Thanksgiving will definitely look a little different this year, and while that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, it doesn’t make it any less difficult to cope with. Our state issued restrictions on indoor gatherings this past week for the next 3 weeks, along with many other business closures in what they are calling a ‘pause’ to help control the spread of the coronavirus. To comply with all the restrictions and keep our families safe during the current surge in coronavirus cases, we cancelled both Thanksgiving dinners with my immediate family as well as Kevin’s. Instead, my family, who lives closer to us, gathered today (the Sunday before Thanksgiving) with masks and our potluck dishes, and all made dinners in to-go dishes. We kept our distance, made sure our hands were washed, and wore masks while together making our plates. Then everyone headed home, heated up their food and we hopped on a Zoom video-conference call to all eat together. Was it our first choice for celebrating? No. But it is the season to be thankful and grateful, and we worked to make sure we were able to celebrate. It is easy to feel angry, sad, and even disheartened, but as a family we are trying to focus on what we can control and what we can do. This is the time of year where it seems especially important to count your blessings, and we try to keep that at the center – blessings of love, hope, and gratitude.
Our current holiday situation and solution aside, Kevin and I have still enjoyed our Thanksgiving table! This is the first year in our new house and that is more than enough for us to be grateful for, so we will be celebrating all that we have and achieved this year despite the pandemic. We have always loved entertaining and setting a fanciful table. This year we focused on balancing natural touches with still feeling sophisticated and seasonal. I fell in love with these plaid napkins and knew immediately I wanted to plan the table around them; incorporating dashes of orange, cream, and green.
Keeping with a fall vibe, pumpkins were any easy addition. I used faux pumpkins that we used for our wedding place settings on each plate. TIP: use a sewing pin to attach a name card. For the center pumpkins, I rescued some real pumpkins previously on our porch from the squirrels to use for the center piece. I love the look of greenery in a centerpiece and decided to get some stands of faux eucalyptus leaves to use as filler around the pumpkins and candlesticks. Which leads me to these candlestick holders; I mean, they instantly elevate your table; everything seems more elegant in candlelight. You can even mix and match the candlestick holders, different styles, heights, materials, and even the colors of the candles in the holders for different feels on your table. Since our napkins were multiple colors we played down the candles and candlestick holders so the elements on the table weren’t fighting for attention.
Now, let’s talk place settings. Since there was so much cream in the pumpkins, both faux and real, as well as cream in the checks of the plaid napkin, I decided to skip using our white dinnerware set and instead use our light grey stoneware set. We included salad and dinner plates for our place setting along with our everyday silverware. To anchor each setting, I used a natural circular placemat made of braided water hyacinths. My favorite part of these placemats, besides the texture and visual interest they add to each place setting, is that they come in lots of combinations of diameter and quantity packs; very versatile for any table!
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That’s a wrap on this year’s Thanksgiving themed dinner table. Whether your dinner table is simple, festive, or fanciful, remember it isn’t what’s on your table that matters, it’s who you share your time with. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Stay safe, friends!
xo, Ray