The Saturday before Thanksgiving was the FIFTH annual Friends Thanksgiving! We LOVE this time with friends to eat and talk and enjoy the holidays before things get really crazy!
I love that this event is a potluck and everyone brings the most amazing food!!
This year I only made the turkey and the drinks! Which meant tons of time to do the fun stuff- like decorate the tables!! (and worry about how to find enough tables and chairs to seat 25!)
The Dining Room
I had to add the folding table to the end of the dining room table to make it all fit.
And even though we use our nice china and crystal... I borrow from my mother-in-law and so it becomes a hodge-podge of really pretty stuff! Love that!
I went simple with the napkins this year... I saw this in a magazine and loved it! Just folding them into a rectangle and then cinching them with a pretty ribbon. Maybe a thicker ribbon would have made a bigger impact, but I just used what I had in fall colors :)
Some tables had orange flowers, some had pumpkins! Again, just a hodge podge! But it works!
The Sun Room- We used our normal round table (just added a couple of chairs) and then added this folding table as well. (Had to remove a big leather chair to make room)
I think this table was my favorite this year. Loved the colors and the rectangle centerpiece.
This table was adorned with pretty placemats and a brass tea set. (I need to remember to purchase a round fall colored table cloth for next year!)
In the kitchen... we took out our tall bar table to make more room. The bar table is great for morning coffee, but not so great for serving food from. So it went to the garage, and in came this folding table. By this point I was out of tablecloths! SO I found a clean white sheet and added an embroidered table runner (made by my great-grandma). The turkey and ham ended up here.
This sweet vignette sat in the kitchen all season. I really enjoyed it each morning, it's nothing special, but I liked how I (finally) put it all together on a white tray and it just tied it all together! So simple- but I just figured that trick out!
Since I did NOT have to do most of the cooking... I got to spend my time on fun things like this! The food labels! I bought these pumpkin place card holders at Pier 1 after Thanksgiving last year (which meant huge sale!) I cut up some yellow card stock, printed these cute Thanksgiving labels (thanks Pinterest) and hand wrote the food item. I had some leftover circles of scrapbook paper from the invitations, so I threw those on for more color.
The Drink Station- I always do this on the washer and dryer now! I love that it moves some of the serving action out of the kitchen. I made hot apple cider (YUM!), I made some sweet tea, and I set the coffee maker to start at the beginning of dinner. Done and done.
The Turkey! turned out quite nice this year! I only ate a few bites because I loved all the side dishes so much!
all of the food! What a feast!
Honey baked ham and turkey!
the BEST jalapeno creamed corn you could ask for! Great sweet potatoes! Delicious dressing!
Mac n cheese! Green bean casserole! Salad! Rolls! (are you hungry yet??)
The end of the night... It doesn't look as messy in the picture as it did in real life. But when I walked by I thought, "now THAT is Thanksgiving!" Empty glasses, forks, napkins, etc all strewn about the table. love it.
It was a blast! I love how it has evolved over the years... we had 1 couple who came to our first feast and then missed all the middle years and returned this year. The wife said to me, "Wow. Last time we were here we all fit at the dining room table. Now you've added 3 more tables!! People just kept coming in!" I love that! Hoping for many more years of feasting to come!
1 comment:
You are such a great hostess! Looks beautiful! Sad to have missed it. :(
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