I was browsing Gilt the other day and was so excited to see the “My Roots” poster collection from Children Inspire Design. This is a super cool product line of modern, eco-friendly posters and wall art, designed to help children learn “compassion for the earth and all who inhabit it.”

You can use the “World Roots” maps to commemorate your family or child’s heritage by Country or Continent. There is even a version by state. Each map comes with heart stickers to customize even further. SO COOL! With the holidays coming up, these posters would make such a neat gift. They’re normally $40-50 but with the Gilt sale, you can now scoop them up for $25. Not too shabby. Find it in the Baby & Kids section. The “My Roots” sale ends Sunday night, so pop over asap!

Not a member of gilt? Sign up for free to get access to the awesome sales and a $25 credit after your first order.

Thanksgiving was SO last week, and now we are all on to that oh so very very special time of year, where you can wear velvet ALL THE TIME! To me, there are only so many chances to put your kiddo (and yourself) in velvet and the month of December is one of the best months to do it, so I present the third annual all velvet all awesome round up!

Stop the presses! Velvet jonjon.  Dying.  Seriously. Dying.  And in a bigger size 4T.  If the Peach was a boy, I would have bought this already. From Etsy seller 1 Sweet Vintage, who by the way has a ton of other vintage kiddo goodies just in case velvet jonjons aren’t you thing. But that can’t be the case, right?

Can’t you just see a little curly brunette baby come crawling over to you in this adorable little outfit?  I can.  And I like what I see!  DYING! From Etsy seller, Hey Sweetie Pie, who also has a nice selection of baby velvet outfits for your baby.

Don’t get me wrong, I love lace, but embroidery has my heart. I think I would choose embroider over lace in a hard race. And this little simple red dress with perfect white embroider is killing it for me. From Etsy seller, Baby Shapes.

Oh, I do love blue velvet. And this darling little friend is just perfect in my book.  Love that lace too! From Etsy seller, Diaphonous.

Don’t you love this little swiss miss of sky blue velvet cuteness? From Etsy seller Octopus Pie Studios.

Dress your little man, like a little man with this adorable old stock vest/tie/shirt/and velvet pants combo of cuteness! From Etsy seller Little Reader Vintage.

Who would have thought pink and ruffles would create such a sophisticated dress for a girl. And this is a big girl dress–size 12. Perfection. From Etsy seller, Silver Screen Vintage.

What can I say, I love this dress. I have such a weakness for swiss dot and to pair it with red velvet. Well, I’m swooning folks.  From Etsy seller, Salvage House.

Who says a little girl can’t wear a black dress. I think a black velvet dress is OK and this darling little one is so sweet with the flower.  From Etsy seller, Stop the Clock Vintage.

Sailor + velvet = something so cute that I might faint! Like THIS!  From Etsy seller, Peggy’s Corner.

Happy Cyber Monday! And remember your online vintage sellers this holiday season! Many are having great sales and choosing vintage is a meaningful way to celebrate this wonderful time of the year.

When I was a kid, Thanksgiving was all about the PARADE. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade of course!

It was so exciting to see the bands, the Broadway acts and most importantly the floats!

I remember listening to my mom and grandma buzzing around in the kitchen as my Dad was “tasting” the rum punch while we kids were glued to the TV watching the parades. We  would always have a major debate over which was the BEST float.

My brother liked the Bullwinkle one.

My cousin was partial to swimmingly cute Pink Panther.

My other cousin always voted for Snoopy as her favorite.

My favorite was Kermit. I remember watching this interview on TV as a kid!

Here’s Kermit in action on a past T-Day. He is looking a little wrinkly in this picture, so it must have been a colder year.  I love the awestruck high school band looking on. I’d be awestruck too.

Image via: Daily Mail.

The adults would drop into the den and reminisce about their favorite floats from their childhood when their parents would take them into the city to watch the parade. I like these older floats as they don’t seem as commercially driven as the ones we see today.

This jaunty elf was so cute!  I’m glad they remade one for today’s parade

Photos from Grand Life Hotels, How to be a Retronaut, Buzzfeed, MidcenturyMania.

And of course SANTA. Even my parents remember Santa being a BIG DEAL when he finished up the parade.

For me, there is  something still magical about ending the parade and seeing SANTA coming. To me, it was the official beginning of the holidays and I could squeeze as much holiday day joy out of the next month as possible. You can’t help but walk a little lighter on that day.

Somethings never change.

I hope I can watch a bit of it with the Peach.  Did you watch the parade when you were a kid? Do you plan on watching it tomorrow?

I love a good tradition–especially around holidays.

I come from a big and very connected family.  Thanksgivings when I was a kid were filled with aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and I loved every minute of it.  Now unfortunately my family is smaller and lives on different coasts–like a triangle, so it is very rare that we get a chance to all be together for holidays.

And now that I have my own little family, I’m trying to add some new traditions to the mix. And Thanksgiving is one of those where there is a lot of room for new traditions.

There is of course the Thanksgiving Day Parade–the Peach loves a parade and the floats. I watched the HECK out of that every year when I was a kid, waiting breathlessly for the Rock-Ettes.  I remember reading about this parade party that was featured in a Martha Stewart magazine. That sounds like an awesome idea, eh?

For me, another great tradition was the kids table. It was always so much fun!  By the time I grew up, there were nieces and nephews to take my place.  I hope the Peach gets to enjoy this.

Image: Project Nursery

One tradition I remember was setting up the place cards for our long dinner table.  My cousin, Cheryl and I always had a blast trying to figure out which family member would sit where for this very special dinner. You could use these amazing ones from Rifle Paper Co. Love!

I would love love love to have special plates like these for the big day of Turkey. Our friend, Lynn has the best selection of these turkey plates. And she’s an amazing cook whose roots are Southern by way of Louisiana so she knows her way around the kitchen to say the least.

Here is one tradition I’m not really in to–pumpkin pie.  I’m just not a fan.  Forgive me.  They are beautiful, but still, do you think I could get away with a chocolate hazelnut tart instead?

Image: Martha Stewart

So many ways to cook that bird, which is known not for its wonderful taste, but for its ability to feed a large quantity of people cheaply, but still, we do love our turkey on Thanksgiving and there are sooo many divine ways to cook to make it taste great.  I like a bacon wrapped turkey myself…

So, I guess I had more traditions than I thought! What are your holiday traditions?  Any special recipes that you MUST make every Thanksgiving?