Thanksgiving Plans and Holiday Crafts

My church Thanksgiving feast has been canceled... hooray!

Is that terrible of me?

Last week I found myself committed to two Thanksgiving dinners--one full meal at noontime here at Chez W, the other at my church--which meant a LOT of extra work for me. Not that I was complaining, mind you.

Today, however, the leaders of this fete decided that, due to minimal participation, the dinner would be canceled altogether. It was becoming a huge effort with not the turnout we had hoped for. What started as a well-meaning opportunity for group fellowship became more of a chore for the organizers & cooks for only about 8-10 guests, all of whom have other events to attend, anyway.

Now I can breathe a little easier and enjoy hosting my own celebration.

Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying Frugal Upstate's Frugal Thanksgiving Mini-Series this week! Jenn is featuring a daily roundup of cost-effective holiday ideas that are quite clever and full of recipe ideas.

Other than trying to keep up with my immense holiday to-do list--which is shrinking day by day--I've been doing some non-food crafts. Scarves and wraps have been knitted, and I'm now working on a pair of wool felt slippers.

I know this has no business on a food blog, but indulge me for just a moment--I'm so proud! I made the felt from a thrift-store wool sweater. I'm fascinated by this--you hot-water machine wash the sweater and then machine dry to shrink it, thus turning it into felt that won't fray when you cut it. The perfect--and thrifty--craft medium! I made the pattern and obviously my sewing isn't very straight... but they'll keep my tootsies warm this winter. Once I have them embellished you won't see the imperfections will be hardly noticeable.

This, obviously, is my way of pretending that Thanksgiving isn't only a week away and that I should actually be cooking something every day. Aah, let me live in denial just a little while longer, won't you? I'll have plenty of time. (Famous last words, I'm sure.)