Thanksgiving has always been a big family holiday for us for as long as I can remember. We used to decorate the turkey with freshly popped and strung popcorn and fresh strung cranberries. I remember sitting alongside my three older sisters with a needle and running thread through all, eating all the popcorn that broke along the way. My mother used to use a brightly woven striped runner to match her napkins and her favorite turkey platter that I still use today. It is yellow china decorated with pine cones. We've since added green and purple grapes as well as cranberries for color to the platter surrounding the turkey. The tradition continued until my own children grew up. I painted this on a wooden cutting board.