace.

We had 4 people unable to come at the last minute which brought our numbers down to 19 people and 2 dogs. Poor Bella and Luna were shipped to Nana and Papa's house for a couple days. They cats don't like dogs and I'm not sure how well the dogs tolerate cats. We didn't want to perform a Black Friday burial. We are thankful for good health and well behaved pets

The other thing I really enjoy doing is cute little chalk board drawings or quotes. I started with just a plain piece of black board. Before Emma's wedding I had Chris build an easel. I love it! Now I use it all the time- birthdays, celebrations, holidays, work, husker games. 

I am thankful for Chris' ability to make things and my love of doodling.

Thanksgiving Chalk Sign 2019 above .  2022 below

We have so much to be thankful for even in the midst of really hard situations. I'm trying to focus on the blessings I do have. The world is full of negativity and sin but Jesus came as the solution. We all need a little more Jesus. That's my daily goal. More Jesus!

 

Thankful 2020

It’s easy to dwell on what I don’t appreciate about 2020 until I sit down with my gratitude journal and begin writing. Here are the facts: I have more to be thankful for this year than to grumble about. 

What are you thankful for? 

Made my 1st solo turkey

So does that make me a full-fledged adult?

Just a little welcome sign with a crazy looking turkey

Last minute table decor

Auntie Angie with her favorite nieces 

So glad to have mom with us this year

So thankful for this crew today

We had a fun day!

I love these people

And so thankful that my sweet husband and Joe started the exterior Christmas illumination. I love white Christmas lights while Chris hates putting them up. So this is a demonstration of love! Thank you for loving me well babe. 

* * *

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100:4-5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Thanksgiving 2019

Oh fall how I love thee but as Thanksgiving arrives I am ready to turn the page from fall decor to the lights, ribbons, bulbs, greenery and outdated ornaments. Outdated ornaments...that's another subject all together. My girls love to bring up my ugly rubber chicken ornaments. 

THEY AREN'T CHICKENS...THEY ARE STARS. 

Nothing makes my heart swell like having my family all together. Tree decorating didn't take place until Emma (and Joe) came home the Wednesday before thanksgiving. I keep forgetting, year after year to buy a new start for the top of the tree. Again this year I have a santa hat up there. Disappointing, I know. :)

Thanksgiving day Reagan flew out to California with her club soccer team for a pointless tournament. They did well but we missed having our girl with us. The rest of the family spent the day at Helen and Lynn's again this year. Due to a snow storm Angie and John missed the big meal. We didn't get to see Stephen and Holly either, as he has been battling cancer. It's been rough, chemo is a butt kicker! We look forward to seeing everyone at Christmas.

This time of year I start seeing "What are you thankful for" posts on social media. A couple years ago I started a gratitude journal which has been great. I don't want to be thankful one month a year. Even in the hard times, there is something to be thankful for. Writing these things out turns my frown upside down. I am thankful for dinner and decorating with all my kids!

I Have a Sign For That!

Pinterest can be my worst nightmare but also a very useful tool. So often friends will ask me to make a sign but they don't have a clue what it should look like. Let me start by saying, I think that is very odd. Typically, when wanting to hang something on my wall I can see something in my mind or I found it in a store or online. In either case, I know what I want. Anyway, it's easy to direct friends to Pinterest, it it's there I can probably make it. I took my own advice this fall and started making signs for a craft fair. (Let's not talk about the craft fair, it was an epic failure) Once I found a few ideas, it got my creative juices flowing and then it was hard to stop. 

Below are a few of my favorite recent creations. 

6"x9"

I sold 6 of these signs. 10"x48"

Now I need to find a new design for my own front porch.

I thought about doing the "and" in red, probably should have.

9"x9"

I love this one! It's a cabinet door off an old Hoosier cabinet.

Chris' dad is now on the hunt for more of these door at farm auctions.

12"x12"

I made Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, UNO and Chicago Bears boards like these.

6"x9"

A Joanna Gaines recreation. You can find others on Etsy for $119, I would never charge that! This was fun to make but much more time consuming than I anticipated. I can't wait to give it to my friend Amber this week. 

12"x40"

I guess it's time to start thinking about spring and graduation signs. I also decided to redo all the table center pieces for Millard West Girls Soccer Banquet. The existing decorations were good in their day but people they can only be reused so many times. I assume they are 4-5 years old. Holy Moly!! You can expect blog or instagram posts in April or May.

December and the official start of winter is right around the corner. Break out the coats, mittens and scarves, the midwest was hit with blizzards last night. It's time to turn up the furnace a couple degrees and make sure the pantry is stocked with hot cocoa. Christmas decorations are going up everywhere...it's the best time of the year. 

Give Thanks with A Grateful Heart

Each November I create some kind of gratitude list. This year my plan was to post on instangram an unplanned picture each day that represented something of my everyday life that I'm thankful for. Honestly, I was not as consistent as I hoped to be. The thing is I began to recognize the most simplistic items and events of my day that I am truly thankful for. Being happy and grateful is a decision. A decision to recognize my blessings rather than focus on my wants and needs.

Every thanksgiving day we hang out with my husband's family in Omaha. Many years my parents have joined us but with dad in the nursing home and mom in Texas, it wasn't possible to have them with us. All too often I hear people complain about family. We look forward to spending holidays with our family especially at Thanksgiving. This year I experienced a first. Once Emma came home from college I felt completely content. We still did the big gathering but I could have been just as happy having my family of five around me for the day.

Sixty degrees and Thankful!

60 Shoes

Firsts are the things we remember and often the things we write in a journal, smear all over social media and obviously post in a blog. My most recent first was hosting Thanksgiving. Honestly, I have been waiting for the day that Aunt Helen releases this honor to me. Twenty-two years ago I attended my first Raabe (Ray-bee) Thanksgiving at Lynn and Helen's house on Boyd circle. There are so many memories at that split level house and the HUGE tree out front. Memories: early morning shopping, Grandpa Raabe pretending to call Tom Osborne during the football game, Emma seeing snow for the first time, family pictures in the tree and boys vs girls flag football in the circle, to name a few. Every year since she has hosted and only years that we did not live in Nebraska have we missed. It's something our entire family looks forward to each November. This Thursday started with rain and ended with ice which lead to our guests leaving early but we all managed to eat a lot, laugh, lay around in a food coma and continue to try to figure out the secret behind Grandma Heller's mashed potatoes.

I should have taken more pictures this year, here's what I got.

some of the 30 shoes in attendance

Placemats

Food Line

Heller Family

Raabes Family

After the crowd left we began our Star Wars Movie marathon, which ended up being only one movie that night. I hit up the internet for some shopping then we all headed to bed. After all, Black Friday no longer is a big shopping day in this house since retail stores have completely ruined it. Friday morning the whole clan meets at Hy-Vee for breakfast and then watch the Huskers. Chris was the only Raabe who braved the 20 degree temps to watch our beloved Nebraska Cornhusker football team loose another game. 

Time to turn the page, the Christmas decorating has begun and Christmas cards should go out in the next couple of days. Thank you K-Love Radio for the Christmas music in my van, I am in my happy place! I don't know if we will have any Christmas time firsts, however you can bet to read about them here if we do. Now to keep my cat out of the Christmas trees. Much love to each person reading this blog!