New Ways to Give Thanks this Thanksgiving

It’s that time of year when families draw closer, cherished recipes come out of hiding, and there’s that palpable buzz in the air that says the holidays have arrived! At Sterling Pear, we know we’re not alone when we say that we love this time of year, and we like to focus on the things that make Thanksgiving truly unique – it’s a purely American holiday devoted to being grateful for the bounty we enjoy in our lives.

Thanksgiving, for us, is the holiday dedicated to remembering the difficult beginnings of our country and, in turn, the wealth of opportunities and resources that we enjoy as its citizens. We are mindful of the people in places like the Philippines or Syria who are experiencing difficult times. And in a time when our country may seem deeply divided, it’s nice that we can all pause on Thursday to be thankful for the liberty and history that we share.

This Thanksgiving season we have found two great new traditions to start in our own families– Gratitude Trees and Giving Tuesday.

The gratitude tree, a simple and heartfelt way to give thanks.

Gratitude Trees:  A recent issue of a children’s magazine encourages children to make a Gratitude Tree. Children write down things that they are grateful for on colored paper in the shape of leaves boasting festive fall colors. The more they are grateful for, the fuller the tree becomes. In the sample we saw, the leaves said things as simple as, “I am grateful for mommy and daddy,” “I am grateful that dinner tastes so good,” and “I am grateful my eyes are pretty.” What a great activity to help your children remember all the little things we should be thankful for!

Giving Tuesday:  Our other new tradition this year is another way of showing thanks. It’s called Giving Tuesday and its goal is to become one of the big holiday shopping landmarks (hopefully to rank with Black Friday and Cyber Monday), but the focus is on giving to charitable causes instead of buying gifts. Giving Tuesday officially began last year and is the brainchild of the United Nations Foundation. Mark your calendars because Giving Tuesday is on Tuesday, December 3. If you’re Twitter friendly, check out #GivingTuesday or you can go to www.givingtuesday.org for additional information.

Last but certainly not least, we’re thankful for you! When we pause on Thursday to count our blessings, our Sterling Pear friends and customers will be on our list! Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn Decor for Your Front Entrance

Nestled between the fun of Halloween and the joy of the holidays, the month of November gives us a brief but beautiful window of time when we can indulge in the bright oranges, reds and yellows of autumn. At Sterling Pear, we think that fall colors are some of the best and most inspirational for decorating! This year we’re especially excited about autumn door decorations that really showcase the warmth and brilliance of the season.

Perhaps what we love most about door decorating is that it’s a simple and easy way to keep your home looking current. For example, the look of a square autumn leaf wreath is perfect; the square shape is a fresh, modern take on the traditional door wreath, and the entire project can most likely be made with items you have on hand.

Our child friendly version of the square autumn leaf wreath

We decided to give this square leaf wreath a try in a kid’s version and drew inspiration from our friends over at thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com. 

We collected leaves from our neighbor’s yard and, rather than buying a square wreath frame, we simply cut a square out of cardboard and glued the leaves directly onto the cardboard. Our final result wasn’t as polished as the picture that inspired us, but even little hands covered in glue can’t mess up the simple beauty of red fall leaves. 

One side note: these leaves were collected in San Diego where fall weather is as sporadic as trees that drop their leaves. We easily collected enough for our wreath; imagine what you can do in areas where the fall harvest is more plentiful!

If you prefer more traditional autumn shapes, we love the combination of Indian corn and cornucopias. Indian corn is easy to find, and the corn’s blues, yellows and reds are so vibrant that you can easily make simple decorations that look beautiful.  Try tying a few ears together with a ribbon, or we’ve seen lovely door decorations with Indian corn and fall flowers tied together with bright ribbon. Even better, grab another handful of those red leaves from the neighbor’s yard and arrange them with the flowers and the corn in a cornucopia for your door!  The possibilities are endless!

Suggestion: After your wreath or fall arrangement is complete, you can use beautiful wreath hangers with colorful ribbon to hang and showcase your masterpiece on your front door. 

We would love to see how fall has inspired you!  Send us a picture of your fall masterpiece and we may showcase it on our blog to inspire others.  Email your photos to info@sterlingpear.com.

One final note, if you’re wondering how to hang a square wreath or, perhaps even more challenging, a cornucopia, we suggest tying a pretty ribbon around the top of your wreath or just below the mouth of the cornucopia. Then, use a wreath hanger to hang your decoration. If you don’t already have a wreath hanger, have a look at some of ours.

Contributed by: Terrie Petree for Sterling Pear