Gobble Gobble 'Till You Wobble: Home Edition

Back to Thanksgiving, I never realized it until I started writing these but I guess this is one of my favorite holidays. I mean the Macy's Day Parade is on, you get together with your families (and family friends at times), there are some excellent movies on, you get to engorge yourself in food AND at least in my family it means the Christmas season is only a day away. See growing up my dad had a very strict rule that anything Christmas related (i.e. wish lists, music, decor, etc.) could only make its appearance between the day after Thanksgiving until the day after Christmas. I hated it back then but now I see that it makes sense as with only a limited appearance it makes it all the more special when it does come around!

Ok, so I already told my my ideal Thanksgiving table set-up which isn't happening anytime soon so back to real-life and I'll let you in on what decor is most likely to actually happen.

1. A wreath - don't think there are any surprises here. I believe my fascination with wreaths has something to do with the peeping Tom incident (although it was more like a peeping Jane) found here. Ever since that fateful day I've been going over-the-top to make the house looked lived in so we don't have anymore fun instances such as that. Wreaths seem to really make the "someone lives here so don't come peeking in any windows" statement more than anything else I've found.

2. My next idea would be a mat, once again no surprises there but when you don't have any rugs a welcome mat becomes uber important to try to keep as much dirt out of the house as possible. Might as well keep the mat flowing with the seasons right?

3. Finally I'd like to "trick out" the house with various sizes of pumpkins & gourds in all shapes and colors too, even putting some in the flower baskets on the rails (maybe nestle them into some fern/grass type stuff if I make that happen).

Gobble Gobble 'Till You Wobble: Table Edition

This will be the 3rd year that my cousins and I cook Thanksgiving dinner. It started as just one of my cousins and I doing it as a Christmas gift for my grandmother and has evolved into an annual tradition with the majority of the remainder of my cousins and their spouses/significant others joining in. We usually have a nice big crowd of family, extended family and friends joining us for the dinner and use a mish-mosh of serving pieces, dinnerware and everything else. I have always had this crazy desire to have a long immaculately decorated table where the "perfect" dinner is served with everyone dressed to the nines. Granted that will never happen with my family as we just aren't a formal bunch but maybe one day when I'm hosting. Anyways, here are a few random thoughts on how I'd like it to go.

First order of business would be a tablecloth. I'd love to have a super-long rectangular table with a long burlap tablecloth lined with a similar color silk-like fabric (no need to get expensive, you're just going to drop food all over it).

Next would be place settings. First I'd like to start it out with a pretty copper charger. Add a Thanksgiving themed plate on top and some Turkey themed salad plates on top of that (not that we actually serve a salad at Thanksgiving - just extra room for sides). Next we need a napkin and a ring to put it in and some flatware (REALLY wishing they had this flatware when I registered by the way darnnit!).

After that I'd just need to do the tablescape. To be honest I'd probably swing by the grocery store to pick up flowers and use a cachepot I already have but would have to buy some additional ones of course. I think I'd also like to put a copper pot in the center with the biggest arrangement. I'd mix in some of these carved and woven pumpkins as well as some of these great little turkeys.

My final touch would be candles. From tall tapers to small votives and maybe even some chunky ones inbetween.

All we'd need is some excellent food and even better company to finish it off!