Happy almost Thanksgiving, Gentle Readers! I’m hosting this year, and let me come clean: I’m a little nervous about it.
Why, you may ask? Because the first holiday I hosted post-pandemic (which we now know was actually mid-pandemic) was last Christmas, and let me just say that it wasn’t my best work. I prepared the wrong dishes in advance, I didn’t stagger the cooking correctly, there was an issue with the oven…by the time dinner was served, our guests had been plied with so many Rye Presbyterians that it was a miracle anyone could sit upright.
Plus I hated the tablecloth.
THEREFORE. I am determined to redeem myself this holiday! But rather than pore over new recipes and make lists of which fancy ingredients to buy where, you know what I’m doing, don’t you. Yep. I’m buying stuff for the table. The inedible kind.
Let me tell you where I’m starting. To spare my poor husband from hand-washing the silverware AND the dishes, I’m using my oldest and bestest plates, which happen to be dishwasher safe: Dansk’s Ivy. Simple, pretty white plates.
And then we have — wait, that’s it. That’s what I have. Because I got rid of last year’s tablecloth, and I don’t feel like using our fancy white damask napkins this year (ironing), and everything else we have doesn’t straddle that line between informal and formal that I’m going for this year.
So! The first thing I did was order a green linen tablecloth from a place called Bed Threads.
Then I thought I’d get some colorful patterned napkins. I did some TikToks from World Market recently, and let me tell you: I was impressed with their kitchen and dining stuff! So on Friday afternoon, I bravely fought my way to the World Market in the wilds of Rockville, MD and found these:
Oh right – I guess I also have silver napkin rings. They’re kind of formal (silver, from both John’s and my families) but fun because nothing matches. So I DO have those.
Anyway, back to the purchases. For candles, I usually just put tea lights on the table in little glass holders and call it a night. This year, though, instead of going low, we’re going high! Found these tall gold candlesticks at World Market, too.
And then I’ll do what I always do: put short flower arrangements in stemless wine glasses and march them down the center of the table.
The one thing I’m still thinking about is some kind of placemat or charger under the plates. They’re on the small side, those Dansk Ivy plates, and I worry that they’ll look a little…lonely. So I *have* been considering those kind of silly but kind of good? round woven placemats that are all the rage.
Like most fads (not a trend, definitely a fad!), there are reasons these placemants have appeal: they fill out the table, they’re warm and earthy (brown, neutral), they’re textured, and they’re made of natural materials, which is very in right now. Will I ever use them again? That’s the question.
In the end, though, it’s not really about the table, is it, Gentle Readers? Thanksgiving is about being grateful for what you have, spending time with people you care about, and taking a day or two to recharge.
And since maintaining a low stress level is my goal for every dinner party (ha ha), I leave you with this: my family’s incredibly easy corn pudding recipe that I blogged about nine years ago, in 2013. I’m still making it in 2022, will still be making it in 2031. Happy Thanksgiving.
Annie Elliott Design is based in Washington, DC, but we travel for fun projects. You might enjoy the recent string of shop-with-me videos on my TikTok account. Ask your teenagers to show you ;)