New Thanksgiving Traditions

With only a few days to go, I thought I would share some of the fun Thanksgiving ideas I've found on Pinterest, in case you find yourself with tons of time on your hands and wish to take on a new recipe or two, and maybe even a craft project!

My decoration is minimal this year. I've stuck to neutrals and used my velvet pumpkins, pine cones, and candles for my centerpiece.

With my little guy, slightly more aware of holidays this year, I thought I should try to incorporate something into the decor for him (and that he can play with too).

I found the idea for the Pilgrims and Indians, shown above, on Pinterest.

They were really easy to make. I just collected toliet paper cores (you could use paper towel cores too). For the set above I used four toliet paper cores for the adults and cut one core in half for the child. I just wrapped the cores in scrapbook paper, hot gluing it onto the cardboard core. I just drew the faces on with a Sharpie marker. And I just sort of winged it with the hats for the pilgrims. I figure these things are likely to last about 3 minutes in the hands of my 2 year old, so I didn't feel the need to spend too much time on them.

Now, on to more important things....alcoholic beverages. Check out this delicious holiday beverage that you could serve hot or cold.

Another Pinterest find, I followed this recipe for the Apple, Ginger, and Cranberry Vodka Cocktail. I had vanilla vodka at home so I used that and it was fantastic. When that runs out I'll probably be making these with bourbon. I'm planning to drink them all day long.

Finally, I have fallen in love with this recipe for Cranberry Salsa from the November 2011 issue of Southern Living. Is this the prettiest salsa you've ever seen or what???

The recipe is very simple. Rise a bag of cranberries. Cut up a navel orange (zest it beforehand), then coarsely chop candied ginger.

Also chop 2 jalapenos, and some cilantro (the orange zest is in the middle below).

Throw the cranberries in your food processor until they're nicely chopped and look like this:

Place the chopped cranberries in a bowl. Next, put the other pre-chopped ingredients with a cup of sugar into the empty food processor until they're finely chopped and blended together. Stir them into the cranberries and voila! You're done! Leave in the fridge at least 2 hours, or overnight, and enjoy with tortilla chips (or anything else you desire to dip into it).

I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving!!!