A Haven for Vee

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

A Thanksgiving Blessing and Kitchen Window Before and After

Another Before and After for you this morning. I'm not going to cheat and show you the worst picture either; oh no, I am showing my favorite before. Here's that wind-out window one last time.




It was all right, I could have lived with it forever. However, I didn't like it because it was difficult to clean requiring me to go outside and climb a ladder. The center portion cut into my view and my neck was always craned to see around it. And I am so short that I had to rise up on my tippy-toes to see out. Not good for the nosy lady of the house who often says now what's he doing?


Above is the new six over six window, which matches, more or less, what's going on in the rest of the house. I took my decorating inspiration from something I saw online and can no longer find. (If you know, please fill me in. Woman's Day!) It had Christmas ornaments hanging from it. I've done a version of Melissa's (The Inspired Room) *cookie cutter garland.* So many possibilities... greenery in December and more color...snowflakes through the winter...flowers in the spring...



My favorite hanging items are my grandmother's and my mother's baby spoons on the left. One of the high points of polishing the silver was to see the details. Not only are their names engraved on their respective spoons, my grandmother's also has the inscription "Mary had a little lamb" with the picture of a lamb and Mary, too. Displaying them is so much better than having them tucked in a drawer. (I apologize for the light...picture taking inside becomes such a challenge on these shortened days.)

And this, dear friend, is where I leave you until sometime next week. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, I wish you a joyful and blessed day and I share this little prayer for your gathering.

We Give Thanks

Our Father in Heaven,
We give thanks for the pleasure
Of gathering together for this occasion.
We give thanks for this food
Prepared by loving hands.
We give thanks for life,
The freedom to enjoy it all
And all other blessings.
As we partake of this food,
We pray for health and strength
To carry on and try to live as You would have us.
This we ask in the name of Christ...

~Harry Jewell

47 comments:

  1. Happy Thanksgiving Vee! I trust you, John, and the family will have a wonderful celebration!

    I love your window - being short I know what you mean about seeing out! The cookie cutters are cute hanging on the branch, but my favorite is the silver baby spoons!

    Deanna

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  2. What a beautiful idea!!! You have such lovely taste. We're off in a few hours to visit family for Thankgiving.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Blessings

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  3. Love your window treatment! What a special feeling it is to hold something that loved ones used and you have that simple, but magic connection. Wishing you, John, and your family a blessed Thanksgiving.

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  4. If only could replace all the ugly windows in my house---I would do a happy dance for sure! We have terrible old stornm windows that have to be screwed off to remove--so that rarely happens! I would love to have those new fold in windows for easy cleaning, because I do love the view outside!
    Love the window treatment--I regularly visit Melissa's blog. Also,late last night I DID read Alicia's post about their terrible disappointment! I was going to mention it to "C" today. So sad. I agree completely on the "wisdom" of Oprah and her gurus--they offer the wisdom of the "World" which sounds wonderful at first, but is hollow. Have a blessed Thanksgiving, Vee! I am so grateful and blessed by your friendship!
    V

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  5. Your window is simply beautiful, my Dear. Thanks to your inspiration, and to John's work. Just lovely.

    And your decoration is amazing. How clever and precious of you. Even if you did get ideas from somewhere, you did your own, with what you have.

    Gracious, but that whole thing is amazing. Hats off to you clever and crafty women, of Blog Land.

    Gentle hugs,
    ♡*♡*♡
    "Come ye thankful people, come,
    Raise the song of Harvest-home"

    ~ Henry Alford

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  6. You are so talented and so respectful and caring with your family's treasures. Love the spoons best of all. I won't be getting a new window but will be doing some decorating. Happy Thanksgiving to you and family.
    QMM

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  7. Happy Thanksgiving Vee,

    I love your garland of keepsakes hung in your window. Wishing you a beautiful day with your family.

    Karen

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  8. Good morning Vee, It might still be morning for you for about 10 more minutes! I love your new window and the treasures you chose to display! Fun. Happy Happy Thanksgiving and Turkey to you!

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  9. Lovely...the new window into your world. And the decor as well! I love a big kitchen sink window...especially coming from my last house which had no window at the sink.

    Enjoy all your festivities tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

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  10. Wishing for you and yours a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving celebration!

    Love the window, Vee - and I think changing it out is a decision you (and John) will never regret.

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  11. Your new window turned out really nice. I'm thinking that washing the Thanksgiving dishes will be a desired task this year. The way you have decorated it is so cute. Love the branch and the cookie cutters, but the silver baby spoons are extra special and a nice way to have a little bit of your mom and Nan with you.
    Happy Thanksgiving to your and yours.

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  12. I like your new window! I hope to talk my hubby into installing a small window in our kitchen to let in more light! :)

    Wishing you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving!

    Blessings!
    ~Nadine

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  13. It's just beautiful Vee. Lovely window. I hope your thanskgiving reflects the light coming in the window.

    Blessings.

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  14. Your new window looks so lovely...enjoy it.

    Happy Thanksgiving, Vee and John! I'm so grateful for blog friends like you!

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  15. Finally, a window you love! You did a nice job, better than curtains. I look forward to your changing of it's decorations. Happy Thanksgiving to you, John and the family. So much to be grateful for, many blessings.

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  16. The decorated window is gorgeous.

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

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  17. Now I need a window like that over my kitchen sink. Lovely. Happy Thanksgiving.

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  18. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your family, Vee! I love the new window - and your decoration is stellar. Brilliant! The possibilities are indeed endless. I now need a branch/twig thingy.....Have a wonderful holiday!

