Once again, we’ve been invited to share Thanksgiving dinner with our daughter’s in-laws.   Alastair’s paternal grandmother, “Oma,” will host a huge gathering of family at her beautiful country home. Seated at the table, amidst 20 month-old baby Alastair and 89 year-old Great Grandmother Ruby, will be teenage cousins, young marrieds, middle-aged aunts, uncles and four reluctantly “senior” grandparents.  The dinner table will look like a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover.
design from Dakota Collectibles~Holidays and Seasons
This dish towel is a  tiny token of our appreciation for being included in this warm family celebration of Thanksgiving. My mother always taught me to never go empty handed. This dishtowel will last longer than the pumpkin and mincemeat pies I will bring along as my contribution to the dinner.
The embroidery design is from Dakota Collectibles Holidays & Seasons collection. The shading on the pumpkin, the detail on the wheat and the way it stitched out so beautifully really pleased me–so much, in fact, that I embroidered a second towel as a hostess gift for Jane, a PlayGroup Mom . She is hosting our group for dinner at her home next week and will be the recipient of the second towel.
The 18″ wide fabric is made especially for dishtowels with selvages on each side. Sold by the yard, the fabric features woven colored stripes. I’ve serged the ends and then stitched a simple shirt tail hem. Voila! A dishtowel! The coarse linen fabric is very absorbent. Years ago, I purchased several yards of this toweling at JoAnn’s Fabrics in a variety of colors. Now I can find it nowhere and wish I had bought more. It never had occurred to me that it would become unavailable. I’ve used a good bit of it but now I’m using it sparingly.
In my humble opinion, a dishtowel is a great little gift, for a hostess or anyone you want to shower with a little special attention.  A pretty towel is welcome in any home and it is not so large a gift that the recipient feels beholden.
Aside from the pure joy of spending the day with Rebecca, Harvey, little Alastair and the fine, fun family from which our son-in-law comes, Bob and I will be offering thanks for our many blessings.  If I weren’t so busy making Christmas outfits, I’d make up a dozen of these for good friends and neighbors for whom I am grateful.
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Nana Fun: A few days ago, while Robert and Laurel were here, their grandfather told Robert to do something. Robert ignored him. Bob repeated the request and then asked, “Do you understand me, Robert?”
He replied, “No, Granddad. I only speak China.” Laurel, with big sister swagger and impatience,  immediately corrected him, saying “It’s Chinese, Robert! And you don’t speak that Chinese! You speak English!” Robert ignored her and complied with his grandfather’s request.
Meanwhile, Shelly, the children’s mother, has started a Thankful Tree for the children. She has drawn a large tree on poster board and each day the children attach a leaf, inscribed with something for which they are thankful. Tonight, 5 year-old Robert, whose current consuming interests include mummies, Egypt and China,wrote on his leaf, ” I am thankful that I don’t live in China because I don’t know their words.”
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