So that was Thanksgiving — not many people at the homestead this year, but still just as much preparation! (This combination — fewer people, lots of prep — enabled me to “live Instagram” some of my doings — thanks for joining me in that! I'm thinking of adding more tips and ways of doing over there — what do you think?)
I will say, the cleanup is easier! But we had a lot of fun. The Turkey Classic at the Abbey (football in the snow with monks and other friends!), board games, music. And of course, turkey with all the fixings. What could be better!
And then we're on to Advent, just as I warned promised you! Here, that also means taking down the hydrangeas that have been drying in the kitchen. Many of you ask what I do with them. Well, it's like this.
In my (too vast) bedroom, there is a bureau from Ikea — it's blue. And on that bureau there is a big basket that coordinates perfectly with my vintage curtains (that is, I have a basket that somehow I acquired, and it turns out that the colors go well with the curtains given to me by a lovely, quite elderly friend — curtains that at first I did not like one bit, but eventually came to love due to 1. the difficulty of otherwise finding four pairs of panels that fit my windows and 2. their funky, old-fashioned pattern and color scheme).
Years ago I put crunched-up newspaper inside the basket and stuck the giant hydrangea blossoms in there, giving them a home where I can enjoy them every morning as well as solving the decorating challenge of one (too vast) wall. Turns out that old hydrangea is the exact color of the basket and the curtains, so — decorating win.
As the year advances, the color fades, but may I suggest faded brown as a surprisingly good decorating color choice?
It all needs to be dealt with outside, so I'm grateful for an unusually warm day yesterday.
I just pack/smoosh the old hydrangeas right down into the basket. (I think next year I will have to throw some away, because this is as full as can be now!)
It's all dry, dry, dry — no bugs or anything, so don't worry! Any vermin — earwigs, ugh! — have all had their chance to escape along my kitchen floor over the past few months! The dry flowers have a faint and lovely scent, by the way. You only get a whiff when you put your face right into them, which you do, it turns out, while you are carrying this thing around!
Just take the new ones and stick them into the old ones. Couldn't be easier! Remember that you only really see the front-ish of the whole shebang, so you don't have to have the back too full. However, I always have more than enough (and there are still many blooms on the bush!).
There you go. A bit of color to wake up to!
Kathy@9peas says
Lovely as always! Happy Thanksgiving to you as well – and I vote yes for more tips over on Instagram.
Melanie says
sigh…I guess I need to join instagram…lol. we would like to figure out how to feeling like that would it be obnoxious to hang up from my ceiling fan somehow? We have a ceiling fan above our dining room table.
Janet says
Beautiful and I love the hanging Advent wreath.
BridgetAnn says
Ah, my Mom used to decorate with dried hydrangeas! Perfect all year round.
Amanda says
Wait, you hang your advent wreath up ABOVE the table!? That is inspired! I have been battling with the stupid wreath these past two days since we school at the dining room table usually. but if we hung it….. Ooh, I may be asking my hubby to do that for me soon!
Lovely Thanksgiving photos btw 🙂
Kristi says
Gorgeous, it’s all gorgeous! Would you please tell us about the lovely cloth under the hydrangea basket? (And I never would’ve guessed that beautiful bureau is from Ikea — score!).
Leila says
Kristi, the cloth is a large scarf that Deirdre gave me one year — maybe from World Market? I love it but wouldn’t wear it — the colors don’t suit my face — but it’s awesome on the dresser, right?
Gwenny says
I like the instagrammed tips for the immediate usefulness, but dislike it because how will I refer back to it next year?
Leila says
Gwenny, in theory at least, the hashtags are so you can find the posts later. So if you remembered that something was from Thanksgiving, you’d search #ThanksgivingTip — or at least #AskAuntieLeila.
But I agree — how archival is it?
LeeAnn Balbirona says
You get the Tasha Tudor Award for the hanging advent wreath! 🙂 I always wanted one ever since reading “A Time to Keep” as a little girl. But I don’t have the right kind of dining room light fixture, a flush mount, I think it’s called. On the next go round of home decorating, perhaps. I love seeing everyone’s unique expressions of the domestic church.
Lori Richmond says
We have a hook screwed into the ceiling above the table to hang our on…
Julie says
I love the advent wreath as well. Did you make it or did you purchase it somewhere? Hoping you have a blessed Advent Season.
Lori Richmond says
LOL! My 12 yr. old daughter was looking at the photos with and when we got to the last one she said,” Ewe! A dead mouse!” Upon further inspection it is a leaf that rather does look like a dead mouse!!
Sheila says
I LOVED following your Thaksgiving prep on Instagram. It was very inspiring as I was getting ready to host my first thanksgiving ever.
Becky says
Hi Leila, do you see these comments on long ago posts? I was looking for this post in particular because I have been trying to dry hydrangea flowers by hanging them, but the petals get all witty and squished together. They look NOTHING like yours, with distinct and flat petals intact. Any thoughts?
Leila says
Yes, I see them Becky!
I am not sure, but I think that maybe there are two factors: 1. the hydrangeas from the “mophead” types are really finicky. They do droop at a moment’s notice, even when fresh and put in water. Mine are from my Pee Gee bush (hopefully soon to be small tree 🙂 — maybe a bit hardier. 2. They seem to do better when they are more mature. Let the heads stay on the bush for a long time. I wait until just before the frost! But again, the Pee Gee blooms much later, I think. I’m trying to remember if I’ve tried drying the mophead… if so, I wait until it’s completely bloomed and the color has deepened.
Hope that helps!
Becky says
Yep, turns out they just needed to spend the summer on the bush! I cut the rest of the blooms this fall, dried them, and now they are lovely on my mantle, with your squished newspaper technique in an oversized vase. Thanks!
Becky says
Thank you , Leila, I will let them season a bit before cutting next time and see how that goes. This weekend I listened to a podcast you did on the Little Oratory and you spoke to me so deeply that I immediately found a drawing of the Madonna and Child that I had done while pregnant with my first child and framed it. I created a prayer corner above a shelf in our living room. Thank you – having an image of the sacred mother and child present where I work and play with my children is already having a profound effect on my mothering. We all are responding to the presence, and it is helping me to remain conscious of my ideals even (and especially) in the middle of a busy day. I am grateful to you for the inspiration.