On the Table: Thanksgiving Menus and Decor

Childhood Memories

When I was a child we made turkeys out of apples with toothpicks, mini marshmallows and raisins. I thought they were beautiful, even when the poor bruised apple body had tumbled over a jillion times because the little toothpick legs could barely handle the weight above and the marshmallows were no longer pillowy.

When I was a child we always had a big Thanksgiving dinner, even when it was just the four of us, except the year that we had planned to go to my grandparents and my brother got sick with pneumonia right before we were to go.

That year we had to go to a restaurant for our Thanksgiving meal. I was so embarrassed. It seemed so sad to me; as if we had no family and didn't know how to prepare our own meal since that's what I was thinking about all the other people eating their holiday meal at a restaurant.

The Menu

Whether we had a big family gathering or a very small one, with that one exception, we had the same basic components on our menu; a roasted turkey, my great-grandma's cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, relish plate and rolls, plus several varieties of pie {Last year I posted my recipes for dressing and my version of pumpkin pie that I've been making for over 20 years now. Click on the links for those recipes.}

And that's about what we have at our home too. I do take liberties with my green vegetable though. This year it's going to be a Swiss chard and spinach gratin.

We'll be setting our table with the fine china and hoping for the best!

Decking the Halls

I don't always have the time, the patience or the unction to decorate for every holiday, but I do enjoy decking the halls for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year I was especially cheery about Thanksgiving decorating.

I rummaged through my holiday bins, salvaged small pumpkins and gourds from Halloween, and went rogue, making some of our decorations ourselves and discovering a few fantastic finds at Goodwill on a spur of the moment stop there.

The decorating was fun, and some things will transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas on Friday, including the door wreath, my small Rosemary tree and cute felt wreath hanging from the sewing table.

The thankful banner was a new idea this year, but I think it's the start of a tradition. Each day we each wrote or drew what we were thankful for that day. Our banner is quite full now.

I arranged gourds and pumpkins, clove oranges that we made, pine cones, leaves and ceramic fruit in a cut glass dish the color of an eggplant.

And I found my wood and corn husk pilgrims and glittery fruit covered wreath at Goodwill at very reasonable prices.

The Scoop

This year, as I began to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder when our sunlight began to slink away earlier and earlier, this is just what I needed to keep my spirits bright. Just wait til you see my Christmas projects this year!

What's on your Thanksgiving table? Happy Thanksgiving! Over and out...

Anna

Comments

[Terry]

Love it all! So proud of you!