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  19. Love the new window and decorations! have a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving !

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  20. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your sweet family! God bless you! ♥♥♥

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  21. What a neat idea- I've seen it with Christmassy items, but not cookie cutters- so cute!
    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  22. Vee, I love your new window and the sweet things hanging from the branch. Cute idea. I think your grandmother's baby spoon sounds charming. Happy Thanksgiving to you. Blessings, Pamela

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  23. Love your new window and what a clever idea with the stick for hanging things.
    A very Happy Thanksgiving to you Vee and all your family.

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  24. Happy Thanksgiving! Oh, what a pretty window!!! Yes, yes, that is MUCH better!

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  25. I love before and afters. I know where you're coming from with a crank window and a ladder outside to clean it. And our outside cellar entrance is under the window so I have an even harder time with the cleaning.

    Thanks for the blessing and your friendship!

    Enjoy!
    Leann

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  26. Hi Vee,
    The window looks wonderful! The cookie cutters are charming, too.

    I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving.

    Chris

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  27. Oh what a great idea to hang the baby spoons... it's bordering genius... I have my boy's darling baby spoons just sitting in the buffet drawer... okay breathe... Thanksgiving first, tomorrow watch out Christmas is gonna burst forth here! Thanks for the great idea!!

    I love your window. The branch is perfect to hold such precious items. Kind of a branch from the tree of life.

    Now that I'm composed and breathing again, Happy Thanksgiving to you and John. Blessings to you and yours on this wonderful day of family friends and food. May it not go to my thighs.

    Hugs, Sherry

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  28. lovely window, and I do think the spoons are so special.

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Vee :)
    hugs,
    Niki

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  29. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, dear Vee. I hope you all enjoy a glorious day filled with much love and happiness!
    Jen

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  30. Thinking of you this morning,Vee, and wishing you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving.
    I absolutely adore what you did with the window, having the spoons in sight to remember two beautiful ladies, is priceless!
    A beautiful prayer!
    Your "Hero" has done a beautiful job, on the siding, love the color.
    Your list was sorta like mine, and if you find a way to get all things done let me know, as my list grows daily. ~lol~
    I have so missed not visiting, but in order to at least put a dent in my list I had to leave blogland for a while.
    Now I must go and find that haircut you mentioned.
    Much love,
    Sue

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  31. I am back after visiting some previous posts. So let's talk about the haircut. Vee, you look ten years younger with the final cut. absolutely beautiful, and I bet John loved it too. I have gone the route of taking photos in hoping to leave with the same results, but never did, I was wondering why my hairdresser rolled her eyes when I showed them to her. LOL

    I especially enjoyed your Christmas thoughts, my sentiments exactly and would loved to have written it too.. just like I am in a race trying to get my Christmas dinnerware set completed before the maker goes to another country. sigh!

    Loved the Thanksgiving party post, of course I have never read a post you wrote that I didn't love. I keep waiting for you to write that book, and remember since I am the one encouraging you to write it, I get the first signed copy.~grinning~.
    Hugs,
    Sue

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  32. Oh Vee that is a beautiful window! I love the spoons in particular...you may have borrowed the concept but the outcome is ALL VEE!
    hugs and Happy THanksgiving from all of us at the McBride Pride and Clan
    love you bunches
    Sandi (and Mac too)
    ps
    I often say "what's he doing now!" too...lol

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  33. Hope you are having a great Thanksgiving day today. Your display is very inventive and artistic.

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  34. What a pretty garland - you'll have lots of imitators!
    I hope your Thanksgiving was a lovely day!

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  35. Love the new window and that branch is such a clever touch, I see all kinds of decorating potential with that. It will be fun to see you transform it.

    As for Thanksgiving, let's just say it was a doozy and leave it at that.

    Have a wonderful and restful weekend!

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  36. Calling by to play catch up after the olive harvest, love your new header, so therefore your new window. Your home is looking good.

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  37. Well this is after the fact. We had a wonderful day, hope you did too :)
    Love the window idea and just might borrow it. But what I'm really interested in is the hobnail milkglass glass lamp! I have begun collecting and would love to find a couple of these.

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  38. Happy Thanksgiving to you and love the creative window banner decor

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  39. What fun you will have with this new window. Love this idea, Vee.

    Have a beautiful weekend.
    TTFN ~
    Hugs,
    Marydon

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  40. Such a cute window you have - and you've dressed her up so pretty! I can tell you're a gal who likes to putz around, putting personal little touches here and there around your home. Good for you!

    Hope your Thanksgiving was happy, and that you've recuperated fully by now. I'm still working on that. :)

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  41. Love the cookie cutter window! Great inspiration!

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  42. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Vee! You window decoration idea is very cool. I love your heart and home delight that just oozes from your blog.

    I just noticed this quote on the top of your page:

    Home interprets heaven. Home is heaven for beginners. ~Charles Henry Parkhurst

    LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! It is truly what you do =)

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  43. Glad you got a window that you like! The cookie cutters are really cute. I think I could make a drape with all of my mom's!!

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  44. I love your window and I love how you decorated it. Now the spoons and the stories behind them are priceless.

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  45. I love the new window! Perfect. :)

    ((Hugs))
    Laura

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  46. That window garland is SO CUTE!!!!! You are incredibly crafty! I will have to check our Melissa's, too.

    Thank you for sharing the beautiful prayer, Vee.

    Love ya!
    Becky

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