Thanksgiving Recipe Cookbook for my Niece

Last November, around Thanksgiving, I blogged about making a Thanksgiving Recipe Cookbook for my niece who had graduated from college and moved to Spain for a year.  She grew up having Thanksgiving meals at my house with her family and I knew that this was probably the first of many Thanksgivings she would be absent at our table.  I wanted to give her the recipes she loved so that she could share them at her own Thanksgiving table.

At that time of that first blog, I showed how I  cut the paper and added some embellishments to each page.  I didn't have a finished project to show and promised that I would post the cookbook when I finally finished it.  Well.....that day has FINALLY come!

I spent the afternoon finishing up the recipes, with lots of help from my mom.  I printed out pictures of the actual dishes and put the finishing touches on each page.  I also added family pictures taken at Thanksgiving over the years.  Here is what the finished project looks like - from beginning to end.

The cover:

My note to my niece:

The pages - recipes, family pictures, pictures of each dish and even my niece's place card:

This was so fun to put together and I can't wait to give it to my niece.  I am also working on cookbooks for each of my children of their favorite recipes that I plan on giving them when and if they ever move into their own homes.  They won't be as elaborate but they will be just as heartfelt!

"Bless the food before us, the family beside us, and love between us."  -Unknown