Library Project Interrupted to Bring You This Fantastic Thanksgiving Craft

I was bringing books upstairs to shelve in our new "library" when I found quite a prize. The 1960 Betty Crocker Party Book with "more than 500 recipes, menus and how-to-do-it tips for festive occasions the year 'round." The book opened right up to Thanksgiving! Hey, that's just around the corner. Here's their awesome Thanksgiving centerpiece that we can all do to get ready for our guests and set an elegant tone for our tables.





(Please click to enlarge - you just have to see this thing up close!)

Yikes! That is one heck of a pile of gilded fruit. You can make this lovely gilded centerpiece with fresh pineapple, a variety of fresh fruits and nuts, greens and a can of gold spray paint. And lucky us, because the spray keeps air from the fruit this will keep a week or more and "could grace a side table after Thanksgiving." And for an added touch of elegance, you can place the fruit on a mirror. I don't think I could handle that much elegance!

And here's what the book says about Thanksgiving...

This most American of holidays dates back to 1621, when Governor Bradford of Massachusetts instituted December 13 as a day of feasting and prayer for the colonists to give thanks that they were still alive. Women spent days preparing the feast which included wild turkeys, venison, and many corn dishes.

The mother of our modern Thanksgiving is Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the famous Godey's Lady's Book, who worked 17 years for a "national day of thanks."

The very mention of Thanksgiving brings thoughts of warm country kitchens and good things to eat.