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Thanksgiving.

Melissa Beene Ford/ Annie+ Family Fun+ Katie

Well, I tried to think up a cute title for this post to sum up all the festivities we’ve celebrated the last week and a half, and that was as creative as my brain would get this morning. I need coffee, I tell ya. My brain does not function un-assisted. I ‘quit’ all caffeine yesterday. Officially. We’ll see how far I get with that.

This year was Annie’s first Thanksgiving Feast at KK, and don’t tell her big sister…but this one was my favorite. 🙂

It was so fun seeing her wobble, wobble, wobble, and gobble, gobble, gobble, and her class of tiny two-year-old indians was just *SO* dadgum cute!!

Here she is waving to her fans in the crowd…

They sang a couple of songs…

Then the little ones sat down while the “big kids,” aka four-year-olds, sang their more challenging songs.

Let me just apologize again for my camera. The truth is….I dropped my little point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix camera on the Big Dam Bridge this summer, and it has had encephalitis ever since. And we all know how people and cameras with encephalitis ain’t quite right. So if someone would be so kind as to let Santa know that I really need a Nikon D90 SLR Digital Camera for Christmas, I’d be so grateful. I have been good this year, after all. Thank you.

So after the singing, then began the feasting. And thus struck blow number one to my diet.

~~~~~
A little background on our family Thanksgiving Tradition. My dad’s side of the family has had a family reunion on Thanksgiving Day since the 1930’s that began with my great-grandmother and her children (aka my grandmother and her brothers and sisters). Through the years the family grew to include their spouses and children, and their children’s children (aka us) and now, our children. I don’t go every year; I probably average once every three years since we try to alternate spending holidays with BF’s family or mine.

The reunion has alternated between Nacogdoches, Houston, Arkansas, and Burleson each year. Until this year, that is, when I decided to step up to the plate and volunteer my house for the reunion! It was SO much fun having so many family members here and catching up with everyone. Everyone brought a dish or three, and thus struck blow number two to my diet.

I made a chocolate cake and chex party mix. With the help of this little kitchen fairy.

The kitchen fairy shows up when its time to stir. Or eat. Not so much when its time to clean the batter from my under counter lights. The fairies, mysteriously, don’t show up then.

I really regret that the only picture I got was of my 92-year-old grandmother playing my piano.
But, I’m happy to have this picture…even if its a sorry picture taken with my junky little Coolpix camera! NO-BODY plays the piano like my grandmother. She’s pretty famous for her piano-playing…or should be, actually. And taught me how to play when I was little. She entertained us all, playing hymn after hymn beautifully, in her silent-movie-piano-playing style, from memory.

~~~~~
So the day after Thanksgiving, we finally got around to decorating the Turkey cupcakes I planned to do earlier in the week before I got busy cleaning batter out of my under-counter lights.

To start with, I made one cupcake as an example. Here he is:

How cute is he?? Naw, I didn’t think this up…in case you’re wondering. 🙂 I bought a cupcake cookbook from the KK book fair this week, and he was in there. I knew that book would be a hit at our house, because in the words of my friend, “Cupcakes make everything better.” Right, Callie? 🙂

The cupcake crew ready for their Food Network debut:

We had great fun gluing various body parts onto the turkey with icing, in between devouring the whole candy corn, marshmallow, sprinkles, and m&m buffet. The kids definitely got all sugared up, that’s for sure. But it was VACATION and anything goes on vacation.

Joshua, the engineer, carefully, thoughtfully, and precisely assembled his turkey.

He turned out picture-perfect.

Kate was irritated because her head kept sliding off of her body.

She’s not really the easy-going type. But the turkey turned out fine in spite of his weak neck (and nobody really eats a turkey neck anyway…).

And Annie haphazardly stuck turkey pieces together, to assemble this masterpiece:

But the important thing was NOT how the cupcakes looked, but how chocolatey everybody’s face could get:


I’d say the cupcakes were a success, judging by the turkey carcasses left behind.

And with that, the death blow was struck to my diet. But its ok: boot camp started back up yesterday. So now the un-doing of all those 172,000 calories begins. 🙁

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About Me


Hey there... I'm Melissa! Texas girl. Mom to three + one goldendoodle. Believer. Old house fanatic. Creating a happy + healthy home with purpose is my passion. I'm so glad you're here!

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I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 years of paint off of this door down to the wood and start over… but that person has no business starting new projects. 😅 My neighbors must have thought this project would never end. *I* thought this project would never end. 😰 If you’re thinking of doing this yourself? Just don’t, ok? Throw the whole door away and buy a new one. 😂🤣 Just kidding.  Old house weirdos like me… we can’t just do things the easy way. Anyhoo… after some trial and error, @sherwinwilliams Celestial is what I landed on, and I have to say… I like it. Periwinkle-ish blue looks great with the yellow house and will look even better when the azaleas are in bloom. Was it all worth it? That’s not important right now. 🤭 Will I do this all again in two years? The magic eight ball says… without a doubt. 👏🏻 I’ve already picked the next color. #gluttonforpunishment #somefoolsneverlearn #oldhouselove #oldhomelove #makinghome #southernliving #gardenandgun #azaleadistrict #tylertx
Spring in the Azalea District makes the winters in Spring in the Azalea District makes the winters in an 80-year-old house completely worth it … what broken pipes, icy hardwood floors and drafty windows? 🤔 I forgot already. #comeonspring #azaleadistrict #tylertx
Happy Saturday ☀️ Happy Saturday ☀️
Salt Lake City is always magical ✨ Salt Lake City is always magical ✨
2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrollin 2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrolling through my pics from the last twelve months made me realize how blessed and content I am. Prosperity, love, and peace have been ours in abundance, in spite of the pain of losing my dad. The second picture is the last picture of him… the last time I saw him. 💔 But God has been good to my family this year and 2022 is ending far better than it began. 😄 #2022inreview #thanksforthememories
Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍ Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍♀️
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That’s it. That’s the tour. (Slide two). 
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It’s a new trend I’m starting: bare Christmas tree. Lowe’s tag still attached (so quirky and unexpected)! Christmas ornaments still in boxes. Coming soon to an Anthropologie window display near you. 
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Every year I think, “next year I’ll do better. Next year I’ll have it together.” And then, here we are on the SIXTH Christmas that we’ve been in this house, the sixth Christmas I’ve dragged our chaotic bunch of Christmas mess out of a chaotic garage I still haven’t unpacked from our move six years ago. 
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Maybe this year is the year I’ll organize it all and put it back neatly so that by Christmas number 7, it will be smooth sailing. People will flock to my social media to see how I’ve pulled everything off SO PERFECTLY. Next year will be my year. 
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Seems every year there’s less and less bandwidth for all these things. There’s more grief and stress, less money. More demands, less grace. 
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I put this sign on the wall in my office so I could keep it in front of my eyes: Love. Joy. Peace. And all that. I am SO unlike Jesus most days. So lacking in all of these character qualities. And that’s WITH waking up most mornings and spending my first 30 minutes with God Himself. 
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How lost would I be without that? Geez. I can’t fathom. I REQUIRE being transformed by renewing my mind every single morning, and even then, responding to people and life with love, joy, peace and patience doesn’t come naturally. 
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It’s the goal, though. 
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This weary world needs that from us Believers during this season, more than ever… even more than an Anthropologie-window-display worthy Christmas home tour. 
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I’m working on both.
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